calendar year for which a report was filed to the first day of the fiscal year; and thereafter reports must be filed annually on the fiscal year basis. In the case of fiscal year corporations, no extension of time can be granted for filing reports other than the sixty days from the close of their business year as provided by statute.

Blanks on which to make report of gross receipts and gross premiums are mailed during the months of June and December, respectively. The reports must be made up as of the last day of June and December, and must be filed with the Auditor-General on or before the last day of July and January, respectively.

Blanks for reports of net earnings or income are sent out about the first day of November. Blanks for reports of gross receipts of notaries public are sent out on or about December 15th of each year.

On the receipt of these reports they are filed, as of date of their receipt. They are then taken up in order, and th amount of tax due on each ascertained and stated in the form of a settlement, or statement of account, which statement of account, duly signed by the Auditor General, is thereupon forwarded to the State Treasurer for his approval and signature. On its return, an entry is made of the tax upon the books of the department and a certified copy of the settlement is then made and sent to the taxable, who then has sixty days within which to appeal to the court of common pleas of Dauphin County, first presenting a petition for resettlement under the terms of the Act of April 9, 1913, (P. L. 48). If an appeal is not taken within said period of sixty days the settlement becomes final. Interest at the rate of twelve per cent. per annum runs on all unpaid taxes from the expiration of said sixty days.

The reports made to the Auditor-General for purposes of taxation are not public records, in the usual acceptance of the term, and copies of such reports or information therefrom, are furnished only to parties in interest, such as officers of the company making the report whereof a copy is required, or their counsel, and such copies or information are furnished to these only at the discretion of the Auditor-General. Where copies of reports are required for use in litigation, subpoenas must be served upon the Auditor-General, requiring their production. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get corporations to make full and correct returns of their affairs, if their reports were open to the inspection of their rivals in business or of the public generally, hence the necessity for the method of procedure above described.

2.

Settlements with Certain Officers who Collect State Taxes and Licenses.

The State taxes and licenses which are not paid directly into the State Treasury, but which are collected by county officers and by them paid into the Treasury, are, as follows:

L Mercantile License Taxes.

2. Tax on Inheritances.

3. Licenses.

4. Tax on Writs and Wills.

3. Tax on transfer of property from decedents' estates.

The Auditor-General keeps with the treasurers of each county separate accounts for the license moners which they collect. He also keeps with the register of wills of each county an account of the inheritance tax collected by him. He also keeps with all prothonotaries, clerks of courts, registers and recorders, accounts of the taxes on writs, wills, deeds, etc, collected by them. By Act of Assembly, approved May 24, 1893, (P. L. 125), all city, county or State officers, authorized to collect or receive licenses or taxes for the Commonwealth, are required to make returns of the same on the first Monday of every month, for the preceding month, to the Auditor General.

3 Duties in Connection with the Disbursement of Moneys, when duly approved Appropriation has been made.

to

The Auditor-General authorizes by warrant the payment of the salaries of all judicial officers, also the salaries and expenses of all other public officers and employes of the Commonwealth, upon the filing with him of a proper requisition, with a detailed itemized statement of claim; he authorizes the disbursement of the appropriatons, or so much thereof as may be necessary, penal, charitable and educational institutions, upon receipt and audit of their quarterly detailed reports. All appropriations provide "a sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary;" consequently, it is the duty of the Auditor-General to have all requisitions, claims, quarterly reports, etc., itemized in detail in order to determine what may be necessary.

The Auditor-General keeps an appropriation ledger in which all the respective appropriations are entered in separate accounts, with the beneficiaries thereof, to which is charged from time to time all accounts authorized to be expended.

The Auditor-General, upon proper information of Escheats being given him, appoints escheators, collects the amount received from escheated estates, and authorizes the payment of the expenses

of escheats.

Besides the duties heretofore enumerated the Auditor-General performs such special duties as are from time to time imposed upon him by special acts of Assembly.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

The State Treasurer

is chosen by the people at the general election, every fourth year, and is commissioned by the Governor to serve four years from the first Monday of May next succeeding his election. He gives bond to the Commonwealth, with ten or more sufficient sureties, to be approved by the Governor, in the sum of $500,000.

His duties are to receive and receipt for all moneys paid into the State Treasury, apportioning the revenues properly between the sinking fund and the general revenue fund, and keep separate accounts of the same; to pay all warrants drawn by the proper officers upon appropriations made by law.

