tled "An act to amend article 353, and repeal articles 354, 355, 356, 357 and 358, title 10, chapter 3, of the Penal Code of the State of Texas, in regard to adultery and fornication," Have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed to report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass, and be considered with House bill No. 81, on the same subject, and that this bill be not printed. BAILEY, Chairman, Committee Room, Austin, Texas, Feb. 12, 1897. Hon. L. T. Dashiell, Speaker of the House: Your Judiciary Committee No. 2, to whom was referred tled "An act to amend chapter 1, title 6, of the Penal Code of the State of Texas, relating to offenses affecting the right of suffrage, by adding thereto articles 157, 158, 159 and 160.” Do not concur with the majority. and beg to report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. ROGAN, TURNER, KIMBELL, MAJORITY REPORT. Committee Room, Austin, Texas, Feb. 12, 1897. Hon. L. T. Dashiell, Speaker of the Your Judiciary Committee No. 2, to whom was recommitted 153, 154, 155 and 156 of the Revised Penal Code of the State of Texas, and to add thereto articles 156a and 156b," House bill No. 378, a bill to be entitled "An act to amend article 4990, House bill No. 23, a bill to be entichapter 5, of the Revised Civil Stat-tled "An act to amend articles 151, 152, utes of the State of Texas, in regard to the mode of preventing certain animals from running at large in counties or subdivisions, so as to permit the commissioners' court, on petition of a citizen who is a liner, to embrace such citizen in the stock law district." Have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed to report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it be referred to the Committee on Stock and Stockraising. BAILEY, Chairman. MAJORITY REPORT. Committee Room, Austin, Texas, Feb. 12, 1897. Hon. L. T. Dashiell, Speaker of the House. Your Judiciary Committee No. 2, to whom was referred House bill No. 21, a bill to be entifled "An act to amend chapter 1, title 6, of the Penal Code of the State of Texas, relating to offenses affecting the right of suffrage, by adding thereto articles 157, 158, 159 and 160.” Have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed to report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do not pass. BAILEY, Chairman. MINORITY REPORT. Committee Room, Austin, Texas, Feb. 12, 1897. Hon. L. T. Dashiell, Speaker of the House: We, a minority of your Judiciary Committee No. 2. to whom was referred Have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed to report the same back to the House with the recommendation that it do not pass. BAILEY, Chairman. MINORITY REPORT. Committee Room, Austin, Texas, Feb. 12, 1897. Hon. L. T. Dashiell, Speaker of the House. We, a minority of your Judiciary Committee No. 2, to whom was referred tled "An act to amend articles 151, 152, 153, 154, 155 and 156 of the Revised Penal Code of the State of Texas, and to add thereto articles 156a and 156b,” House bill No. 23, a bill to be enti Have had the same under considera tion, and we beg to report the same back to the House with the recomommendation that it do pass. ROGAN, By Mr. Curry, chairman: Committee Room, Austin, Texas, Feb. 12, 1897. Hon. L. T. Dashiell, Speaker of the House. Your Committee on Revenue and Taxation, to whom was referred House bill No. 398, a bill to be entitled "An act to amend article 5049, paragraph 24, of the Revised Statutes of the State of Texas, and to reduce the occupation tax on certain lines of House bill No. 21, a bill to be enti- peddling." Austin, Texas, Feb. 13, 1897. Hon. L. T. Dashiell, Speaker of the House. Your Committee on Enrolled Bills have carefully examined and compared Boyd. Brewster. Brigance. House bill No. 272, a bill to be entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to incorporate the city of Austin, to grant it a new charter and to extend its boundaries, passed by the Twenty-second Legislature, April, 1891, and presented to the Governor on the 3d day of April, 1891, by adding thereto sections 99а to 99n, Dorroh. inclusive, said sections providing Ewing. for the creation of a board Feild. to be known as 'the water, Fields. light and power commission of the city of Austin,' for the election of said commission by the people of Austin, | Green. defining the powers and duties of said board, including the right of