Mr. Morrill introduced Senate Bill No. 105, To amend article 5 of section 50 of the General Statutes. Read first time. By unanimous consent, Mr. Morrill introduced Senate Bill No. 106, To provide for the examination and licensing of the county superintendents. Read first time. By unanimous consent, Mr. Morrill introduced Senate Bill No. 107, Instructing the State Superintendent to furnish an unabridged dictionary to each school district. Read first time. By unanimous consent, Mr. Murdock introduced Senate Bill No. 108, An act to authorize school district No. 7, Osage county, to issue and sell bonds of said district. Read first time. By unanimous consent, Mr. Morrill offered a petition for a common field in Brown county. Referred to the Committee on Agriculture. By unanimous consent, Mr. Grimes introduced Senate Bill No. 109. An act to amend an act concerning private corporations. Read first time. Mr. Grimes moved that the rules be suspended, and Senate Bill No. 109 read a second time and referred now, Which motion prevailed, and Senate Bill No. 109, An act to amend an act concerning private corporations, Read second time, and Referred to Committee on Corporations. On motion, The Senate adjourned. GEO. C. CROWTHER, Secretary MORNING SESSION. TOPEKA, February 12, 1873, 10 o'clock A. M. The Senate met pursuant to adjournment. President in the chair. Roll called. The following gentlemen were present and answered to their names: Messrs. Blair, Butler, Barker, Crichton, Edwards, Ely, Grimes, Guerin, Johnson, Judd, Martindale, Matheny, McFarland, Moonlight, Morrill, Murdock, O'Neil, Palmer, Price, Schmidt, Simons, Simpson, St. John, Topping, Walker, J. C. Wilson, V. P. Wilson, Winter and York. Quorum present. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. F. S. McCabe. The Journal of yesterday was read and approved. Mr. Moonlight asked, and by unanimous censent obtained, leave of absence for Mr. Martin. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES. Mr. Schmidt, Chairman of the Committee on Counties and County Lines, made the following reports: Mr. President: Your Committee on Counties and County Lines, to whom was referred Senate Bill No. 69, An act to correct an error in an act to amend an act defining the boundaries of counties, Have had the same under consideration, and I am directed to report the said bill to the Senate with the recommendation that it be passed. FRANK SCHMIDT, MR. PRESIDENT: Your Committee on Counties and County Lines, to whom was referred Senate Bill No. 74, An act in relation to poor persons, Have had the same under consideration, and I am directed to report the said bill to the Senate with the recommendation that it be passed. FRANK SCHMIDT, Mr. President: Your Committee on Counties and County Lines, to whom was referred Senate Bill No. 101, An act to amend an act entitled an act relating to counties and county officers, Have had the same under consideration, and I am directed to report the same to the Senate with the recommendation that it be rejected. FRANK SCHMIDT, Chairman. Mr. President: Your Committee on Counties and County Lines, to whom was referred sick, Senate Bill No. 87, An act with reference to the indigent Have had the same under consideration, and I am directed to report the said bill to the Senate with the recommendation that it be rejected. FRANK SCHMIDT, Chairman. Mr. Johnson, Chairman of the Special Committee on Senate Bill No. 2, made the following report: Mr. President: Your Special Committee on Senate Bill No. 2, An act to change the terms of court in the fourth judicial district, Have had the same under consideration, and I am directed to report the said bill to the Senate with the recommendation that it be rejected. W. A. JOHNSON, Chairman. Mr. Murdock, Chairman of the Special Committee to visit the State University, made the following report: Mr. President: Your Special Committee appointed to visit the State University, respectfully report that on the eighth inst. they visited that Institution in connection with a like committee upon the part of the House, and instituted a minute investigation into its present condition and wants, with the following result: The aggregate attendance, and the number of counties represented by the students in attendance during the past year, show that the University is steadily advancing in usefulness and popular favor. The number examined for admission or advancement since the issue of the last annual catalogue (February 1872), is 305. The number accepted and enrolled constituting the aggregates in the forth-comming catalogue is 272. The number of counties represented is twenty-six. Of the aggregate, 272, the number of students whose parents reside in North and South Lawrence is 55, and the number of students whose parents reside in other places is two hundred and seventeen. All the classes of the collegiate department are fully organized. The senior class numbers four students who will graduate on the 11th of June next. The aggregate attendance in the collegiate department is seventy-three, which is nearly fifty per cent. in advance of the aggregate for the previous year. The faculty inform the committee that the preparatory department is still a necessary adjunct of the University; there being at present only one public school in the State, viz: the Morris school at Leavenworth which is competent to prepare students in classics, sciences and other studies with the breadth and thoroughness requisite for full admis sion to the collegiate departments. Both the regents and the faculty claim, and the committee think justly, that in the present condition of the public schools of the State, the preparatory department of the University is rendering a great service to many youths in the State by affording them opportunities of educational advancement which they can not find in the public schools at their homes. The law under which the University has been organized, contemplates a department of medicine and a deparment of law, as well as a department of science, literature and the arts. In the existing condition of the State, it is the opinion of the |