General Assembly of Virginia.
Senate. Wednesday, March 19, 1862.
The Senate was called to order at 11 o'clock, the
President in the Chair.
The following Joint resolution of the
House was received from that body, with the request that it be concurred in:
Resolved, by the General Assembly, That one master machinist, one master spinner, and one master carder, in all establishments engaged in the manufacture of cotton and woolen yarns, shall be exempt from military duty under the proclamation of the
Governor of
Virginia of the 10th March, 1863.
All the absentees of the previous evening were arraigned before the bar of the Senate, in pursuance of a call of the same, and were severally excused and discharged without fees, satisfactory reasons being given for their absence.
Mr. Pennybacker offered to amend, by inserting, after the word "yarns," the following: "Every man and his assistants engaged in wool growing, or any person engaged in growing grain or anything necessary for the public, are hereby exempted from military duty; and any poor man, who is liable to military duty, with four or more children."
The amendment was adopted, and the question recurring upon the adoption of the resolution as amended, it was lo ayes none.
Memorial.
Mr. Robertson presented the memorial of
Joseph R. Anderson & Co., complaining of injustice done them by a paragraph in a late message of the
Governor to the Legislature, and asking that the memorial be spread upon the Journal of the Senate.
It was read and appropriately referred.
Resolutions.
By
Mr. Brannon: Of providing by law that no free negro shall be engaged in the business of buying, for the purpose of sale, any agricultural product or other article without the permission of the
County Court of the county in which said business may be carried on in whole or in part.
By
Mr. Nash: Of repealing or amending the first section of an ordinance of the
Convention "for the better regulation of the army and navy, and for the auditing and settlement of claims arising out of the defence of the
Commonwealth," passed April 30th, 1861.
By
Mr. Carson: Of authorizing the
Auditing Board to allow pay to the
Brigade Inspector and
Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the 16th brigade, while in actual service.
By
Mr. Robertson: That the Committee of Finance be instructed to inquire into the expediency of abolishing the Board of Public Works and transferring its duties, during the war, to the
Governor, First and Second Auditors, Treasurer, and Register of the Land Office; also, of disallowing or reducing the per diem compensation now allowed to the members of the Board of Auditors, or of remodeling the said Board; also, of abolishing the office of
Superintendent of Weights and Measures, and transferring the duties of that office to the Register of the Land Office, or other officer of the
Government; also, of abolishing the offices or appointments of
Vaccine Agents, and transferring the duties thereof to the
Medical Board of the University of Virginia; also, of increasing the fee to be taxed for the
Attorney General in motions or salts on behalf of the
Commonwealth in the Circuit Court of
Henrico against public debtors and defaulters to $10, and of confining the payment of such fees by the
Auditor to cases in which they shall actually have been collected and paid into the Treasury.
Mr. Thomas, of
Fairfax, moved to refer the resolution to a special committee of three, instead of the Committee of Finance.
The motion was agreed to; whereupon the
President appointed the following committee:
Messrs Robertson,
Day, and
Isbell.
The tax bill.
The tax bill coming up as the next business in order, it was variously amended, and passed.
On motion of
Mr. Frazier, the Senate adjourned.
