STATE OF MAINE.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, July 22, 1849.

ORDERED, That 350 copies of the foregoing Report be printed

for the use of the Legislature.

SAMUEL BELCHER, Clerk.

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE.

No. 30.

REPORT.

HOUSE.

The undersigned, a minority of the committee on state lands and state roads, having had under consideration the subject of "the lands reserved for public uses," ask leave to submit the following

REPORT:

The call made by the present legislature upon the county commissioners and treasurers of those counties in which public lots are situated, for a detailed account of their proceedings, has been answered, the accounts received, and the following is an abstract:

COUNTY OF FRANKLIN.

Amount paid for expenses upon public lots,

$1,587 72

Amount received from sales of timber, &c., on same, 1,100 00

The treasurer says that "other bills have accrued which have not been audited and paid; also a committee have just received a warrant to locate lots in two or more townships."

The county commissioners say, "all moneys received on account of timber on the public lands in unincorporated townships in this county, have been paid into the county treasury of said county, and invested in the security of said county, for the benefit of said townships.

Wm. T. Johnson, Printer to the State.

COUNTY OF PENOBSCOT.

Amount paid out for expenses on public lots,
Amount received from sales of timber, &c., on same,

$4,564 80 2,557 32

The county commissioners say, "that the surplus funds arising from the public lots in the county of Penobscot, have been paid into the treasury of said county, and have not been otherwise invested."

COUNTY OF WASHINGTON.

Amount paid out for expenses on public lots,

Amount received from sales of timber, &c., on same, Amount due for stumpage on timber cut previous to winter of 1847-8,

$3,635 13

4,955 03

5,815 41

The treasurer says "that no statements having been yet made of the operations of last winter, the amount due cannot be stated."

The county commissioners say, "that all the surplus funds arising from the proceeds of timber rent or stumpage collected for timber cut on the public lots in this county, are invested in the county of Washington, by being put into the treasury thereof at the rate of six per cent. interest, said interest to be paid by the county treasurer annually to the inhabitants of the said incorporated townships, in accordance with the statute which provides for the manner in which said fund shall be applied."

COUNTY OF AROOSTOOK.

Amount received from sales of timber, &c., on public

lots,

$238 00

COUNTY OF HANCOCK.

Amount paid for expenses on public lots,

$2,741 31

Amount received froin sales of timber, &c., on same,

7,932 73

The county commissioners say, "that seven hundred dollars has been loaned to the town of Ellsworth; the balance of the above is still in the treasury. Exclusive of the above they have taken se curity for stumpage of timber to the amount of $2,603·41, which

will be mostly collected during the present season. The claims for stumpage for timber taken during the past winter, amounts to about $2,282, for which security will be taken as soon as the logs are down."

COUNTY OF PISCATAQUIS.

Amount paid for expenses on public lots,

Amount received from sales of timber, &c., on same,

$1,279 49

3,749 27

The county commissioners say, "that all money and securities received on account of the public lots, have been deposited in the county treasury, and, that all the locations under the act of 1842, have been and are still in litigation by persons claiming to be adversely interested, and they have made this arrangement with the funds, thinking it the most advisable under the circumstances."

COUNTY OF SOMERSET.

Amount paid for expenses on public lots,

Amount received from sales of timber, &c., on same,

$3,735 83

16,061 45

The county commissioners say, "Dec. 29, 1847, due from the county of Somerset for repairs on court house, $2,845-10. A certificate was filed in the treasurer's office certifying that the amount was due from the county to the public land fund."

The footing up of the several accounts, therefore, appear to be as follows:

Total amount of receipts,

Total amount of expenditures,

$47,294 87 17,554 28

Leaving in the hands of county treasurers a balance of $29,740 59

Including the operations of last winter, the whole amount at the present time is probably between forty and fifty thousand dollars. The seventh section of the tenth article of the constitution of Maine provides as follows:-" In all grants hereafter to be made by either state, of unlocated lands within the said district, the same reservations shall be made for the benefit of schools and of the

ministry, as have heretofore been usual, in grants made by this commonwealth."

The eleventh section of the third chapter of the revised statutes, provides, as follows:-"In every township suitable for settlement, whether timber lands or not, there shall be reserved one thousand acres of land, to average in quality and situation with the other lands in the townships, for the exclusive benefit of said townships, as the legislature may hereafter direct."

Upon an examination of the reports of the land agents for the years 1839 and 1846, it will be seen that there are about two bundred and twenty unincorporated townships held under grants from Maine and Massachusetts, either jointly or separately, and subject to the usual reservations of lots for public uses. There also remains about one hundred and eighty townships still belonging to the states either jointly or separately, including the unsurveyed lands, all of which, are entitled to the usual reservations of public lots, making in the whole, about four hundred townships, in which the reservations will amount to nearly four hundred thousand acres, equivalent to about seventeen townships.

From an examination of the early resolves and laws of the twe states, in relation to these reserved lands, it is apparent that the land itself was originally the principal object of the grant, and nothing was done by the legislatures for the protection of this property while the fee was in abeyance. As timber however became valuable, in the progress of the settlement of the country, it was found necessary to protect these lots from strip and waste. Accordingly in 1831 the land agent was authorized and empowered to take care of the public lots and preserve them from pillage and trespass. The interference of the land agent with the public lots was resisted by the owners of the townships in which such lots were situated, upon the ground, that until the townships should be incorporated, the owners of the townships had the control of the public lots. In order to settle the question, an action was commenced by the land agent, in 1836, to be tried in the county of Washington.