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Total cost of S. R. R., Dec. 1, '45,

Locomotives, &c. on C. R. R., $120,000; on S. R.
R., $55,000,

Unsold Int. Imp. lands, 285,671 51-100th acres,
Balance of 500,000 to be selected, 7,495 59-100th

$1,054,462 47

$175,000 00

357,089 38

acres, say $10 per acre,

74,955 90

Salt spring lands, 72 sections at an average ef $2,50 per acre,

115,200 00

Asset lands appraised and for sale at land office,
Other assets rec'd on settl'mt with state bk. &c. say

28,172 41

10,000 00

$3,928,702 61

The annual interest on so much of the Internal Improvement debt, as by law is bearing interest, or which, in any adjustment of the partpaid five million loan bonds, will probably be considered as on interest, amounts to about $240,000. The annual interest on the cost of including expense of remittance,

the two Railroads, at 6 per cent., &c., would be about $200,000. There will probably be differences of opinion as to whether the roads will yield either amount in net profits in the hands of the state. But whether they will or not, it is not to be expected that they will yield for some years to come, anything towards paying the interest even on our recognized and adjusted bonds, amounting to a little over $100,000 a year. The roads are yet in debt for iron and other materials, and before there can be any of their proceeds applied to pay interest on our roads, there remains some $50.000 of treasury notes yet to be absorbed by the proceeds of the roads, or from other sources, and about $50,000 or upwards of back interest to be paid on old Internal Improvement warrants, which, in all the acts with regard to our Internal Improvement debt, have a pledge of having the interest paid before any is paid on the five mil

lion loan bonds. Besides, I believe it is generally admitted by all who have been concerned with, or who have looked at the situation of the Central Railroad, that it now requires new iron from Detroit to Ypsilanti, or farther; or in fact, that to fit it properly for the amount of freight and travel it should be enabled to accomodate, it ought to be re-laid immediately, as far, at least, as Dexter, with a heavy T or H rail, to pay for which, and to extinguish the present debt of the road for iron, &c., would consume all its net profits for several years hence. Whether an expenditure for such purpose shall be authorized or not, there is little doubt but there must be for some time to come a large deficiency in the net proceeds of the roads to meet the interest even on the adjusted portion of our Internal Improvement debt; what that deficit will probably be for the present or future fiscal years, will, of course, be better known by the time the Legislature will convene, than it is at present.

The present indebtedness and embarrassments of the roads are such that of the $2,466 65 due from the sinking fund, or in other words, from the proceeds of the Railroads to the University interest fund, only $600 was received from that source, and that in the early part of last winter; the balance of the $2,466 65, so far as paid out to the professors in the University or others, having had to be advanced from other sources.

The Trust Funds.

These have no proper indebtedness, except the balance of the $100,000 loan to the University, not yet assumed by the internal improvement fund, under the acts authorising the reception of warrants on that fund in payment of new sales of University lands. This balance of the University debt in the mean time uses up so much as is necessary to meet the annual interest thereon, of what would otherwise be available for the support of that institution. The school fund having now no indebtedness, it will be enabled hereafter to distribute annually as school money, the entire amount of interest received on the instalments due, or monies paid in for school lands. The school and University lands form the basis of the resources of these funds, and the interest on the monies due, or paid for these lands, constitutes their respective proper incomes; but in addition to this, the school fund has had the benefit for the last three years, of a gen

eral half mill tax. For details as to the past or the present situation of the school or University funds, or in other words, the sale of school and University lands, the legislature are respectfully referred to the reports of the commissioner of the state land office.

Contingent Liabilities of the State.

The only loans or debts for which the state has already, or may hereafter become liable, are the balance of the $100,000 loan to the University, not already assumed by the internal improvement fund, and the principal and interest of the $100,000 stock issued to the Detroit and Pontiac railroad company. The University fund being amply able to meet the interest on the former, and the principal when it falls due, there is no prospect of the general fund ever being called upon to provide for either interest or principal of that loan. In relation to the Detroit and Pontiac railroad stock, the company have until February next to pay up the principal and interest past due and unpaid by the company, and get a release of the state lien; and if not paid by the company, Alfred Williams and associates, have the privi lege of paying up the same within six months thereafter, and taking an assignment of the state lien on the railroad. As it is anticipated that payment will be made either by the company or by Williams, within the current fiscal year; and in case neither should pay, the state has the means of providing for reimbursing herself both for what she may hereafter become liable for, and for what she has already paid on account of interest not paid by the company, amounting to $12,720; this item might perhaps be more properly considered a resource of the state for that amount, than as a liability likely to further increase her indebtedness.

