The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-11-01
THE STATESMAN.
AUSTIN, TEXAS.
DEPARTMENT NOTES.
THURSDAY.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.


Gould management declined to fur
nish separate cars for the colored
people.
CoAIPTROLLER'S DEPARTMENT.
The comptroller was yesterday of
fered $4,000 county courthouse bonds
of Ell Paso county at par, and he will
probably purchase them for the board
of education for account of the fret
school fund.
1t should be under stood by parties
Offering bonds to the board, that the
board has to be advised as to the in.
debtedneSs of the counties which have
issued them, in case there are any out
standing obligations of such counties
The Indebtedness must be shown tt
be such as a county can readily pay al
the rate of % per cent in ten years.
The purchases of bonds by the
board of education so far foot up
$647 1893, with premium $29, $50; total
$677, 1928.
The comptroller is also offered $751;
coo of per cent BeXar county rail
road subsidy bonds.
LAND DEPARTMENT.
The land board will doubtless make
special report of their operations at
the extra session of the legislature.
The report of the land commissioner,
if one is called for, will show unus-
ually large operations in the way of
patents; and that the fees of the office,
which are now derived mainly from
that source, have exceeded the eX-
penses of.the office about 80 per cent.
Formerly the fees were derived from
certificates for information of various
kinds as well as from the patent fees.
These certificates are large source
of revenue amounting one year to
over $4,000 for railroad certificates
alone.
Commissioner Walsh states that
if the legislature had fur
nished him, as he wanted, with
five or six clerks as bureau to assist
him, he could have saved to the state
the expense of local agents, estimated
at about 100000, and further expense
of classifying the lands, say about
100000 more.
The fact of the fees from patents so
largely exceeding the current eX-
penSeS Of the office is not surprising,
when we take into account that in
some instances a single party or firm
will sometimes apply for from fifty
to 100 sections. In one case we hear
the application was for 100000 acres.
The fee for patents up to 800 acres is
S., and from 800 to $40 acres Sc. 1t is
certainly gratifying fact that the
demands for land In this state should
make the department more than self
sustaining.
Many are of the opinion that the
substitute land bill, which Repre-
sentative Browning, of Wheeler
county, prepared and so StrenuouSly
at the last session of the
legislature, would have operated
more advantageously to the state
than the bill which was passed and
was known as the senate compromise
bill. However this may be, there
was no one more interested
in the matter as member of the leg
stature than Mr.. Browning, who rep
the unOrganized counties in
which are embraced about half of the
100000 of acres of the school lands
Of the state. AS it is, the land board
have had to do what the legislature
should have more explicitly author
lied to bring the lands IN market.
The following is the full text of
the resolutions of the land board for
putting the school lands on the mar
zet. Printed instructions:
Resolved by the. board, That for the
present all watered sections of land
to the common schools, uni
versity, and asylums, be reserved
from sale or lease, except where the
same were occupied by actual settlers,
IN the legal meaning of that term,
prior to January 1, 1883.
Resolved, That under authority of
section Z, of chapter SO, general laws
If 1853, the following is prescribed as
The mode of placing said lands upon
5he market: The application for the
purchase or lease of any of said lands
shall be in writing, and addressed to
The secretary of the state land board,
Austin, Texas. Said application
shall fully and infinitely describe each
md every section desired to be bought
Dr. leased, giving number of section,
block and certificate, and name of
original grantee, with character of
soil, grass, timber and water, if any,
On each section or piece of land. Said
application shall be accompanied with
a sketch of the surveys embraced
therein, and shall state the price per
acre offered for the purchase or lease,
if leased. The application
must be sworn to before some officer
to administer Oaths, and
the lease or sale will be regarded as
vacated and null for miSrepresenta-
ton or false description.
Said application, when so prepared,
shall be registered by the surveyor of
the county or district in which the
land is located, in a well bound book,
to be kept by him for this exclusive
purpose, and which shall be at all
times open to the inspection of the
public free Of cost. The surveyor
shall endorse on said application the
date of registry, with page and vol
ume of register, and shall sign the
same officially. All applications must
be presented to and registered by the
surveyor at least ten days, exclusive
of the day of registry, before the first
Tuesday of the following month. The
surveyor shall be authorized to receive
from the applicant the following fees:
for each section or piece of land de-
scribed in the application, 25 cents;
provided the fees in no one applica-
ton shall exceed 81.
Immediately after such registry the
will be forwarded to the
land board, at Austin, as hereinbefore
prescribed, and the same will be con-
sidered by the board on the first Tues
day of the following month; pro-
vided, no bid will be considered
and awards made by the board before
the first Tuesday in December next.
All applications so received will be
kept by the secretary of the board,
subject to examination and inspec-
ton, and all persons desiring to pur-
chase or. lease are invited by the board
to be present in person, or by attor-
ney. at the time the bids are consid-
cred.
The board reserves the right to re-
fuse to consummate the sale or lease
for any reason they may deem suffi-
cient, or in case of conflict between
applicants, to inquire into the rights
of the parties before making the
award.
Mr.. Laurence has prepared form
for applications, which will be sub
mitted for adoption by the board.
F. Schmitz has just received full
assortment of new style furniture o.
every descript. 0a, which he will sci
as low as can be bought anywhere
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