Friday, June 13, 2014

Board of Supervisors 1883 (Part Two)



The Cortland News, Friday, November 30, 1883.
Board of Supervisors.
NINTH DAY—NOV. 21.
   On petition of the assessors of Virgil, 28 acres of land belonging to William Blodgett, and 63 acres to M. S. Spencer, were added to the assessment roll of that town.
   The committee to settle with loan commissioners reported that they had examined the books, papers, etc., of said commissioners, and found them correct. The report shows that $19,368 remain on loan; $3,322 of principal had been received and paid to the State Treasurer; and that they had received $1,394.13 interest.
   The committee to whom was referred the matter of designating some proper authority to carry out the provisions of the act relative to the burial of deceased soldiers, recommended that the town clerks of each town be appointed, and the recommendation was adopted.
   The Supervisors of the several towns were authorized to procure all the maps and surveys necessary to comply with the law in relation to descriptions of lands of non-residents, etc.
   Mr. Clark was authorized to add $360 for the purchase of a book to keep accounts of school moneys to the abstract of Taylor.
   The compensation of grand and petit jurors at $2 per day and 5 cents per mile traveling fee.
   The Supervisors of the towns of Cortlandville and Homer were designated to superintend all repairs on county buildings except the alms-house, and to purchase all necessary furniture, etc. Supervisors visited the alms-house in the afternoon.
TENTH DAY—NOV. 22.
   Mr. Crane was authorized to add $3 in favor of M. Briggs and $7 for J. T. Simmons, for damages to sheep, to the abstract of Homer.
ELEVENTH DAY—NOV. 23.
   The report of the committee on court-house and jail, giving a list of furniture therein, was read and filed.
   The committee to settle with County Treasurer presented his report which they found to be correct, and congratulated the county on "having so able and efficient an officer to take charge of its finances." The report showed that $4,681.66 remained on hand at the last annual settlement; that $135,344.82 had been received during the year; that $134,178.09 had been paid out, and that $5,848.39 remained in the treasury, of which $3,021.49 belonged to several of the towns, as justice's fines and license moneys, leaving $2,826.90 to the general fund.
   The receipts and vouchers of the Treasurer were ordered sealed, countersigned by the chairman and clerk, and deposited in the county's safe for one year and then destroyed by the next committee.
   A resolution that the journals of previous Boards of Supervisors from 1861 down to 1881, which have been bound, be deposited in County Clerk's office, was lost by a vote to 3 of 11.
   The sum of $25 for religious services at the alms-house during the coming year, was carried by a vote of 8 to 6.
   The compensation for conveying juvenile delinquents and insane to the asylums for such was fixed at $2 per day, and for fare and maintenance actually paid.
   The Supervisors were authorized to re-assess the unpaid taxes from their assessment rolls of last year to the respective rolls of the present year at the same amount and against the same persons as returned to them by the County Treasurer.
   The Clerk of the Board was authorized to distribute the proceedings when printed—one copy to each Supervisors' clerk of the State; 500 copies to be equally divided among all the towns and the balance to be distributed according to the grand jury list.
   The committee on footing assessment rolls reported 311,966 1/2 acres of land assessed, the value of which is $8,201,771; and the value of personal property to be $1,040,039.80. The report was referred to the committee on equalization.
TWELFTH DAY--NOV. 24.
   The keys of the Supervisors' room and the book-case were ordered deposited in the County Clerk's office when the Board is not in session.
   The Clerk was instructed not to deliver any orders to any person until after the final adjournment of the Board.
   The collectors of the towns were allowed until the 15th of February to settle with the County Treasurer.

