Amount paid during the year, Cash on hand, January 1, 1848, 229,485 81 $34,752 29 RESOURCES OF THE COMMONWEALTH. The aggregate value of the property of the Commonwealth, on the 1st instant, is put down as per page 13, at $1,316,621 69 Add, Western Railroad Stock Sinking Fund, 466,396 08 $1,783,017 77 In addition to the above, there remain unsold over two and a quarter millions of acres of Maine lands, the proceeds of which, for the present, are divided between the School and Sinking funds. Ten per cent. has been added to the par value of the Western Railroad stock, as it is not supposed that, so long as it pays an eight, or even six per cent. dividend, and shows a reserved surplus of from $180,000 to $190,000, it can be permanently kept even so low as that. It will be observed, that the item on account of lands in Maine, sold prior to April 15, 1837, is less than last year by about $27,000. This is in consequence of cancelling notes to that amount, per resolve of April 13, 1847. The house in Hancock Street, occupied by the sergeant-atarms, is included for the first time among the assets of the Commonwealth. The estate, including repairs, cost $12,933 55, and there is no good reason apparent, why property worth an annual rent of $700 or $800, should not be kept an account of. The Massachusetts School fund, School fund for Indians, and the Charles River and Warren Bridge fund, amount to the sum of $875,822 18, as particularized on pages 14 and 15. The first of these has increased $14,510 10 since last year, notwithstanding a reduction of about $27,000, by cancelling old land notes, and the payment of over $15,500 for various educational purposes, in addition to that amount, as per act of April 15, 1846. LIABILITIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH. The debt of the State on its own account, on the 1st instant, as per page 16, was Of this amount, 995,000 is due in 1857. lature. And the balance, for payment. $1,152,031 62 152,300 is payable at the pleasure of the legis 2,163 79 will probably be called for soon: 2,567 83, is not likely ever to be presented The liability of the Commonwealth for scrip loaned to various railroad corporations, remains as it was at the date of my last annual report, viz.: $5,049,555 56 Deduct for Massachusetts School fund, School fund for Indians, and Charles River and Warren Bridge fund, which are specifically appropriated, Excess of resources for ordinary revenue, 875,822 18 $630,986 15 To this may be added the value of at least two millions of acres of Maine lands, which will remain after having furnished a sum sufficient to raise the School fund to its legal limit. The amount required to be added to the Western Railroad Stock Sinking fund, is not taken into account, as the stock paid for by this fund will then furnish a dividend which will be a clear source of income to the Commonwealth. ESTIMATE OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES FOR THE YEAR 1848. It has not been the practice, for some years at least, for the treasurer to furnish an estimate for the present year, at the same time he makes his report for the past. There appears, however, to be no impropriety in putting the legislature in immediate possession of all the information that can now be obtained in relation to the subject; and with that object in view, I have prepared an estimate for the year 1848, which is probably as near the truth as it could be made at any time during the next sixty days, or until such acts shall have been passed during your present session, as may require some modification of it. The income for the year is estimated at ! Add, amount on hand, January 1st, 3,459 55 $492,000 00 and Warren Bridge fund, ! 2,675 22 6,134 77 $498,134 77 It is supposed that the only essential difference between this year and the last, will be found in the amount received for miscellaneous account and for dividends on Western Railroad stock. The first amounted, last year, to over $32,000, and was made up principally from the sale of the estate in Hancock Street, conveyed to the water commissioners, and one half the proceeds of sale of the arsenal on Pleasant Street. The amount estimated for that account, this year, is only $1000. The dividends on railroad stock, for 1847, were one of 3 per cent. on $1,000,000, and one of 4 per cent. on $1,044,100, maing, in all, $71,764. The dividend for the last six months, payable on the first day of January, 1848, is 4 per cent. on $1,176,400-$47,056 ; and, it is supposed, the amount for the next six months cannot be less than the last, as the surplus on hand at the present time is understood to be nearly or quite sufficient to make it, independent of earnings for the same period. It is at any rate large enough to make up any deficiency there may be at that time on the old stock, (which is now $4,000,000,) and pay 4 per cent. on all the new which may then be issued. It matters not if the surplus is at present (as it is understood to be,) in an unavailable state for division, so long as the ability of the road to earn it is well established. No account is made of the income on any new stock which may be issued during the year, and taken by the Commonwealth; as the interest on the debt which must be created to pay for such stock would not vary essentially, for the first six months, from the corresponding dividend,-say one, or one and one half per cent. The gain to the Commonwealth, on account of its stock, has been at the rate of 3 per cent. for the last twelve months, or more than $35,000 for the excess of dividends received over interest paid during that time, to say nothing of the difference between the cost of the stock and its present or probable future value. The expenditures for the year are estimated at $480,000. In arriving at this conclusion, it is assumed that on the following accounts there may be a reduction from last year, of $26,000; viz.: from legislature, $1000, repairs of state house, $4500, printing, $2500, miscellaneous, $15,000, militia, $1000, and normal schools, $2000. It is also supposed that there may be an addition to the following accounts, as compared with the last year, of $27,500; viz.: to salaries, $1000, interest, $8000, asylum for the blind, $1500, and to the state reform school at Westborough, $17,000. It is understood that the balance of the appropriation made for the reform school will hardly be sufficient to complete and furnish the edifice according to the plan, and $15,000 more has been assumed for that purpose. A barn is also necessary, which, together with a further amount of land, may perhaps cost $8000. Provision has also been made, in the estimate, for the payment of $10,000, to be added to a like sum offered by some generous, but unknown individual, to constitute a permanent fund for the use of the institution after it is put in operation. The increase of $8000, for interest, is on account of the purchase of new stock in the Western Railroad Corporation, for which notes have been given at 5 per cent. until the 1st instant, and at 6 per cent. thereafter, until paid. This interest, though nominally a charge upon the treasury, is not so in fact, as the dividends have been, and must continue to be, so much more than the interest, as to make them one of the great sources of revenue, taking rank with the bank and auction tax, and furnishing means for support of various charitable and scientific institutions in which the people of this Commonwealth have an interest, without resorting to direct taxation, which has not been required for the last seventeen years, except in 1844 and 1845, when it became necessary to raise a sum to pay part, at least, of a debt which may truly be said to have grown out of the payment of interest on Western Railroad scrip issued to pay for stock, before the stock began to pay dividends. The amount remaining unpaid of the loan on account of the first purchase of new stock, say $20,000, can be met, or nearly so, by the estimated surplus of revenue for this year. For the last purchase, say $132,000, notes were given, (which, as before stated, bear interest at 6 per cent. since the 1st instant,) with the understanding that the legislature, during its present session, would provide some means for paying them, either by sale of the stock, issue of new scrip, or by borrowing money of banks or individuals, as was done in 1842. It would seem as if a sale of the stock, at present prices, would hardly be desirable, if other means can be provided; and to the issue of scrip there would be the same objection, viz. the low rate at which it must be sold, if it paid but 5 per cent. interest. There will, unquestionably, be a considerable excess of dividend, even after paying interest at 6 per cent., and, in addition to that, the stock at a future time will bring (as it would have done a short time since,) much more than at present. It is gratifying to be able to state, however, that, except the claim first mentioned, the Commonwealth has nothing but its usual annual expenditures to provide for until 1857, when the Western Railroad scrip falls due. Long before that time, the Western Railroad sinking fund will amount to a sum sufficient to pay it, and thus leave the |