Lansing

Lansinq, May 30, 1879. The legislative drama is at last ended, the curtain has been rung down.the actors have dispersed, and it only remains for the Sergeant-at-Arms and reporters to turn off the liglits. ïhe session lasted 51 days, the longestever held in Michigan, and nearly as long as the sessions of '03, '55, ,5"! and '59, all together. The legislators seem to have acted on the Shakespearian hint that if it were not well when it is done, then it were not well that it be done quickly. Whether their action has been wise in proportion to its length is for their constituents to decide, and they will answer when they come to select Eepresentatives for the next leg islature, KEROSENE. The number of bilis rushed through each House during the past week or summarily killed and otherwise disposed of,is so bewilderingly great that one hardly knows where to begin a review of them. Indeed, anything more than a bare mention of the bilis passed would be impracticable, and that you have in your summary of legislative proceedings. The following are a few ofthe more important bilis and the fate which befell them. And foremost among these is the kerosene act. Bills for reducing the oil test were introduced early in the session in both houses, and the contest over the subject lasted, in one house or the other, or in committee of conference, until nearly the close. Addresses, with experiments, were given upon invitation by Prof. Kedzie of the Agricultural College and Prof. Langley of the U niversity, the former advocatingahigh test and the latter a low test. The bill finally passed reduces the flash test from 140 degrees to 120, strikes out the chili test, establishes a unif orín inte of inspectioti, and reduces the compensation of the State Inspector and the deputies who live at points where the trade is large. KEYISION OF THE TAX LAW9. It is a matter of surprise as well as regret that, with the example of the last session before it, the present session should make such a ridiculous failure in its effort to revise the tax laws, One of the flrst acts after organizing was the appointment of a special committee to go over the whole ground and report a bill which would at least remedy some of the glaring defects and inconsistencies of the present tax law. The bill as reported made three changes calculated to excite discussion, striking out the provisión which allows a reduction of indebtedness from the assessment of certain classes of personal property ; taxing banks shares wliere the bank is located, mstead of where the shares are owned, and providing for sales of delinquent tax land through the circuit courts instead of according to the present inethod. The first tvvo topics were debated in the House, also the question of taxing church property, but the tax sale question was hardly discussed at all, when the bill was passed, and sent overto the Senate. In this body it was discussed for two days, and then quietly dropped. When it bëcame apparent that the tax revisión could not pass, the Senate brought forward a bill for the appoiutment of a commission to revise the tax laws and report at an extra session of the Legislature. This bill was variously amended and passed by the Senate but failed in the House, on the last night of the session. The tax law will, therefore, remain as at present until the Legislature meets. THE LICJUOK BILLS. The provisions of the liquor tax bill which was passed after much debate and is to take effect September 1, have already been given in these letters and need no special mention f urther. The liquor pólice bill has not yet received the Goveinor's approval and seems to be unsatisfactory in several respects. It prohibits the sale or delivery of spirits or beer in the same room in. which billiards, pigeon hole, pool, or other games of chance, are played, or allowed to be played ; requires saloons to close at 9 p. M., except in cities or villages, where they may be kept open till 10; requires that they shall be closed on Sundays and legal holidays, and requires that druggists shall give bonds not to sell except for medicinal mechanical, scientific or sacramental purposes. The Governor has doubts as to the efficacy of the section in relation to legal holidays, and has been for some other reason averse to ing the bilí. He suggested to lus friends its recall and amendinent, but they were unwilling to risk it again in the Legislatura; and it remains as ttrafc paased, in the Governor's hands. It is now claimed by some that the liquor tax bill which is entitled "a bill to provide for taxation," etc., has in reality no provisión for assessment or collection of the tax, and vvhile affixing penalties for the non-payment, repeals the law of 1877, which designated the officials and the methods of proceeding to secure the assessment and collection of the tax. Section one provides what the amount shall be, and section two provides not for col lection of tax, but a bond, in the nature of a penalty. The bond is not that he will pay the tax, if he becomes liable to pay it, -which would give rise to a civil liability for the tax and costs, but that he will pay a fine of $350 in addition. Section three instead of requiring an offtcer to assess a tax, requires a man to cojftie in and pay it without any procee&r;g whatever, declaring his liability to pay it. This, at least, is Representativo Moore's view of it, and if he is correct, the law ïmistbe nearly inoperative. KATES OF 1NTEKEST. The innumerable petitioners for a eduction of the legal rate of interest, ïad their trouble for their pains. The Senate passed a bilí fixing the legal rate at 6 per cent., without limit on contracts. The House passed one ixing the legal rate at fl per cent. and ,he outside limit on contracts at 8. ieither house would pass the bill sent over from the other and both failed. The present law theref ore remains. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENUMENTS. Several bilis were introduced proposing sundry amendments to the constitution, but the people will be called upon to vote on only three of them: 1. ncreasing the Governor's salary to $3,000. 2. Providing that penal fines may be applied to other educational purposes than the maintenance of public libraries; and, 3. Permitting tne people of Detroit, under authority of the Legislature, to aid in the construction of a bridge across the Detroit river. An amendment providing that the speciflc taxes may be used for other purposes than payment of the public debt and the primary school fund, passed the House but was lost in the Senate. IIEItE AND TFIERE. A reform school íor girls, a separate school for the blind, and the admissson of women to the Agricultural College were largely petitioned for. The first two were provided for. The last failed in the House. The time for completing the Marquette and Mackinac, the Menominee Iron Range and the Marquette, Houghton and Ontonagon Ilailroads passed. The House struck all after the enacting clause out of tliebill to prevent the obstruction of streama by saw-mill refuse. Two new judicial circuits were organized, the twenty-second and twentyfourth. Senator McElroy's bilí for a State unif ormity of text books, which passed the Senate by a small majority failed in the House. Among the meritorious bilis to fail at the last hours of the session was the measure preparedby the joint committee on asylums, to provide for the reorganization and management of the asylums for the insane. The bill, after passing the Senate, was lost when on its third reading in the House.