The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-05
Montgomery County Af-
 fairs Lack System.
State Examiner Submits Report tc Judge W. H. Thomas at Re quest of Grand Jury-No
 Way to Tell Cost of Roads.

In report submitted to Judge W. Ii Thomas of the City Court of Montgom- cry, Colonel M. L. Woods, late Assistant State Examiner of Public Accounts says that no accounts are kept by the Clerk Of the Montgomery County Board of Revenue showing amounts members of the Board have drawn or what it has cost to build roads in the county.
 The examination of the books and ac- counts of the Board of Revenue was made upon recommendation of the grand jury
 Colonel Woods was designated by Gov ernor Jelks to do the work. It was his last official act as a public examiner as he went out of office on his own motion on March 1.
 The report of Colonel Woods bears date of February 2S. It was not made public by Judge Thomas until yesterday.
 Many interesting statements are made by Colonel Woods who completed his work after much labor. He shows that practically no system of bookkeeping is in force in the office of the Clerk of the Board c. A. Allen, and says he was only able to ascertain the amount of money paid out by reference to warrants. Colonel Woods adds, however, that a comparison of the books of the County Treasurer and those of the Clerk of the Board shows that all money received has been promptly accounted for.
 The full text of Colonel Woods's report follows
 Text of the Report.
 Montgomery, Ala, February 2s, 1903. Hon. w. H. Thomas, Associate Judge or
 the City Court of Montgomery:
 Dear Sir-In obedience to directions Of the Governor I have made an examina- ton of the books of the Board of Reve- nue of Montgomery County. from April g. 1899, to October 1. 1902. The directions the recommendation of the grand jury of Montgomery County in a report of that body submitted to your honor July 19, 1902 which recommendation was as fol- lows:
 "The grand jury respectfully recom- mends that due request be made for the official State Examiner to examine all of the books and accounts of all the County officials including the books of the Board of Revenue from the date of the last of f1cial examination up to the first day of october. 1902. and that such examiner Is requested to make to the next grand jury such reports and recommendations as he may deem proper. Such official examina- ton should not only show mere verifi- cation of accounts, but should show that nll collections and disbursements are made according to law.
 The grand jury also recommends that such examiner open new set of ac- counts for the clerk of the Board of Rev enue on the first day of October, 1902. so that all receipts and disbursements should be shown on their respective accounts, in- stead of being kept in the one account known as general fund.
 In order to ascertain whether or not ''all collections and disbursements" made by the Board of Revenue "are made ac- cording to law" 1t became necessary for me to carefully examine the statutes gov erning the same.
 Act Creating Board.
 The Board of Revenue of Montgomery County was created by an act of the General Assembly. approved March Il. February g. 1877. the General Assembly abolished "the Court of County Commis- sioners of Montgomery County. as orga- nlZed at the passage of the act and the Board of Revenue shall respectively perform all the duties and the services and shall exercise all the powers which are or may he required by the several members of the Courts of County Com m!ssioners."
 The act of March Ii. 1875 creating the Board of Revenue. provided specially for the organization of the Board. its ses- sions, the conduct of its business. the duties and compensation of it's clerk, and the duties of its members. It provided that one of its members shall be elected presiding officer when the Board Is in session. that the Board shall elect one Of its members as clerk, who shall keep an office at or near the court house of the County and whose duty 1t shall be to receive and prepare business and ob- tain information for the sessions of the Board and to see to the execution of all orders thereof, and to report to the Board all attractions of the revenue law in said County. of which he can obtain authentic information, and generally to do and per form all matters as may be required of hv Gai1 may at any time change its President or Clerk. It was further provided that the Board shall hold four sessions nually, viz, on the second Monday of February. April and November. .and on the third Monday in August and may hold a special session at any time upon the call of the President or any two members of the Board; notice of such special sessions to be given by adver- tisement for five days in a newspaper published in the city of Montgomery. The Act contained the following clause: "That the Clerk of said Board shall re- ceiVe for his services a salary of not less than $1.0O0 nor more than $l,500. accord ing to the extent of his usefulness. to he determined by the other members of the Board. and the other members of said Board shall be allowed 2 per diem while in session, andl mileage at the rate of cents per mile to and from the place of meeting, the whole compensation In no case to exceed the sum of $l00 per annum to any such members" During the pc riod of existence of the Court of County Commissioners after the creation of the Board of Revenue, not quite two years. the act of March Il. 1875, provided that the court should hold four annual ses- sions each of which sessions should net be longer than one week and that tho members should receive s per day and mileage at the rate of cents going and returning for each day of said four weeks they might be engaged in the du- ties of said office and should not receive any other allowance or compensation. It is seen therefore that the per diem of