Aggregate Valuation, State Tax, &c.

In order that the legislature should have before them a table showing at a glance, the fluctuations not only of the aggregate valuation of the entire state, but also the fluctuations in the several counties, for the last eight years, being the whole period for which any state tax has been assessed and realized to the state, I have prepared a statement marked (D.) showing the aggregate valuation, and the valuation of each county for each year from 1838 to 1845, inclusive. It will be perceived that the fluctuations in the several counties in each year do not correspond with the rise or fall in the aggregate

valuation that whilst the latter may have risen as compared with some previous years, the valuation of some counties has suffered a considerable diminution; and that in those years when there may have been a falling off in the aggregate valuation throughout the state, there has been a falling off in several counties considerably beyond the aggregate reductior, and in others of course less than the average decrease. But whether this has been the case so far as to require any legislative interposition, can be determined by the legislature itself alone.

I have also prepared a statement marked (E) showing the amount of state fax assessed upon each county for and since the year 1838 to the present time, including the assessment of 1845, not chargeable to the several counties until February next. This will give in one view the entire state tax hitherto levied in the state, and accounted for or to be accounted for to the state treasury, as the state tax assessed for 1836 and 1937 was all remitted to the several counties, by an act passed in 1833, in consequence of the irregularities and inequalities in the assessments in the several counties. I have added two columns, the one showing the aggregate tax charged each coun ty for the above eight years, and the other, the average of the state tax on each county during the same period. The state tax having been two mills on the dollar, except in 1811, when it was three mills, and in 1815, for which it is two and a half mills, the average rate for the eight years during which a state fax has been collected, will have been 2 3-16 mills.

It being usual in the annual reports from like departments in many other states, to exhibit the amount of taxation, not only for state pur poses, but also the county, town, school, road and other taxes, I addressed a circular in August last to the several county clerks, requesting them to furnish me, at the time of making their returns of the aggregate valuation in their several counties, with the amount of county tax and the town taxes in the several townships, if they could conveniently obtain the later from the supervisors at their annual meeting. Although this was asking them for information, which the law did not require them to obtain or communicate, yet I am happy to state that in every instance, (except from the county of Chippewa) the information was very cheerfully furnished as far as these officers

were in possession of it or it could be obtained. From some counties they were enabled to furnish the amount of town taxes from all the towns; but in general, from there being no provision of law authorizing or requiring returns of the amount to be assessed in the several towns, to the county clerks, these officers were able to make only partial returns; and as a full table of the township taxes could not therefore be given, they have been omitted in the statement marked (F) which gives the aggregate valuation, the state tax, the amount of county tax, and of the half mill school tax, and road tax in the several counties. The latter tax is given from an estimate at the minimum price for which a day's labor on the highway can be commuted, and allowing one day's road-work on each hundred dollars valuation, making at thes? rates a tax of six and a fourth mills on the dollar. The returns of the amount of taxes for township purposes, though not so complete as to be embraced in the above tabu. lar statement, are, however, of course, at the service of the legislature or of any committee or member of either House; and if thought worth while to make some provision for their return to the county elerks hereafter, and by the county clerks to this office, they might be useful in suggesting the appropriate matter to be stated in such returns. As near as can be judged from the partial returns received, the township taxes, exclusive of the half-mill school tax, would average about $200 a town, or for the four hundred and odd towns in the state, the aggregate would probably exceed $80,000.

Bank Specific Tax.

A law of last winter, which re-enacted the provisions of the Revised Statutes, with regard to a specific state tax on banks, with some alterations and amendments, provided for the payment of an annual max of one half of one per cent, payable semi-annually, on the capital stock of all banks within the state, but no such tax has been received from any of them during the last fiscal year, except from two which were subject to such a tax under their charters. One of these, the Bank of St. Clair, has since been wound up; and the payment from the other, the Oakland County Bank, was on account of arrearages for two years preceding last January, which were only paid in March last, after they were notified of their delinquency.

Another instalment was due from the latter, last July, but as it was

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