Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1911-02-23
THE COMMISSION OF FISHERIES.


Fisheries. This new department of the
State government was created by act of
February Z, 1898, and was then called
The Board of Fisheries"
A recent report of the Fisheries Com
mission provoked the criticism of the
Times-Dispatch. Our Richmond CON-
temporary says:
Again the State Fish Commits
sion makes its annual report and
shows again that like James and
Jambres it is never learning and
never coming to a knowledge of the
truth
The Times-Dispatch then proceeds to
show how seriously the commission has
mismanaged the fish and oyster inter
ests of the Commonwealth. If the
Times Dispatch will carefully consider
and investigate it will find that the
Board of Fisheries" and Commission
OF Fisheries" were created more for DO
itical than for business purposes-to
furnish places and emoluments for pol
lticians and hangers-on of the dominant
party. 1t will find that many question
able things have been done looking to
this end.
The Act of February Z, 1898, provided
that Board of Fisheries should be Gre
ated, to be composed of five persons to
be appointed by the Governor, one to
be appointed chairman and another sec
rotary of said board, their salaries to be
$1,000 and 81, 900 per year, respectively;
andithe other members to receive no
salary beyond expenses incurred in per-
formance of their duties The Act also
provided that the sum of 81, 600 annual
ly should be appropriated, cor so much
as may be necessary, out of the oyster
fund of the State, which shall include
the salaries as provided by this act, -
to defraV the expenses of the board.
When the spirit of reckless extrava-
Rance began to dominate the Democrat
&c managers of the States finances the
Board of Fisheries availed itself of the
situation. The present chairman of the
Commission of Fisheries was then chair
man, by appointment, of the Board of
Fisheries. He succeeded in getting
things arranged to have his salary more
than doubled and the general expenses
OF the commission much extended. To
avoid the constitutional inhibition of in
creasing the salary of an officer during
the term for which he was appointed
the plan was adopted of changing the
name from the Board of Fisheries" to
The Commission of Fisheries" and
continuing the then members of the
board as members of the commission
This was done by Act of the General
Assembly, approved March u, 1908. II
was further provided that 1.-THE present
chairman of said board of fisheries il
hereby designated as the commissioners
of fisheries and chief inspector, and the
secretary of the said board of fisheries
as the secretary of the commission of
fisheries and assistant Inspector. The
Act also provided that the ''present
members of the said board of fisheries
are hereby continued as members of
the said commission of fisheries until
March first, nineteen hundred and ten"
No more artful scheme was ever de-
vised for avoiding the inhibition of the
constitution and to legalize an unwar-
ranted raid on the treasury. This Act
of March II, 1908, says:
''rhe salary of the commissioner
of fisheries is hereby fixed at twen-
ty-tive hundred dollars per year.
and the salary of the secretary at
eighteen hundred dollars per wear.
The remaining members shall re-
ceive no salary, but shall be paid the
actual expenses incurred in the per-
Torrance of their duties"
AS sequel to this cunning raid on
the treasury we find that the Legisla-
ture of 1910, in its Act appropriating
the revenues of the State, provided as
follows:
Salaries and expenses of the
commission of fisheries, the sum of
forty-five thousand dollars, or so
much as may be necessary, which
shall include salaries of chairman
and secretary, as provided by law
creating the commission Of fisher
ies; TO compensate clerks of court
for services performed by ITEM
under an act entitled an act n have