National Republican., 1883-10-23
IMPORTANT LAND DECISION.

Opinion OF tho Secretary OF the Interior
in tho Southern minnesota Railway
Case.
The Southern Minnesota Railway Exten-
sion company VS.. Augustus Kufner, was yes
terday decided by the secretary of the interior.
In 1876 the land grant of the railway was
certified to the state of Minnesota by the
land department for the benefit of tho rail-
way company
Kufner, however, recently made entry of n
tract of land and his entry was received by
the commissioner of the land office, who held
that tho certification of lands to the state was
irregular, and that tho certificates had not
the force of patents
The secretary, upon review of the legisla-
ton on the subject, holds that by virtue of
the grant and under the act of July 4, 1866, as
amended July 10 of the same year, the title to
tho land in contest passed to the state of Min
nesota for the benefit of said company when
the tract was certified to the state in 1876 by
the land department..
He further holds that it having been de-
cided by said department in 1876 that the
land passed to the state under tho grant aud
it having been SO certified, and under such
adjudication the lands having been generally
sold to innocent parties, such decision cannot
now be changed.
1t is said at the interior department that
the decision of the commissioner, if sustained,
would have resulted in the loss to tho railway
companies in Minnesota of about one million
acres of land, and the decision might also have
unsettled the title to fifty million acres of land
certified to railway companies in other states.
The Work OF the photographic Office.
Steps have recently been taken by the navy
department to bring into useful activity the
work of the photographic office. This office
is established by law for the improvement of
the means of navigating safely the vessels of
the navy and the merchant marine, and for
the dissemination OF all kinds of information
of use to marines. The latter work was be.
gun by Prof Maury, whose investigations
effected complete change in ocean naviga.
ton. Maury's work, interrupted by tho war,
can now be resumed, with improved mp
pliances and q better understanding of the
wants of navigation and the attention of
the photographic office is being turned to
this object under,the direction of Commander
J. II. Bartlett, the successful investigator of
tho gulf stream. A beginning has already
been made, in the publication of q valuable
monograph on the cyclones of Aug 10 and
81 issued by tho office within three weeks
| after the storm occurred.
In order to facilitate the distribution of
information to shipmasters branch offices
have recently been opened in Boston, New
York, and Philadelphia in charge of officers
detailed from the photographic office. The
offices have been established ut the maritime
exchanges in those cities, partly at tho solicit
tation and ALWAYS with the hearty co-opera
tion of the boards of trade and shipping
| interests. By this means the intelligence
received at the central office in Washington
is placed within easy reach of all seafaring
men. The captain of an incoming vessel finds
| an office at hand where charts and sailing
directions for all parts of the world are kept,
revised according to the latest information
from foreign photographic offices, and where
| his own charts can be corrected to date. and
in return his log is examined, and the facts
obtained from his experience are made avail
able at once to the whole maritime community.
The new movement will be of direct benefit
to the merchant marine by putting within
easy reach in practicable shape, the mari
time information which is stored in the
department, and which has hitherto been
obtained by shipmasters only through u
| special application.
4