Your letter of the 6th concerning convicts for work in Randolph County received. Replying I have to say that the last legislature passed an act authorizing the working of convicts on county roads under certain conditions. The laws passed by the special session have not been printed, and I do not know exactly what the requirements are, but my information is that the first requisite is that the county shall have the road it proposes to work surveyed by a state official. It must also agree to use not less than forty convicts. It must also agree to pay not less than one dollar per day for each convict. It must also provide suitable quarters for their accommodation, including plenty of pure water. The application for the convicts must be made direct to the State's Prison, and if all of the requirements called for in the law have been met, and the board of directors of the Prison have the number of convicts desired available for such work, it is then the duty of the Governor and the Council of State to pass upon the application. I will say that the Prison Authorities have already been applied to for convicts under this act, and they have stated that there are at present no convicts available for this work. All of the convict force in the hands of the Prison authorities, other than those necessary for doing the work on the State Farm, being now at work under contract on various railroads throughout the state.