It appears that the receipts into the Treasury from the 30th November, 1835, to the 3d December, 1836, amount to one

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hundred and seventy thousand, four hundred and sixty two dollars and thirty-four cents, including the amount which remained in the Treasury on the 30th November 1835. The payments of the Treasury during the above period, amount to eighty-five thousand, three hundred and twenty-one dollars, forty cents; which leaves a balance in the Treasury, on the 3d December, 1836, of eighty-five thousand one hundred and forty dollars, thirty-seven cents, this balance has been paid over, by the late Treasurer to Charles Gregory, the present Treasurer. The reports of the Auditor and Treasurer, show from what sources the money was received and the account of its disbursment. The books and accounts of the two offices, are kept in the form and manner required by law; the entries are made in regular order.

The committee beg leave to remark, that by the present organization of the officers and the operation of the laws, there is no check upon the Auditor’s office. His books must be assumed to be correct, in every examination by a committee; but this remark is not made from any belief or impression, that any errors or omission, have occurred in that office. The Auditor settles all accounts in favor of, and against the the State, and directs the Treasurer to receive or pay money as the case requires. He obtains the transcripts of lands subject to taxation, and enters them upon his books. If it be supposed that he has improperly allowed any account, that question, is easily ascertained, by reference to the account and the law, under which it is allowed. But if a question should arise, as to whether every lot of land in the State, subject to taxation, had been listed by the Auditor, this questiton could only be decided, by reference to the original transcript of lands, furnished the Auditor by the land offices of the United States. To examine and compare all of these transcripts, would require more time and labour, than any committee could perform; during a session of the General Assembly.

The twentieth section of an act entitled, “an act to consolidate the acts relative to the Auditor and Treasurer, and election of Attorney General;” approved 2d March, 1835, is in these words:—”The Treasurer shall cause to be made out, a duplicate of the Books in the Auditor’s office containing a description of all the lands in this State, subject to taxation, and shall enter opposite to each tract in the same manner as the auditor, a credit for the taxes on each tract, when the same are paid. It shall be his further duty, to procure from

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the auditor, the lists from the several counties, and credit the taxes paid in the respective counties, in the same manner as the auditor now enters the same.”2 This section was doubtless intended to make the Treasurer’s office, operate as a check upon the auditor’s, in regard to the payment of taxes upon land, but it has no such effect, the time when the Treasurer shall procure the list from the auditor, is not passed,—the time when the Treasurer shall give the credit, is not fixed. When taxes are paid into the State Treasury, the Treasurer can make the entries, because the tax receipts are signed by him, but if they are paid into the county where the land lies, and are subsequently paid into the State Treasury, the auditor directs the Treasurer to receive from the collecting officer, the aggregate amount of taxes collected, specifying or describing the lots of land, on which the taxes have been paid. It is therefore impossible for the Treasurer to make the entries at the time the taxes are paid. The auditor, is no where required to furnish the list of lands to the Treasurer, on which taxes are paid in the counties; and if he was, the Treasurer’s books would be no further a check upon the auditor’s, than the auditor might think proper to make them.

If the revenue laws remain as they are, the section of law referred to, might as well be repealed; but as the subject of a general revision of those laws, is now before the General Assembly, it is supposed that they will be altered, as to make the section operative, or that it will be repealed. The committee will remark in conclusion, that they are satisfied with the manner in which the books and accounts in both offices have been kept, and with the manner in which the duties of the offices have been performed. They would further remark, that the penalty of the Treasurer’s bond is only $50,000; and unless provision is made for the safe keeping of the public moneys, in some place, other than the Treasurer’s office, the penalty of the bond should be changed, before another Treasurer enters upon the duties of the office.