On the first business day of each month he furnishes the Auditor-General a statement giving in detail the different sums which make up on that day the total amount in the Treasury belonging to the sinking fund, and a similar statement of the general revenue fund. These statements give the names of all banks, trust companies, corporations, firms or individuals with whom the funds are deposited, the amounts of such deposits, the securities held for the safe keeping of the moneys, and must be verified by his oath.

He renders to the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, on the first business day of January, April, July and October, a statement giving the balance re maining in the sinking fund in excess of the amount required to pay the interest on the public debt.

He makes an annual detailed report to the Legislature of the receipts and expenditures of the preceding year ending November 30th, and at the commencement of each session makes a financial report to them.

The Treasurer is authorized to join with the Auditor-General in the settlement of accounts, and is vested with powers similar to those of the Auditor-General. With the approbation of the Auditor-General, he may, if he deems it conducive to the public interest, arrange with debtors of the State for the payment of the amount due in installments.

The State Treasurer and Auditor-General, or any agent appointed by either of them, are authorized to examine the accounts of any county officer who refuses or neglects to make returns within the time fixed by law.

All receipts for money paid into the Treasury must be signed by the Treasurer. or his authorized agent, and countersigned by the Auditor-General.

The State Treasurer is the custodian of the several funds of the Public School Employes' Retirement Fund, and all payments made from said funds are made by the State Treasurer, after the warrants have been duly signed by the chairman, and countersigned by the secretary of the retirement board.

Copies of documents and papers under his official seal are evidence in any court of law. He furnishes the commissioners and boards of revision of taxes in each county or city a statement of the amount of tax necessary to be raised therein, and issues his precept to the commissioners and boards of revision of taxes to assess and collect the same.

He is required to collect semi-annually from the banking institutions, in which State funds are deposited, interest at the rate of two per cent. per annum on said deposits, and the Act approved February 17, 1906, P. L. 45, requires him to present all written applications from banks, banking institutions or trust companies, desiring to become depositories of State moneys, to the Board of Revenue Commissioners and the Banking Commissioner, who shall act jointly, for their consideration. The Act relieves the Treasurer from personal liability for money lost by reason of the failure or insolvency of any depository so selected.

He is one of the Commissioners of Public Grounds and Buildings, a member of the Board of Revenue Commissioners, of the Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners, of the State Military Board, Board of Accounts, Board to License Private Bankers, State Workmen's Insurance Board, Public School Employes' Retirement Board, and the Emergency Public Works Commission.

Deputy State Treasurer and Commissioner of Trusts.

By the Act, approved March 30, 1921, P. L. 67, the State Treasurer is authorized to appoint a Deputy State Treasurer, who shall be a Commissioner of Trusts. He gives a corporate surety bond in the penal sum of $500,000.

He keeps a system of books wherein are clearly indexed and described all valuable securities and all indemnity bonds held by the Commonwealth, or any of its departments or agencies, in trust or as security, or otherwise.

All securities, other than indemnity bonds, belonging to, or lodged with the Commonwealth, or any of its agencies, are in his immediate charge, care, custody and safe-keeping.

In case of the inability of the State Treasurer to act, as well as in the case of vacancy in the office, the Deputy possesses all the powers of the State Treasurer until the vacancy is filled as provided by law.

DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS.

The Secretary of Internal Affairs

is chosen by the people at the general election every fourth year, and commissioned by the Governor to serve for four years from the first Tuesday of May following his election. He appoints a Deputy and other officers and employes of his Department. He exercises all the powers and performs all the duties pertaining to vacant lands and the Land Office which appertained to the former office of Surveyor General. Through the Bureau of Statistics and Information he inquires into the relations of capital and labor in their bearings upon the social, educational and industrial welfare of all classes of working people, and collects and publishes important statistics and data relating to taxes and assessments, railroads and other public utility companies, and to the resources and the productive and commercial activities of the State. By means of the Bureau of Municipalities, the Bureau of Topographic and Geological Survey and the Bureau of Standards, he collects and publishes statistical data and performs important duties concerning these several subjects.

His Department, under the present organization, consists of six bureaus, designated as follows:

Land Office, Standards, Statistics and Information, Municipalities, Topographic and Geological Survey, and Bureau of Publications.

The several bureaus of the Department publish reports of their operations, and from time to time periodical publications, all of which may be secured upon application to the Department.

Land Office Bureau.

