2. THE JUDICIARY FUND,

This fund is created by virtue of the following portions of the Revised Statutes.

PAGE 201, "Section 61. Every Clerk of the circuit court shall, at the expiration of every three months after the commencement of his term of office, transmit to the secretary of state an account in writing, verified by his affidavit, to be filed with such account, of all moneys received by him for taxes on suits commenced in the circuit court during the preceding three months, specifying in such account, the title of each suit and the proceeding on which such taxes have been received; and shall, as often as required by the judge of the circuit court, pay over to him all moneys in his hands, received for taxes on suits, who shall execute to the said clerk duplicate receipts therefor, one of which shall be filed and preserved in his office, and the other shall be transmitted by mail to the secretary of state, who shall charge in his books the amount specified in such receipt to the account of such judge, and deduct the same from his next quarter's salary. And it is hereby madethe duty of all clerks of the circuit courts, whose duty it was to receive a tax of one dollar on suits as provided by section seventeen of an act entitled 'An act to provide for the election of judges, and for the classification and organization of the judiciary of the state of Wisconsin," approved June twenty-ninth, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, to pay over to their successors in office, within twenty days from the passage of this chapter, all moneys which may be or should have been by said clerks received as provided by said act."

PAGE 762, "Sec. 17. On each suit in the circuit court there shall be levied a tax of one dollar, which shall be paid to the clerk at the time of the commencement thereof, which tax so levied shall be paid into the treasury of the state, and form a separate fund, to be applied to the payment of the salary of judges; said sum of one dollar shall be taxed in the bill of costs and recovered as other costs of suit."

In many instances clerks entirely neglect to report to this office

the number of suits commenced, while others fail to pay over the money received by them. The whole amount reported by clerks up to this time is $9,327, 0 as follows:

Of this amount the sum of $7,318,50 has been paid over, leav ing $2.008,50 unaccounted for. The attention of clerks has been frequently called to the foregoing provisions of law but with little

success.

An abstract of balances due from Clerks, as above shown, on this day is presented herewith, marked “A.”

It will be seen by this abstract that the sum of $295 has been paid, for which the reports have not been made.

In the last four annual reports from this office complaint has been made of the inefficiency of this law. It still remains unchanged, and increasing negligence on the part of clerks is the result of this seeming approval of the Legislature. The following suggestions of Secretary BARSTOW in his report bearing date December 31, 1851, are recommended to the Legislature as worthy of consideration.

"In order to remedy the evil complained of, and for the purpose of simplifying the manner of keeping the necessary accounts, it is suggested, as a better means of realising and disbursing this portion of the State revenue, that' the clerks be required, as now, to report to this department, quarterly, the amount of tax for which they are liable, and to pay over, at the same time, to their respective County Treasurers the amount so reported, taking duplicate receipts therefor, one of which shall be forwarded to the Secretary of State, to be by him credited to said clerk, and charged to the proper County to be paid by said County annually to the State Treasurer, at the time provided for the payment of State taxes;

and in the event of a failure on the part of any clerk to so report and pay, to suffer such penalty as may be prescribed."

The act incorporating the Wisconsin Institute for the education of the Blind, approved February 9, 1850 provided that a tax of one fifteenth of one mill, should be levied upon every dollars worth of property in this State for the year 1850 to be kept as a separate fund, to be known as the "Fund for the Blind." The balance remaining in this fund, on the first day of January last was $405,84, which amount has been balanced by the General fund, as that Institution is now supported by appropriations therefrom.

4. THE SCHOOL FUND.

The proceeds arising from the sale of School Lands together with the five per centum of the nett proceeds of the sale of government lands to which the State is entitled-the five per cent penalty as forfeiture for the non payment of interest, when due upon School Land certificates and loans from the School fundand the clear proceeds of all fines collected in the several counties for the breach of any of the penal laws of the State, one set apart to constitute the school fund; this fund being subjected only to certain expenses for advertising and selling lands and necessary books and blanks for conducting the transactions therein.

The transactions of the State Treasurer in this fund during the year ending this day are as follows, to-wit: