X. The coal rents and income accumulated as follows:

The credits allowed from this fund are as follows:

One-fourth commission to trustees

One-half stating account.

One-half procuring trustees

6,438 12

$10.592 36

$ 100 00

37 50

50 00

XI. To this sum must be added the interest which we have hereinbefore determined to charge on funds on hand. (See find

ing No. V., ante). This interest account is made up as follows:

Which added to the prin. of income fund as found 1,148 46

Makes the amount now due on income fund. . $1,378 90

In this calculation we have not charged interest on the full amount found in the hands of the accountants, as per this report, for the reasons that the sum found in excess of the amount admitted as being on hand, is made up of surcharges which were fairly in dispute; besides, it was at a time when the trustees were asking to be relieved of their trust, and waiting for the appointment of a successor, with the other fact that a portion of the fund was in the hands of the exceptant, as mere custodian thereof. We have found, then, in the hands of the accountants totals as follows:

For which sum we will enter judgment, unless exceptions be

filed within ten days, as provided by rules of court.

The accountants will proceed, without delay, to state a separate account with each of their cestui que trusts, on the basis of the foregoing report. The accountants will also pay the costs of this proceeding, as it has been their bad accounting and carelessness that has occasioned the investigation.

Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County.

IN RE GRANAHAN.

1. When no township treasurer has been appointed or elected, it is made the duty of supervisors. either to collect the rates and levies themselves, or to appoint a collector for the purpose of making the collections.

2. Where a township treasurer exists, the law provides that the supervisors and overseers of the poor shall annually, at a meeting, etc., appoint some suitable inhabitant of the township to be collector of the township rates and levies.

3. Each supervisor may give security individually, in which case he shall not be responsible for the acts of his associate in office.

Application for a mandamus.

The opinion of the court was delivered September 21, 1885, by WOODWARD, J.-The petition in this case sets forth that Patrick Granahan has been duly elected one of the supervisors of Pittston township, has filed his bond as such, and is proceeding to fulfill the duties of the office. It further states that James Keating is the other supervisor, and refuses to join the petitioner in the appointment of a tax collector, but threatens to collect the taxes himself. The petitioner prays us to grant a rule to show cause why a mandamus should not be issued, directed to the said James Keating, commanding him to join in a meeting for the purpose of appointing some suitable inhabitant of the township to be collector of township rates and levies, etc. When no township treasurer has been appointed or elected, it is made the duty of supervisors, either to collect the rates and levies themselves, or to appoint a collector for the purpose of making the collections. (See act April 15, 1834, Pur. 1594, pl. 82-83).

Where, as in the present case, a township treasurer exists, the law provides that the supervisors and overseers of the poor shall annually, at a meeting, etc., appoint some suitable inhabitant of the township to be collector of the township rates and levies. Act of April 15, 1834. §31, Pur. 1593, pl. 74. There is nothing in the petition before us to show that the supervisors, even if convened for the purpose, would have any lawful authority to appoint a collector of taxes in the manner proposed. We also call attention to the fact that the act of March 16, 1860, Pur. 1640, pl. 20, provides, that each supervisor may give security individually, in which case he shall not be responsible for the acts of his associate in office.

We can see no sufficient reason for granting a mandamus, and the motion is therefore denied.

Court of Quarter Sessions of Crawford County.

IN RE CORONER'S INQUESTS.

1. It is the duty of coroners to hold inquest super visum corporis, only where there are suspicious circumstances surrounding the death, indicating that it was caused feloniously or in a violent or unnatural manner. Where death results from natural causes as by a stroke of lightning, a fit of epilepsy, apoplexy, or a fall induced by drunkenness, there should be no inquest.

2. The coroner is the judge of the necessity for an inquest, and it will be presumed that he acted in good faith, and his costs will be allowed until the contrary is shown.

3. Coroners' jurors are entitled to one dollar per day where the time employed does not exceed six hours, and one dollar and fifty cents per day where it exceeds that amount; and the time should appear by the return of the inquest. They are entitled to no mileage or traveling expenses.

4. A constable is not entitled to fees from the county for summoning a coroner's jury. The coroner must summon his own jury or pay for it himself.

5. Witnesses before a coroner's jury are entitled to no fees or traveling expenses.

6. The county is liable for the services of a physician, called in by the coroner to make a post mortem examination, but not for the services of two physicians.

7. Where a justice of the peace holds an inquest, it should appear by the return that he had jurisdiction by reason of absence or inability of the coroner, or that his office was more than ten miles distant from where the death occurred.

8. The testimony taken before the coroner should not be returned with the inquest.

Sur return of inquests super visum corporis, submitted for approval and certificate of probable cause.

The opinion of the court was delivered October 12, 1885, by CHURCH, P. J.—There are several matters in the court pending my action, and which make it necessary and advisable that I

call the attention, not only of the coroner of the county, but of all justices of the peace throughout the county, and, indeed, of the public generally, to the law on the subject of coroners and justices of the peace, when holding inquests super visum corporis.

The coroner is a very ancient officer, and originally acted only in the nature of a committing magistrate. Much of his authority in England he derived from the common law; and the acts of parliament, which afterwards defined more particularly his authority, became a part of the law of this commonwealth. It is the duty of the coroner to hold inquests super visum corporis, where he has cause to suspect that the deceased was feloniously destroyed, or where his death was caused by violence, or where he has any ground to suspect that the death of any person was an unnatural one, or an unaccountable one, or a suspicious one. When the cause of death is not doubtful, the coroner ought not to put the county to the expense of holding an inquest. It is true that the presumption is that the coroner acts in good faith and with sufficient cause in holding the inquest, but that presumption may be overthrown by evidence, and when the coroner, holding an inquest, seeks to compel the payment of his fees by the county, the county may always show, if it can, that the coroner acted not in good faith and without sufficient cause or reason. It is the coroner himself who is to exercise his discretion, and he is held accountable for the proper exercise of this discretion, as I have before said. He is the only judge of the necessity of the inquest; he is the one to determine whether any suspicion exists as to the cause of death, and not the neighbors or relatives of deceased. The coroner should not hold an inquest because an individual requests it, but for the primary investigation of the circumstances of the case. So long as there are no circumstances hanging around the finding of the dead body, or the death of the individual, the coroner need not act; neither should he act, nor any one else act for him. We have an act of assembly which provides that, in all cases where, by law, the coroner of any county is required to hold an inquest over a dead body, it shall be lawful for a justice of the peace of the proper county to hold the same, where there is no lawfully appointed coroner, or he is absent from the county, unable to attend, or his office is held more than