The Cortland News, Friday, December 7, 1883.
Board of Supervisors.
THIRTEENTH DAY—NOV. 26.
   An invitation from Dr. Hoose to visit the Normal School was accepted and the time of the visit set for the adjourned session of the Board.
   The Cortlandville town assessors reported that in 1879 Mr. Allen B. Smith was assessed twice on ten acres, and they asked that the tax on the same and interest for four years, amounting to $5.76, be paid to Mr. Smith. The Supervisor of Cortlandville was authorized to add the same to the abstract of said town.
   The committee to settle with County Treasurer reported that the vouchers of a year ago had been destroyed, and of this year sealed and deposited.
   The offer made by the Homer Republican to print 2,000 copies of the journal of proceedings in the same style as that of last year for $1.72 1/2 per page being the only one presented, was accepted and the Clerk authorized to contract for the same.
FOURTEENTH DAY—NOV. 27.
   The committee on public printing reported the following list of claims, and recommended their payment at the amounts allowed:
   Cortland NEWS claimed $359.50; allowed $359.50.
   Homer Republican claimed $110.40; allowed $92.75
   Marathon Independent claimed $41.50; allowed $37.50
   Cortland Standard claimed $304.85; allowed $291.22.
   Cortland Democrat claimed $500.50; allowed $484.35
   The report was adopted.
   The committee on jurisprudence to whom was referred the question of omitting from the assessment roll of Harford the tax on dogs for the year 1883, reported that an examination showed that the law gives such power and they recommended that the Supervisor of said town be authorized to deduct said tax from the assessment roll. So ordered.
   Freetown was also included in the above action.
   Mr. Baldwin was appointed to inquire and report what towns are in need of blank assessment rolls for the ensuing year.
   The time for choosing papers to print the session laws for 1884 having arrived, the price per folio was fixed at 10 cents, and a ballot for papers was had with the following result:
   Cortland Democrat received...8
   Homer Republican " 4
   Cortland NEWS " 2
   Cortland Standard " 1
   The Cortland Democrat having misunderstood the time when sealed proposals for printing the journal were to be presented, the vote awarding the printing to the Homer Republican was rescinded and the clerk instructed to notify the papers that the bids would be again received and the same opened Friday morning.
FIFTEENTH DAY—NOV. 28.
   A petition by the assessors of Virgil stating that a tax of $5.73 on personal property was erroneously assessed against Levi V. Terpenning in 1882 and asking that the same with interest thereon be returned to him was granted. Also that an erroneous assessment of $11.03 and interest on Jay Terpenning in 1882 be refunded to him was granted.
   Mr. Franklin Hatch was permitted to make a statement in regard to a return of an unworked road tax against him, and consideration of the same was set down for Friday morning.
   The time of holding sessions was fixed from 9 to11 A. M. and from 2 to 4 P. M.
SIXTEENTH DAY—NOV. 29.
   The committee on jurisprudence, to whom was referred the report of the railroad commissioners of Cortlandville, presented the following facts: That the railroad indebtedness of the town was incurred pursuant to chapter 907 of the laws of 1869, the provisions of which act, in regard to the manner of raising the interest on the debt and providing a sinking fund for its redemption, have not been repealed, and are in effect as follows: (1) The R. R. commissioners are to apply the income from the town's investment in R. R. stock to the payment of interest on the bonds of the town, and to use the surplus, if any remains, as a sinking fund for the redemption of the bonds; and they are required to provide a sinking fund, their acts being subject in law to two limitations, which are, that the sinking fund shall not be less than one per cent per year, and be large enough to extinguish the debt in twenty-five years. (2) In case the town fails to receive an income from its railroad investment, it then becomes the duty of the commissioners to estimate the amount of the deficiency, both for the interest and the sinking fund, and report the same to the Board of Supervisors, who are required by the same law to levy a tax for the payment of the interest and the sinking fund.
   The Board has no discretion in the matter; the law is mandatory upon them in both cases. The acts of the commissioners are entirely legal, and their request is really for the best interests of the town as they are this year able to retire an amount of bonds equal to the amount raised as sinking fund immediately upon its receipt, which might not be the case in subsequent years. The committee therefore recommended that there be levied a tax of 5 per cent for 13 months on $242,400 (the amount of bonded indebtedness) or $13,130, as interest, and of 2 per cent, $4,848, as a sinking fund; a total of $17,978. The committee also considered the question whether the levy of said tax will be burdensome on the town. A comparison of its tax levy last year for bonded purposes, shows that the amount herein named exceeds that of 1882 by less than $800, and this increase is more than created by the change in the fiscal year on the funding bonds, the coupon dates on the new bonds being one month later than those on the old bonds, thus necessitating the raising this year of 13 months' interest instead of 12, the extra month's interest alone being $1,010.
   The town will therefore be able to extinguish almost $5,000 of its debt the coming year with an increase of taxation over last year of less than $800, which can hardly be considered burdensome on any town. The committee believed the commissioners to be acting for the best interests of the town in thus endeavoring to reduce its indebtedness, and should be sustained by the Board. The consideration of the report was deferred until to-morrow morning.
   The town and county abstracts were authorized to be published in the Cortland Democrat, Cortland NEWS, and Marathon Independent, for the sum of $15 each.
SEVENTEENTH DAY—NOV. 30.
   The alleged erroneous highway tax against Mr. Franklin Hatch coming up for consideration, Mr. Arnold Allen, overseer, who made the return, made a statement at some length, and the proofs heretofore submitted were read, and further consideration of the case was deferred until to-morrow morning and referred to Mr. Carley for examination in the interim.
   Sealed proposals for printing journal of proceedings being the next special order, only one was found to have been received, that of Mr. B. B. Jones, who agreed to print 2,000 copies similar to that of last year for $1.69 per page. And the Clerk was authorized to make a written contract with Mr. Jones for the same.
   Consideration of the report of the committee on jurisprudence relative to the report of the Cortlandville R. R. commissioners was had, when Mr. R. B. Smith moved to amend the motion to adopt the report by causing to be raised the amount of interest payable in 1884, and only one per cent on said indebtedness as a sinking fund, and called the yeas and nays, and it was decided in the negative by a vote of 5 to 10. The vote was then adopted by a vote of 14 to 1, and referred to the committee on appropriations with the remaining reports of R. R. commissioners.
   District-Attorney Palmer appeared before the Board and read a telegram giving notice of the arrest at Atlanta, Georgia, of James H. Fox, a fugitive from Cortland county justice. Mr. Palmer was authorized to offer a reward in his discretion for the apprehension of the said Fox.
   The committee on miscellaneous bills asked that bills Nos. 36, 69, 78, 84 and 85 be referred to the committee of the whole, who took immediate action with Mr. Nelson in the chair, and reported No. 36 at $50, No. 69 at $20, No. 78 rejected, No. 84 at $30, and No. 85 rejected. The report of the committee of the whole was adopted.

