Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/160

 152 F. G. YOUNG. by accounts kept by George L. Curry and his successor in this office, Benjamin F. Hiarding. The records of the accounts of S. M. Holderness, Kintzing Prichette and Edward Hamilton as secretaries, if ever deposited in the Archives, appear to be lost. Secretary Curry, on taking charge of the office, May 14, 1853, complains of the absolute lack of means for ascertain- ing the state of the territorial accounts. The first annual 'appropriation for this fund was $26,000. Neither the money nor the instructions for the disbursement of it were received for the members of the legislature until the legislature had met in special session in May, 1850. The per diem and mileage, the pay of the officers and the contingent expenses paid out of this fund, both for the regular session held during the preceding summer and for this special session, were then settled from the receipts of the Collector of United States customs at Astoria; Governor Lane had, however, the preceding summer, advanced some of the amounts due to the legislators from the $10,000 contingency fund with which he had been furnished on coming West. 58 It is almost certain that S. M. Holderness and Kintzing Prichette, the first two secretaries, never received any terri- torial funds to disburse. Holderness served a few months and Prichette to September 18, 1850. Edward Hamilton, who succeeded him, and who held the office until superseded by Curry, May 14, 1853, made a very sorry showing with his administration of these accounts. He left no memoranda to indicate to his successor the state of the debits and credits of the Territory, and he seems to have had no end of trouble in getting his accounts with the national treasury balanced. It $1,500; members of the Legislative Assembly, $3 per day during attendance and $3 for every twenty miles traveled in going to and returning from sessions; Chief Clerk, $5 per day; Assistant Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms and Doorkeeper, each $3 per day. No other officers were to be paid by the United States. The annual estimates sent in by the Governors to the Secretary of the Treasury included at first amounts to cover salaries of officials of the executive and judicial departments, but the salaries of these officials were evidently dis- bursed directly from national treasury. 58 Executive Journal, MS., and House Journal, First Session, 1849, p. 57.