This bureau contains the records of the first titles acquired by the proprietaries and the Commonwealth to all the lands within the limits of the State; the records of all grants and conveyances from the proprietaries and the State to the purchases of land; the papers relating to the surveys of the State and county lines, State and turnpike roads; the reports of commissioners relating to the boundary lines

of the State; maps and other papers pertaining to the colonial history of Pennsylvania; the minutes of the Canal Commissioners, contracts for sections, culverts, etc., profile maps of the several divisions of the public works and many other records of a miscellaneous character pertaining to the construction of the public works; the records of the Pennsylvania commissioners relative to the Centennial Exposition of 1876; and the reports and investigations made relative to the State boundary monuments.

By Act of April 4, 1919, the Secretary of Internal Affairs is made custodian of all title papers relating to property owned by the Commonwealth and the same are to be kept in the vault of his Department, where they may be inspected.

Rules of Practice of the Land Office Bureau:

Applications for Vacant Lands.

The duties that many years ago devolved upon the Secretary of the Land Office, the Surveyor General and other State bicials, relative to the granting of lands to settlers and purchasers, have since the adoption of the Constitution of 1873 been imposed upon the Secretary of Internal Affairs. While the lands of the Commonwealth have been very largely disposed of there are still many ca that involve questions of location and preemption rights brought to the attention and quiring the consideration and determination of the Secretary of Internal Affairs. No res have ever been kept in the Department, or formerly, under the Secretary of the Land Office, or the Surveyor-General, to show what vacant lands the Commonwealth has been

s possessed of, and yet every year there are applications filed for vacant or unappropriated ands, and the disposition of these applications, where no caveats are filed against them is made by the Secretary of Internal Affairs. When caveats are filed against the granting of warrants or patents, or the acceptance of surveys under such applications, the Board of Property is called upon to pass upon the questions that arise by reason of the filing of such papers.

The old laws that existed a century ago with reference to application for vacant lends and their disposition by the officers of the land office have been greatly modified by the Act of May 3, 1909, which is now the guide in such cases.

There are now no large bodies of vacant land that is, land not already appropriated by warrant and survey-within the limits of Pennsylvania. Small tracts, however, are yet frequently discovered in various sections of the State for which office rights have never been ranted and which by law remain open for sale by the officers of the land bureau. For such trets of vacant land, warrants, under certain conditions, can be granted to any person who may apply for the same in proper form.

An application filed in the office of the Secretary of Internal Affairs is the inception of title to all vacant lands within the State. The application must contain a full description of the land. The forms now in use giving the location by township and county, and also, in deseriptive form, the names of the owners of adjoining tracts on the North, South, East and West. as the surroundings of the land may require; the adjoining tracts must be given in the names of the original warrantee owners. The application must also contain the affidavit of a disinrested witness, specifying whether the land is Improved or not, and if improved, how long since the improvement was made, in order that interest may be charged from that time. It is important to fix the date of improvement, because if the time is not fixed in the application, the land officers are compelled to charge interest on lands within the purchase of 1768, from the 1st day of March, 1770, less seven years for the period of the war of the American Revolution and within previous purchases from the 1st day of March, 1755.† On improved land North and West of the Ohio and Allegheny rivers and Conewango creek, within the purchase of 1784, interest, when date of improvement is not fixed in the application, can only be charged from the year 1797. It is also necessary for the applicant to declare under oath that he believes that no warrant or other office right has ever issued for land for which he applies, or if such right has previously issued, after giving full particulars in relation thereto, to state that he verily believes that it has been abandoned These affidavits must be taken before a justice of the peace of the township in which the land is situated, or, if the land should be situated partly in ore township and partly in another, before a justice of the township in which the larger part of it is situated. Should there be no justice in the township, the affidavits may be made before a justice of an adjoining township or borough, in which case, the fact that there is no justice in the township in which the land lies must be certified by the justice by whom the oaths administered. A person deposing to the facts set forth in an application, who shall knowingly have sworn falsely, is made liable to the penalties of perjury. It is also provided in the case of improved lands, or lands upon which settlements have been made, that warrants for such lands can only be granted to the person or persons respectively, who made the improvements or settlements, their legal representatives or assigns, upon proof of ownership of the improvement, right or settlement. After the application has been duly prepared, it is then to be forwarded to the Secretary of Internal Affairs. It is then made the duty of the Secretary of Internal Affairs to make an investigation to ascertain whether the land applied for is in fact vacant and he may cause surveys to be made at the expense of the State to determine the question of vacancy. If the land is unimproved it will be offered to the State Forestry Reservation and *See Act of May 3, 1909, P. L. 413.

