The debt of Massachusetts, on its own account, was, on the 1st January, 1848, $1,152,031.62 Liability of the Commonwealth for scrip loaned to the various railroads, The value of the property of the Commonwealth, Jan 1, 1848, Mortgages on the various railroads, Total property of the Commonwealth, Excess of resources over liabilities, Deduct for funds specifically appropriated, Excess of resources for ordinary revenue, 5,049,555.56 6,201,587.18 $1,316,621.69 466,396.08 5.925.377.74 7,708,395.51 $1,506,808.33 875,822.18 630,986.15 To this may be added the value of at least 2,000,000 acres of Maine lands, which will remain after enough has been sold to raise the school fund to its legal limit. Abstract of the Returns of the Banks in Massachusetts for 1847. Insurance Abstract for 1847. Number of offices, 29. Capital, $5,825,500. In United States stocks and Treasury-notes, $76,000. Bank stocks in Massachusetts, $4,012,187. Stock of the State of Massachusetts, $139,408. Loans on bottomry and respondentia, $100,404. Real estate, $443,501. Mortgages on do., $770,692. Loans on collateral and personal security, $368,561; loans on personal security only, #336,468. Cash, $ 192,982. Reserved or contingent fund, $403,218. Railroad stock, $341, 180. Losses ascertained and unpaid, $182,168. Estimated losses in addition, $179,255. Premium notes, $1,982,991. Notes bad or doubtful, but not charged to profit and loss, $18,647. At risk, marine, $8,831,419. At risk, fire, $ 61,628,442. Premiums on fire risks undetermined, $437,240 Average annual dividends for five years, 9143 per cent. (Boston offices, 11 per cent.). Fire losses paid last year, $ 189,683. Marine losses do., $1,737,088. Schools for 1847.- The towns raise by taxation for the support of schools, annually, $662,870.57. Besides this, $7,757.56 income of the "Surplus Revenue" is so appropriated. Total, $670,628.13. Add $33,618.18, contributed as board and fuel. Number of children in the State from 4 to 16 years old, 210,219. Amount for each child, $3.14. Mean average attendance upon school, 130,547. No. of public schools in the State, 3,538. No. of male teachers, 2,437. No. of female teachers, 5,238. Estimated number of children who attend private schools, 12,000. Total number of children from 4 to 16 registered at summer schools, 156,170; add 4,782 less than 4 years. Total at summer schools, 160,952. Total do. registered at winter schools, 168,164; add 10,612 above 16 years. Total at winter schools, 178,776. Children from 4 to 16 wholly absent from school in summer, 41,749; do. in winter, 29,755. Average wages per month inclusive of board paid to male teachers, $32.46. Do. to female teachers, $13.60. Amount of School Fund, Jan. 1, 1848, $845,188.25; increase during the year 1847, $21,775. State Lunatic Hospital, Worcester. - George Chandler, M. D., Superintendent. The whole number of rooms designed for the use of patients is 351. 15 new apartments for the furiously insane are nearly completed. The average number of patients for the year ending Nov. 30, 1847, was 378. The whole number discharged during the year is 183, being 98 males and 85 females. Of this number, 103 are recovered; 23 improved; 36 incurable and harmless; 21 incurable and dangerous. Deaths, 30. Receipts for the year, $45,662.92; expenses, $39,444.45. The number of foreigners admitted the past year was unusually large, being one fourth of the whole number, and their treatment is pronounced more difficult than that of natives. State Prison. -The number of prisoners, September 30, 1847, is 288; 123 having been received, and 88 discharged, during the year. Of the number in prison, 218 were committed for feloniously appropriating property; 11 for malicious offences against property, as firing, &c.; 12 for offences against the social state, as adultery, &c.; 5 for rape, and attempts to commit it; 7 for arson; 1 for perjury; 3 for escapes; and 31 for offences against the person, including assaults and murder. 18 are confined for life; 1 for 35 years; 4 for 18 years; and the remainder for a shorter period; 94 are confined for 2 years or less. 30 are from 15 to 20 years old; 138 from 20 to 30; 65 from 30 to 40; 31 from 40 to 50; 20 from 50 to 60; 3 from 60 to 70, and 1 above 70. 79 are foreigners, and 96 natives of Massachusetts. There are 36 second-comers; 11 third-comers; 1 fourth, fifth, and sixth comer, respectively. There are 15 negroes and 10 mulattos. Average number of convicts for the year, 262. There has been no death. The expenses have been $32,271.71; the receipts, $32,397.97. Balance of income, $126.26. Pauperism in the Year 1847.-The number of persons relieved or supported as paupers was 18,717, of whom 7,920 were town paupers, and 9,005 State paupers. Of these State paupers, 7,035 were foreigners, and of this number 6,383 were natives of England and Ireland. These numbers do not include 127 foreign lunatics, and 1,765 foreign inmates of the Deer Island Hospital at Boston. There were 182 almshouses, with 18,109 acres of land attached, the whole valued at $1,020,739.80. Number relieved in almshouses, 9,218 (the average being 3,950), of whom 4,582 were unable to labor. Number relieved out of almshouses, 9,344. Average weekly cost of each pauper in almshouses, 96 cents; out of almshouses, 961 cents. Net expense of almshouses, including interest, $347,411.19. Estimated value of labor in almshouses, $17,463. 