pon  the  labor  of  a man  who 
did  the  work.  Before  making  such  a liberal  al- 
lowance— and  especially  advancing  60  per  cent 
of  it — the  commissioners  should,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  grand  jury,  have  made  some  effort  to 
ascertain  what  it  would  cost  the  clerk  to  get 
the  work  done.

We  find  that  on  the  assessment  and  tax 
rclls  of  1889,  a rebate  in  favor  of  the  Carpenter- 
Stanley  Cattle  Company,  of  which  S.  P.  Car- 
penter was  at  that  time  the  manager,  amounting 
to  $615  of  the  taxes  charged  and  $30,000  of 
the  valuation  returned,  was  entered,  and  after 
deducting  this  rebate,  the  balance  of  the  taxes 
charged  were  paid  on  December  12,  1889.  A

( 36  )

rebate  of  $500  in  taxes  and  $25,000  in  valua- 
tion, is  also  entered  in  favor  of  the  Mimbres 
Mining  Company,  Thos.  B.  Pheby,  manager, 
and  the  balance  of  taxes  paid  on  the  7th  of 
January,  1890.  The  most  diligent  search  of  the 
record  of  the  proceedings  of  the  board  of  com- 
missioners fails  to  show  any  order  of  the  board 
allowing  such  rebates  and  they  are  clearly  un- 
authorized and  unlawful,  and  the  grand  jury 
recommends  that  action  at  law  be  at  once  insti- 
tuted against  these  parties  for  the  collection 
of  taxes  remaining  unpaid.