Waterbury Democrat., 1900-12-17
LOUNSBURY'S COMMISSION
Appointed at Last Session of
 General Assembly.

Public Records Investigated and Re
 port Now Ready-A Great Deal De
 pends on the Person Who Has
 Charge of the RecOrds-It Is Not AL
 ways Financial Ability That Is
 Wanted.
 Hartford, Conn, Dec 1.-The com mission Of public records, consisting of Samuel Hart, of Aiiddietown; Albert t. Bates, of Hartford; and Dwight r.. Bowers, Of New Haven; uppOinIed OH April Is, 1900, by Governor Lounsbury i'll accordance with d joint resolution Of the last general assembly, to iri- quire and report tU the next general assembly the condition of the public records of the state. has submitted it's report. from which the following is eX- tr:tcted:
 The commission. shortly after it's ap- pertinent. entered upon the. work aS- signed II, but il was soon discovered that the time allowed for making in qullE would be insufficient to cover all classes of public records enunerat- ed in the act. It was there determined 10 limit tie inquiry to the records of towns and probate courts and to those Congregational churches whose organ- iZation antedated the year 1900. 4 seileS of questions were sent to town clerks. judges of probate and pastors or clerks of churches 1t was the earnest desire of the commission to append to this report q tabulated state nent of all the records which they should discover to be in existence in the state, mentioning where they are to he found. Unfortunately. while many of the recording officers made re- turns with great prOmDtneSS and care. it was found that the answers received were Of such unequal value and framed on such dif1e ent lnderstanding of the questions proposed. that it would be impossible to tabulate them in a satisfactory manner for this re- port. But the commission desires to express ill a most emphatic way their conviction that the preparation of an accurate list of all existing records is q matter of prime necessity in any movement looking towards improve ment in their care and preservation. Many town clerks expressed great in terest ill the work of the commission and replies were received from 160 towns, that is to say all except Betn- lehem, Bolton. Brookfield. Columbia PCmfret. Holland, Nillington and r Windsor. In general it may be said that the town clerks and judges of probate report that they are hampered in their work by insufficient room. In some of the smaller towns they have attempted to meet this condition by taking the older records out of the safe and storing they away. sometimes in boxes. and sometimes even in barns and woodsheds. while some town clerks are in the habit of keeping the books in current use in their dwelling houses. where they are totally unpro tected in case of fire. Tn addition to the information derived from these re ports, nearly fifty record offices have been personally visited and inspected by members of tie commission.
 We are of the opinion that in no | class of communities i& the interest ill preserving records dependent so much upon the financial ability of the town | as on q personal interest and capacity | of the town cle r5. In one large town 1 the per capita assessment Of which is | higher than that of any other in the l state. the early records were found to | be in many eases absolutely in tat 1 ters, so much so that it would require l care and expert handling to asSort 1 properly the loose sheets which are | now bundled together in q haphaZard l manner. and place them in proper or ] der for binding and repairing. On the other hand. we are gratihed to ! learn that a few of the older anu small CT towns have made liberal approprla- tiOnS for repairs. Wherefore. it needs but little consideration to prove that some general system of supervision is | absolutely necessary. The commission feels that many town clerks fail to recognize the value and historic inter- est of some documents in their custody considering only their land records to | be of special value, and paying too At- l tie attention to minor fecofuS WnlcA accumulate in their offices. The same may be said of other cuStoulahs oi records. and there is great danger that ! ancient documents may Be lost or mu- | tilated in conseuucnce Of Irresponsible nersons having too ready access to
 them.
 In the smaller towns of the state
 the town clerk is paid no salary, huI | is obliged to depend on his fees, as
 nayment for his services. We think l therefore, that it would be conducive
 to the general welfare if an act should
 be passed by the general assembly re
 ouiring all towns say of less than 20o'
 inhabitants. to pay their town clerks
 salary equal to not less than one-tehtt
 of one mill on the grand list oi the
 town. ..
 Prior to 1879 it was not obligatory
 in this state to keep public records II
 fire proof vaults or safes After inc
 general assembly passed m act requif
 in~ this many towns and probate dls
 tricts purchased large safes or par
 tern already obsolete. In some ln
 stances the safes would not lock. ant
 in many cases they were not then hr'
 proof. so that at the present time II l:
 doubtful if one-quarter of the recori ! offices of the state have their record:
 and documents securely protected i from fire.
 Many town clerks favor the passage
 of q law requiring all towns having
 general index to their land record. Ih'
 commission are of the opinion tha
 such an index is very desirable ant
 it's use would prevent much wear ant
 tear on the records themselves. W.
 there fore recommend that. in case any
 law requiring the compilation of gen
 eral indexes be passed. suitable safe