eminent domain, and providing for the protection of the water and other property and apparatus of the water, light and power system of the said city of Austin, and prescribing penalties to better secure such protection, and repeal all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this amend ment." And find the same correctly enrolled and I have this day at 11 o'clock a. m., presented the same to the Governor for his approval. LILLARD, Chairman. SPEAKER'S TABLE. Fisher. Harris. McFarland. McGaughey. McKamy. Mercer. Moore, Fort Bend. Morris. Mundine. Neighbors. O'Connor. Oliver. Rhea. Rogan. Savage. Schlick. Shelburne. Shropshire. Sluder. Stamper. Thompson. Turner. Vaughan, Guad'lup Hill of Gonzales. Benson. Bertram. Williams. Nays-14. Martin. Maxwell. McKellar. Morton. Mr. Drew (present), who would have voted "nay," with Mr. Blackburn (absent), who would have voted "yea." Mr. Peery (present), who would have voted "nay," with Mr. Meade (absent), who would have voted "yea." Mr. Speaker: I vote yea because the unquestioned condition of the court dockets in Harris county is such that to defeat this bill would be a substantial denial of justice to the people of that county and deprive them of the right of litigation and adjustment of differences. ROGAN. Mr. Holland of Harris moved to reconsider the vote by which House bill No. 25 was passed, and to table the motion to reconsider. The motion to table prevailed. The Speaker laid before the House, on its third reading and final passage, House bill No. 268, a bill to be entitled "An act to create a more efficient road system for Travis county, in the State of Texas." The bill was read third time, and Mr. Ward offered the following amendment: Amend by striking out all of section 7, and inserting the following in lieu thereof: "Section 7. The commissioners' court of said county shall have full power and authority to adopt such system for working, laying out and repairing the public roads in such county as to said court may seem best, and from time to time said court may change its plans or system of work in such manner as it may deem advisable; the said commissioners' court shall have the power to purchase such teams, wagons, tools and machinery as may be necessary for the working of its public roads, and also all material that may be needed therefor, all of which shall be paid for out of the road and bridge fund of said county; the com missioners' court may in its discretion work the county convicts of said county upon the public roads, and shall pay the officers one-half of the costs so worked out by them. As a reward for faithful services and good behavior while engaged in any work upon the public roads, the said commissioners' court shall have the authority to grant a reasonable commutation of time for which any convict would be compelled to work in order to pay his fine and costs, and such court shall make proper rules and regulations to govern and control in the granting of such commutation. The said commissioners' court shall have authority to employ such labor as may be necessary to work the public roads of the county, to be paid for out of the road and bridge fund, and such labor shall be under the control of the road commissioners or such other persons as said court may employ and direct." The amendment was adopted, and the bill was passed, by the following vote: Martin. Maxwell. McFarland. McGaughey. McKamy. McKellar. Mercer. Moore, Fort Bend. Moore of Lamar. Morris. Morton. Mundine. Neighbors. O'Connor. O.iver. Peery. Brigance. Bumpass. Burns. Callan. Carpenter. Childs. Conoly. Crawford. Crowley. Cureton. Curry. Dean. Dennis. Dickinson. Dorroh. Doyle. Drew. Edwards. Evans of Grayson. Porter. Ewing. Feild Fields. Fisher. Flint. Garrison. Graham. Green. Pfeuffer. Pitts. Randolph. Reubell. Rogan. Savage. Schlick. Shelburne. Shropshire. Sluder. Feild. Mr. Ward moved to reconsider the vote by which House bill No. 268 was passed, and to table the motion to reconsider. The motion to table prevailed. The amendments were read, and The Speaker laid before the House, with Senate amendments, House bill No. 10. The amendments were read, and The Speaker laid before the House, as special order for to-day, on its final passage, House bill No. 254, a bill to be entitled "An act to amend sections 4 and 18 and 19 of an act entitled an act to Morris. Morton. Neighbors. O'Connor. Crawford. Curry. Dickinson. Garrison. Graham. Peery. · Sluder. Thompson. Vaughan