Scientific Miscellany.
   A Vienna scientist has perfected a remarkable modification of the microscope, to which the name of gastroscope has been given. It is to be used for looking into the interior of the human stomach. It consists of a tube about 26 inches long and half an inch thick, bent at an angle of 150 degrees at about one-fourth of its length from the lower end. At the lower extremity is an incandescent electric lamp for lighting up the stomach, and a microscope objective. Prisms are arranged to reflect the image-bearing pencil of light along the tube and past the bend to the eye-piece. Provision is made for a circulation of water about the lamp to prevent inconvenient heating.
   Photography of the stars now forms an important part of the work done at the Harvard Observatory. A region of the heavens fifteen degrees square is photographed at a single exposure and 18 of these pictures may be taken on a single plate. A map is thus made of a section of the stellar vault 90 degrees long by 45 wide, showing stars down to the fifth and sixth magnitudes. Smaller stars, down to the eighth magnitude, are shown in photographs of smaller areas. The magnitudes indicated by the photographs do not always correspond to those recorded as the determinations of eye observations. This is due to the effects of different colors among the stars. A red star, which may appear very brilliant to the eye, produces only a faint impression on the photographer's plate.
   Prof. Edward Hall considers that throughout the early geological epochs known as archalan, Silurian and carboniferous the sea covered North America, the British Isles and Western Europe, while a large part of the Atlantic area existed as dry land. He urges that if his conclusions prove to be well grounded the doctrine of the permanency of oceans and continents as tested by the case of the North Atlantic, must be discarded.

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