The Nome nugget., 1924-05-10
INTERIOR DEPARTMENT TO
 CENTRAILZE ALASKA FORCES

, a pd!lid outilue oI tue pihu ot iue Department of the Interior for reor- sanitation nf its Alaskan Land Ser vice forces vas received in a letter from First Assistan; Secretary F. C. Finney made public by the Juenau Chamber of Commerce. Discharge ot duties now vested in the Surveyor General of Alaska. the assistant sup ervisor of surveys. both located at Juneau. the Chief Of Field Division. 6. Anchorage. Register Of the An choraee LAnd Office. and e1-ofici0 registers at Nome and FairbAnks is placed in the hands of d single odl- cal to be known as superintendent ot pubic lands. v"
 No copies of the bill devised to bring about this consolidation have been received locally. How it Will affect the four branches mentioned IS ,rot known. IL is etated, however. ,hat the bill empowers the Secretary of the Interior. by regulation. to es- tablish branch offices. define their territorial jurisdiction and assign Land Offce employees to each ss, h bis opinion. may be required for coM- venient transsrtion of public land
 ,usinGSs Ss.
 Give Wide Powers
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 The secretary recently iransihit- ted to the committee Oh public lands Of the senate and house the draft of q bill to provide for the consolidation .of the land service in Alaska. The bill in effect conte,npla,es the dis charge of duties by one officer that are now vested in four, to the end that better administration and more effective development of the terri tory may be secured thereby. By it's terms the general control of the pub lic lands of the territory is placed in the hands of an officer styled super irtendent of public lands in Alaska. He will have entire charge of the public land service in the territory, slhiect to the general supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. em- Godying in his office the functions now performed by the heads of four distinct and Independent branches of the land service now operating in Alaska. Under the law as it now stands we have in Alaska a surveyor general in Juneau. who is eX-officio secretary of the territory. an assist ant supervisor of surveys at Juneau. a chief of field division located at Anchoraee register of the land off cio registers and receivers of the lend office at Fairbanks and Nome.
 For Local Control
 This department. after an inten- sive study of the matter. believes that Alaska has now reached the stage where it needs responsible lcca control over it's public lands. The bill. after defining the duties of the proposed superintendent of pub lie lands. provides that the Secretary of the Interior may by suitable regu- lations. establish such branch offices and define the territorial jurisdiction thereof as may in his discretion be required for the convenient transac- tion of the public lands business of the territory. and may designate an employee of the land service as of- ficer in charge of any such branch office If this bill should become a law. this department will give due consideration to the necessity of the territory in the vicinity of Juneau.
 This department having. taken the initiative in advocating central ized local administration of the pub lie land law applicable to Alaska, it cannot consistently support the bills which have been introduced provid- ing for the creation of an additional land district with land office at Ju- neau. It also appears that Congress is not favorably disposed toward the creation of additional land districts, but is rather in favor of reducing the number of land districts"