of Collin. Callan. McGaughey. McKellar. Moore, Fort Bend. Moore, Lamar. Oliver. Patterson. Reubell. Schlick. Smith. Stokes. incorporate the city of Waco, and to Holland of Burnet. Turner. define its boundaries, approved on the 19th day of February, 1889." Mr. Sluder offered the following amendments to the bill, which were adopted: (1) Amend by striking out the words "firm or corporation," in line 24, page 2. (2) Amend by striking out, on page 2, line 31, the word "not" and the word Kimbell. Vaughan, Gua'lupe. Absent. Alexander. Mr. Pitts (present) who would have voted "nay," with Mr. Rudd (absent), who would have voted "yea." Mr. Hill of Gonzales (present), who would have voted "nay," with Mr. Evans of Hunt (absent) who would have voted "yea." Mr. Bounds (present), who would have voted "nay," with Mr. Reiger, (absent), who would have voted “yea.” Mr. Mercer (present), who would have voted "yea," with Mr. Melton (absent), who would have voted "nay." Mr. Seabury (present), who would have voted "nay," with Mr. Dies (absent), who would have voted "yea." I desire to herewith spread my reason upon the Journal for voting against House bill No. 254, entitled "An act to amend sections 4, 18 and 19 of an act entitled an act to incorporate the city of Waco and to define its boundaries, etc." First. The bill as amended changes the original purpose of the bill, and therefore violates both section 30 and section 39 of article 3 of the Consti tution. Second. I think it a dangerous policy and contrary to the principles of our Mr. Sluder moved to reconsider the vote by which House bill No. 254 was passed, and to table the motion to reconsider. The motion to table prevailed. The Speaker laid before the House, on its engrossment, with amendments by the committee, House bill No. 15, a bill to be entitled "An act to amend article 822 of the Penal Code of the Revised Statutes of Texas, relating to counties exempted from provisions of articles 813 to 821." The committee amendments were adopted. Question being on engrossment of the bill, the following amendments were adopted: By Mr. Hensley: Amend by adding Matagorda and Add Burleson county to list of exempted counties. By Mr. Morris and Mr. Bean: Amend by adding the county of Walker to list of exempted counties. By Mr. Callan: Amend by exempting the counties of Tom Green, Irion, Sterling, Crockett, Sutton, Edwards, Schleicher, Menard, Kimble, Runnels and Coke. House bill No. 15 was then ordered engrossed. The Speaker laid before the House, on its second reading, tled "An act to abolish the unorganHouse bill No. 177, a bill to be entito incorporate their territory in the ized counties of Buchel and Foley, and government to farm out the public re-payment of certain bonds held by the county of Brewster, to provide for sources of either city, county or State. State against said unorganized counIt attempts to legally sanction specula-ties out of funds now on hand to their tion in such funds, and will eventually, if this practice is not stopped, extend to counties and the State, and will put the public funds under the control of banks and corporations so as to either destroy such banks or cripple the public business. FISHER. I vote no on the pending bill, because it is a local measure that can and should be settled by the citizens of Waco, and further because the precedent is bad and bad policy to farm out public funds, and because the purpose of the bill has been changed and notice as required by the Constitution has not be given, the bill having been amended in such way as to change its original purpose, and to pass the same is in violation of the Constituion. BRIGANCE. credit, and for the transfer and pay ment of the balance of said fund to the proper oflicers of said Brewster county." On motion of Mr. Thompson, the bill was laid on the table subject to call. The Speaker laid before the House, on its second reading, House bill No. 213, a bill to be entitled "An act to restore and confer upon the county court of Hardin county the civil and criminal jurisdiction heretofore belonging to said court under the Constitution and General Statutes of Texas; to define the jurisdiction of said court; to conform the jurisdiction of the district court of said county to such change; to fix the time of holding court, and to repeal all laws in conflict with this act." |