The copper era., 1905-08-24
DOnau of Pima Resigned By Request of
 the Governor.

late yesterday afternoon when, afte1 a more or less violent discussion O. the proposition to increase the as sessment of atented mines, the res ignation of A. s. Donau, member from-the First district, was requested The board had just adjourned, and MT. Donau, the leader of the opposi. tion to the measure for raising the assessments, was leaving the capitol grounds when there was handed tC him the following communication:
 August Is, 1905. MT. Alfred S.. Donau, Phoenix:
 ''Dear Sir: I hereby request your immediate resignation as a member of the territorial board of equaliza. tion. Please answer at once.
 'Yours respectfully, | ''JOSEPH H. KIBBEY,
 Governor"
 On receipt of the request MT. Donau returned to the capitol building and went to the governors office, where he wrote the following answer: ''Hon. Joseph H. Kibbey, Governor of
 Arizona, Phoenix:
 "Sir: hereby tender my resigna- tion as member of the territorial board of equalization agreeably with your request of this day.
 "YOurs respectfully,
 ''ALFRED s. DONAU." The governor then appointed Thomas F. Wilson of Tucson to fill the vacancy, and MT. Wilson arrived the following morning.
 Previous to the resignation of Mr. Donau, however, a crisis was brought about by the attorney-general, who submitted an opinion he had previ- ously prepared that the board had power to raise and lower the valua- tions of all classes of property in the territory, including patented mines. This must be done in all other cases by counties, and the raising and low ering in each county must be uni form.
 As soon as the board met in the af- ternoon the actual work of raising the assessments of the mines was taken up and a schedule was prepared. though it was not afterward submit ted in quite its original form.
 Members of the board were fur nished with copies of the schedule and there followed at times heated interchange of views, the opposition, led by MT. Donau, basing their oppo- sition on the ground of the sweeping character of the raise. It was well known that Messrs. Donau and Bow man would oppose the plan of in- crease, but it was not definitely known that they would have any SUD- port.
 Finally, affairs were brought to focus late in the afternoon by the in- troduct:on by MT. Wood of a resolu- tion embracing the schedule of raises. The resolution also provided for an increase of 100 per cent on Improvements on mines. When the adoption of the resolution was moved MT. Donau offered an amendment providing for beginning with the item of cultivated lands, at the head of the printed list, and taking the items in the order in which they ap- peared there. The amendment was defeated by the following vote:
 Ayes-Donau, Solomon, Bowman.
 NavS-Hi11 Wood Parl.er
 The original motion was then de- feated by the same division.
 A renewal of the motion of Mr. Donau carried, and on the motion of MT. Parker it was decided to accept the returns from the counties with reference to cultivated lands. The subject of uncultivated land was next taken up, but as all the data required was not yet at hand this was allowed to go over until today. The board ad- journed a little after o'clock.
 On the following day, and after MT. Wilson had been sworn in as member of the board, the business of raising the mining companies was handled with dispatch. MT. Wood in- troduced his resolution of the day be- fore which had been defeated by d tie vote. The resolution had been changed in two particulars only. The resolution was adopted by unani nous vote.
 '-The total with the assessments on will bring the whole assessments of patented mines up to about S15, ,OOO,OOO. This is an increase of nearly s11, ,OOO,OO over the amount returned by the county boards.
 After this had been disposed of the board took up the matter of city lots. The returns from the counties were permitted to stand except in the case of theSfeturns from Pima, where the