The District Courts have jurisdiction in law and equity, where the amount in dispute, exclusive of interest, exceeds $200. The constitution provided that at the first election the judges should be chosen by the Legislature, but afterwards by the people, and for a term of six years. A county judge is elected in each county for four years, to act as judge of probate, to hold the County Court, and with two justices of the peace to hold Courts of Sessions for criminal business. Clerks of courts, district attorneys, sheriffs, coroners, &c. are elected by the people. Superior Court of San Francisco, John Saterlee, Justice. FINANCES. The total debt of the State on the 20th of December, 1853, was as follows: 3 per cent. bonds outstanding, Interest to date,. 7 per cent. bonds of 1851, 7 per cent. bonds of 1852, State prison bonds, act of 1853, Comptrollers' civil warrants outstanding, December 20, 1853, $4,075.00 5,501.25 $9,576.25 384,000.00 1,422,000.00 100,000.00 1,906,000.00 161,619.80 2,067,196.05 924,259.65 463,360.00 934,259.55 $4,389,075.25 It is expected that the war debt and that contracted for Indian expeditions will be assumed and paid by the general government. The receipts and expenditures of the State under the following heads for four years, from 1850 to 1853, are as follows: Total expenditure, as above, in the four years was $ 2,215,855.62, averaging $ 553,963.90. 111,729.47 Hospitals, During the year ending June 30, 1852, the chief items of receipts and expenditures were as follows: Chief Sources of Income. Property and poll tax, Auction and gaming tax, Commutation tax, Water lots, Forfeited recognizances, $227,288.07 Legislative, . 350,261.61 90,939.75 24,391.25 Printing, exclusive of that of Leg The taxable property in the State, and the taxes thereon for the year 1852, were as follows: - Number of acres of land, 6,719,442. Value, $10,763,010; improvements thereon, $2,976,219. Value of city and town lots, $ 11,977,069; improvements thereon, $ 10,163,631. Value of personal property, $ 21,102,391. Total taxable property, $ 56,982,320. Total State taxes on same, being 30 cents on each $ 100, $ 170,946.96. Poll taxes for 1852, $60,744.28. Total taxes, $238,397.39. Common Schools. — The constitution provides for the election of a Superintendent of Public Instruction, to hold office for three years, and that the Legislature shall establish a system of common schools, to be taught at least three months in each year. By the same instrument, the proceeds of the public lands granted to the State for schools, the 500,000 acres granted to new States under the act of Congress of 1841, estates of persons dying without heirs, and such per cent. as Congress shall grant on the sale of lands in this State, shall be a fund, the interest of which and the rents of unsold lands are to be inviolably appropriated to the support of common schools. The estimated amount of land to which the schoolfund is entitled from the 16th and 36th sections in each township, reserved for the use of schools, is stated by the United States Surveyor-General in California to be 5,201,244 acres. Add the 500,000 acres under the law of 1841, and the amount becomes 5,701,244 acres. The price per acre, by existing laws, is $2, which would give $11,402,488 for the school-fund. The fund, the interest of which is to be appropriated annually, now amounts to $463,360. January 1, 1854, the distribution was made of the income of the school-fund, and it amounted to $5.602 to each child returned as within the organized school districts. The Legislature has established a Board of Education for the State, consisting of the Governor, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Surveyor-General; the Governor being the President, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction being the Secretary thereof. Each town, &c. elects three persons as commissioners of schools for the town, and a constable as a common school marshal, Provision is also made for County Superintendents. State Prison. The whole number of convicts, Dec. 30, 1853, was 242,-240 males and 2 females. Insane Asylum, at Stockton. — $75,000 were paid in 1853 towards the erection of buildings for an Insane Asylum at Stockton. A brick edifice, 130 by 50 feet, and two stories high, and a frame structure 40 feet square, are now built. The Asylum has about 100 acres of land attached to it. Dec. 15, 1853, there were in the Asylum 101 patients,-91 males and 10 females. State Marine Hospital, San Francisco. -- Between July and December, 1853, 1,445 males and 42 females were admitted into the hospital, and for the support of 921 of these the city of San Francisco is responsible. Dec. 23, 1853, there were in the hospital 300 males and 11 females. WILLIS A. GORMAN, of St. Paul, Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Term ends. Salary. 1857, $2,500 EDWARD J. STEPTOE, of Salt Lake City, Governor and Sup't Term ends. Salary. ANDREW H. REEDER, of Fort Leavenworth, Governor, Term ends. Salary. 1858, $2,500 Saml. Dexter Lacompte, of Ft. Leavenworth, Chief Justice, 1858, 2,000 XXXIX. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. THE District of Columbia is under the immediate government of Congress. The city of Washington became the seat of the government of the United States in 1800, and it is the residence of the President, and the other chief executive officers of the national government. By an act of Congress, in 1846, which was subsequently accepted by the people of Alexandria, the city and county of Alexandria were retroceded to the State of Virginia, and the District is now confined to the Maryland side of the Potomac. JUDICIARY. |