The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1921-08-11
CHANGING ASSESSMENT
YEAR TO END NOON JULYl
BILL HAS PASSED HOUSE,
CHANGE SHOULD CONFORM
TO FISCAL YEAR.

The bill changing the annual per
iod in which assessment work mus
be performed on mining claims from
the calendar year 10 the fiscal yeai
has passed the house and now await.
action of the senate, where it will ne
doubt receive favorable aston at al
early date. The bill as it passed the
house reads as follows:
Year Begins July I.
"That the period within which the
work required to be done annually on
all unpatented mineral claims locat-
ed since May 10. 1872. including such
claims in Alaska, shall commence at
- o'clock noon on the 1st day of
July succeeding the date of location
OF such claim; provided further that
on all such valid existing claims the
annual period ending December 81,
1921. shall continue to y o'clock noon
July 1, 1922"
Change Generally Approved.
The passage of this bill is the out
come of long discussion in the various
mining districts of the west. from
which it appears that the change is
in conformity with the prevailing
sentiment among those who are in
terested in the mining industry. Pos
sibly the change is a matter of indif
ference to the mining interests of
Arizona. New Mexico and parts of
Nevada. where the winters are mild
and conditions are not unfavorable to
the doing of assessment work in any
season; in fact, where it is probably
more favorable to do the work in
midwinter. But in practically all the
other mining states and in Alaska
the heavy snowfall and frequently
the excessive cold during November
and December make the doing of as
sessment work very difficult and even
impossible, and the tendency of many
claim owners to postpone the work
until the closing months of the year,
combined to make the change desir-
able
Noon July I.
1t will be observed that the new
law makes the end of the assessment
year u o'clock July l. Why the end
of the year was not made midnight
June 30 in exact conformity with the
fiscal year is not explained and at
this time there is no good reason APP
parent for the change. Possibly it
was done to accommodate the relo-
cation of claims upon which the as
giving the relocators the advantage
Of daylight in which to do their work.
Possibly it is a matter of little i'm
portance but it is believed that it
would have been better to make the
assessment year conform identically
with the fiscal year. just as the as
sessment year under the present law
conforms to the calendar The as
sessment year now ends at midnight
December 81 and under the new law
+ should end at midnight June 80.
Jnless there is some valid reason, |
which does not appear in this case,
10 provision should be introduced
hat will create confusion. Hundreds
# prospectors and claim owners liv- T.
ng in remote sections and even in [
he more populous districts will never /
cad the law They will simply hear /
hat the assessment year has been /
hanged to end June 80 and they will |
imply assume that it means mid
light on that date, just as midnight
December 81 is now the end of the
ear The senate would do well to
mend the law in this respect max Y
ng the end of the year midnight June
0 and thus conform to the fiscal year
q fact.
Assessment for 1921.
It will be observed in the proposed
lw as quoted above that it is speci- /
cally provided that upon its final
assage the time for doing assess
tent work on existing mining claims
extended six months from Deem
err 81 Claim owners should bear in
lind, however, that the bill is not yet
law, and that while it is expected i
hat it will soon be passed by the
anate and approved by the president,
here may be unexpected delay. It
therefore the safest plan to pro-
eed with the assessment work now.