2,501 foreign paupers have come into the State within the year. Jails and Houses of Correction.· -Whole number of prisoners, including 1,060 debtors, was 7,009. Of these, 5,796 were males, and 1,213 females; 938, minors; 435, colored; 2,370, able to read or write; 45, insane; 995, natives of Massachusetts; 730, natives of other States; 1,605, foreigners; 3,679, nativity unknown; remaining in confinement, Nov. 1, 1847, 730. Average cost of board of each prisoner per week, $ 1.74; estimated value of labor in Houses of Correction, $ 15,728.40. Total expense for the year, $72,283.75. pauper Births, Marriages, and Deaths, for the registration year ending April 30th, 1847.-By the returns, which are more full than either of those of previous years, it appears that the number of births returned is as 1 to 34 inhabitants (according to the census of 1840), excluding the population of Boston, the number of marriages as 1 to 114, and the number of deaths as 1 to 54. The "Registration" gives the following tables : No person under 20 years of age is included in this abstract, occupations not being sup posed to have any particular influence before that age. 2. Influence of Domestic Condition on Longevity, Showing, for each County, the number and aggregate age of all in the returns over 20 years old, whose condition is specified. Total, 374 Aggregate age. 88 3,134 204 10,705 30 2,141 88 4,241 885 813 683 203 Aggregate Aggregate age. 9,359 165 12,312 290 12,582 101 7,488 272 12,194 142 10,424 70 3,376 44 3,232 93 3,881 41 2,834 45 2,128 30 2,257 84 3,931 43 3,170 119 4,908 67 4,834 123 5,657 53 3,992 94 4,402 68 5,123 68 2,934 40 2,989 28 1,248 20 1.568 428 15,514 1,340 73,050 280 20,458 520 23,545 1,489 66,600 $14 60,273 36.25 54.52 73.06 45.281 Sylvester G. Sherman, of North Kingston, Speaker of the House. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Attorney-General are elected annually on the 1st Wednesday of April for the year commencing the 1st Tuesday of May. The Commissioner of Schools is appointed by the Governor. The Senate consists of the Governor, who presides, the Lieutenant-Governor, and one Senator from each of the thirty-one towns in the State. The House of Representatives consists of 69 members. The judges of the Supreme Court hold office until they are removed by a resolution passed by both Houses of the Assembly, and voted for by a majority of the members elected to each House. By an act passed May, 1848, the Court of Common Pleas in each of the five counties is hereafter to be held by a single judge of the Supreme Court sitting alone. The associate judges of the Supreme Court are to divide this duty among themselves. There are no longer any associate justices elected for each county. Clerks of the Supreme and Common Pleas Courts. Public Schools. - The State has a school fund, invested in bank stock, of $51,300. By an act passed 1836, the interest of this State's part of the United States surplus revenue (commonly called the Deposit Fund) was set apart for public schools. $25,000 is annually paid from the State treasury for schools; and each town, in 1846, according to the requisitions of the revised school law, voted to raise by tax one third as much as they receive from the State, and many of the towns raise a much larger sum. The amount expended for schools in 1844 (exclusive of academies and private schools) was over $54,000. For several years past, great exertions have been made in all parts of the State in improving the schools, and a very large sum has been expended in erecting district school-houses, and repairing old ones. By an act passed June, 1848, the proceeds of the militia commutation tax in each town are to be applied hereafter to the support of public schools. For several years past, $1,500 has been annually appropriated by the State for the instruction of the deaf, dumb, and blind, in asylums out of the State. Mr. Barnard, the Commissioner, has made no report for two or three years past. Providence Athenæum.· Thomas H. Williams, Librarian. The charter of this institution was granted in January, 1836; and in September, 1847, its library contained 13,533 volumes. Of this number, 12,733 have been purchased, and 800 given. The total outlay for books has been $20,416.99; making the average cost per volume, $1.56. 531 volumes were added in the year ending September, 1847, exclusive of pamphlets, at a cost of $1,125.96, or $2.12 per volume. The number of volumes in the public libraries of Providence is 44,000. State Prison. Thomas W. Hayward, of Providence, Warden. The number of prisoners, October 1st, 1847, was 18,-17 males and 1 female. All the males but one are employed in making shoes. In the Providence county jail the prisoners are employed in making tables and coffins. FINANCES. When the State first received the deposit fund or surplus revenue from the United States, they invested it for schools. For the State prison and the Dorr war the State has since used $ 152,719.21 of it, and this is sometimes spoken of as a debt. The State owes $25,000 on note to the Bank of North America, and by a resolution passed in June, 1848, the Treasurer is authorized to borrow $ 16,000 more. This course was taken to prevent using up any more of the surplus revenue, which by former laws had been specially devoted to schools. There is also a claim of about $ 40,000 for some old Revolutionary certificates, the validity of which is disputed. |