The legislature, composed of a senate and assembly, meets regularly in January of every odd-numbered year, its sessions being limited to 6o days. The Constitution requires that the number of senators shall be not less than one-third nor more than one-half the number of members in the assembly, and that the membership of both houses shall not exceed 75. In 1937 there were 17 senators and 4o representatives. Senators are lected tor tour years—one-half the membership retiring every No years ; representatives are elected biennially. The initiative nd referendum were adopted by amendment in The principal administrative officers are the governor, lieutenant overnor, secretary of State, attorney general, controller, treasurer, lspector of mines, surveyor general and superintendent of public lstruction, all elected for a four year term. The governor does Lot possess the usual sole pardon rig power but serves together with the justices of the supreme ourt, the clerk of the supreme ourt and the attorney general on , board of pardons. There are nany administrative boards and ommissions, the most important ?f them being the board of ['lance, board of agriculture, )oard of stock commissioners, )oard of education, board of tealth, board of irrigation, board ?f examiners, Nevada tax commission, industrial commission and lepartment of highways.
The judicial department consists of a supreme court with a thief justice and two associate justices, chosen for six years, and en district courts, each with a district judge elected for four 'ears. Each township has a justice of the peace chosen biennially )y its voters. The Constitution provides that only three-fourths of he jurors may be required to agree to a verdict in civil cases. vevada was the first State in the world to execute condemned men minlessly by means of odorless lethal gas. Since 1931 a residence )f six weeks in the State is necessary for divorce.
The county is the principal unit of local government. There mere (1937) 17 counties in the State, some as large as several !astern States put together.
The years of depression following showed their effect in the de :rease to 45,761 by 1890 and 42,335 by 190o, the latter year regis tering the lowest ebb in the State's fortunes. The new mineral Discoveries and new prosperity again raised the population to 31,875 in 1910. In 1920 it registered 77,407, and in 1930, 91,058• Nevada has the smallest population of any state in the Union, and is the most sparsely settled, with o•8 person per sq. mile.
Whites numbered 81,425 or 89.4% of the population in 1930. There were 4,871 Indians, 6o8 Japanese, 483 Chinese and 516 negroes. Of the white population 12,275 (15.1%) were foreign born. Italy furnished 2,500, the United Kingdom plus Ireland furnished about 2,500, while Scandinavia, Germany, Spain and Canada each contributed about 1,000. The urban population in creased from 19.7% in 1920 to 37.8% in 1930, amounting in the latter year to 34,464 persons. The leading city, the commercial and financial centre of the State, is Reno with a population in 1930 of 18,529, a gain of 54.2% for the decade. Carson City with a population of 1,596 in 1930 is the capital.
The receipts of the State in 1936 amounted to $5,687,378, the expenditures to There was a treasury balance June 30, 1936, of As in most States, a large share of the receipts is derived from property taxation, the amount from this source in 1936 being $1,250,908.
The State had bonds outstanding June 30, 1936, to the amount of $1,063,000, incurred mostly for State building and highway purposes. This amount was more than offset by bonds and securi ties held by the State, income from which amounted to In 1935 there were 10 banking institutions in the State-6 of them national banks—with total resources and liabilities of $24,800,000 and capital, surplus and undivided profits amounting to $1,900,000. Their deposits totalled $22,400,000, of which $8,400,000 were time deposits. The latter figure may be compared with time deposits of $23,830,000 in 1929.