See Act of March 28, 1814, Smith's Laws, Vol. VI, page 207.

are

If found undesirable for forest culture it shall then be appraised by three appraisers appointed by the Governor, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Internal Affairs, who are to fix the price at which the land shall be sold to the applicant, and upon payment of the amount of the appraisement and the warrant fee the Secretary of Internal Affairs will grant a warrant authorizing its survey. The County Surveyor will then make a return of survey, and upon payment of the patent fee and the purchase money for any excess returned, the patent may be granted, signed by the Secretary of Internal Affairs and the Governor. The patent shall be recorded in the Department of Internal Affairs, after which it shall be sent to the patentee for record in the county where the land described therein is situated. A caveat will stay proceedings until the Board of Property, after a hearing on citation, renders its decl

sion.

A warrant authorizes the survey of vacant lands only, as they alone belong to the Commonwealth to grant.

Blanks are furnished by the Department to applicants for warrants to survey improved or unimproved lands.

Patents.

A patent is a deed from the Commonwealth, conveying to the grantee all its rights in the land, describing it by metes and bounds, and it passes, as respects the Commonwealth, the complete legal title, all the preparatory measures of warrant, application, survy and acceptance being merged in the patent. The granting of a patent is prima facie evidence that all the previous requisites have been complied with. Before a patent can be issued the purchase moner and fees due must be paid; and the land is thenceforth discharged from the lien which till then exists. Generally, the rights of the grantee are concluded by the lines and boundaries described in the survey, though perhaps in a special case there might be an exception. Third persons claiming by warrant, application, settlement or otherwise may show that the patent was wrongfully issued to the patentee; or rather, that he is trustee for him who has the right, the material consideration being. not who has the patent, but to whom it ought to have been granted-for the land officers, in issuing the patent, act merely in a ministerial capacity, and cannot change the rules of law or rights of parties. And even though he who has the patent sell to a bona fide purchaser without notice, the vendee is in no better situation His claim under the patent may be contested by one having a better right by settlement, warrant or location. A patent founded on a fraudulent survey, or obtained by misrepresentation and deceit, is void against third persons affected by it.

A patent, however, has always been received in evidence in the first instance, to show that the legal title was out of the Commonwealth, and that all arrearages due the Commonwealth have been paid. The question whether it is good is a subsequent one.

The following are the regulations adopted by the Bureau for the issuing of patents:

1. The patent must issue to the actual owner of the land, or party holding title under the warrantee, or to the executors, trustees, or heirs and legal representatives of the person in whom the title was vested at death, or to the guardians of minor children of the deceased.

2. Warrant es who remain the owners of the land warranted and surveyed to them can obtain patents in their own names (if no caveat remains undetermined), without furnishing any brief or statement of title, upon payment of back purchase money, interest and fees.

3. Exerators, trustees and guardians representing the warrantee or his heirs, who apply for patents, must produce evidence of their appointment as such.

4. When the land has passed out of the ownership of the original warrantee, or party who took out the right, the applicant for patent will be required to furnish evidence of ownership by presenting an abstract of title from the warrantee to the applicant.

5. The present owner of a part of a tract of land surveyed in pursuance of any given warrant, desiring to have a patent in his own name can obtain it by having the county surveyor make return of survey of such part. In making the survey, the county surveyor must, besides giving the Courses, and distances and quantity of acres in the particular part, indicate the residue of the original tract by dotted lines. The applicant will only be required to pay his proportion of the whole amount due on the tract, with fees. Evidence of ownership must accompany application. 6. When an unpatented original tract has been sold and subdivided the several owners may unite In an application and statement of title for a patent, and, upon payment of amount due, with patent and other fees, a patent will issue to them, the said applicants, their heirs and assigns, according to their respective rights and interest, without setting forth therein the particular interest of each.

7. In cases where it is difficult to submit the evidence of title required by this department in order to obtain a patent, any one or more of the owners of the unpatented tract can, through this department. discharge the lien against said tract by the payment of the purchase money, interest and fees shown to be due by the land en docket, and interest since accrued, and patent can at any time afterward be issued to those entitled to it, upon proof of ownership.

8. Under Acts of Assembly of May 5, 1899, April 29, 1909, and May 28, 1915, all tracts of land entered on the Lien Docket, for which applications have been made or warrants granted, also all lots, in-lots, reserved lots or other land sold by Acts of Assembly, or by commissioners appointed under Acts of Assembly, on which no patents have yet been issued, may now be patented upon furnishing the Department of Internal Affairs an application, properly filled out and executed, showing present ownership of such lands or lots, and upon payment of a fee of $15.