in allowing all entries authorized by the law and these regulations, and said entries will be numbered consecutively, beginning with number 1.

A protest against the allowance of a town-site entry will be heard, and the same permitted to be carried into a contest, in the same manner and under the same conditions as herein before provided in the matter of applications to make entries for the purposes of trade and manufactures.

26. It is also made my duty to provide rules and regulations for the survey and platting of the town sites in Alaska into streets, alleys, blocks, and lots, or for the approval of such surveys as may already have been made by the inhabitants thereof, and for the conveyance of the lots and blocks to the occupants of said town sites according to their respective interests. To accomplish the latter provision necessitates the careful consideration of a somewhat difficult problem, involving the right of the natives of Alaska, who constitute the larger part of the population of all the towns in said Territory, but who are not citizens of the United States, to receive title from the Government to the lots severally occupied and claimed by them.

Although the political status of these people remains yet to be determined by legislation, still the facts remain that they are held amenable to all the laws made applicable to said Territory in which they have lived at peace with the white settlers for ages, that they far outnumber the citizen and foreign-born population of all those towns in which white men have settled, and that many of them have invested their earnings in property in those towns and are exercising peaceable and undisputed occupancy and right of possession over the same. I therefore deem it proper, in order to further encourage them in adopting civilized life and accepting and following the instruction and example of the teachers, missionaries, and all other right-thinking people who come among them, and equitable and just and within my power, to construe the language of section 2387, United States Revised Statutes, under which town-site entries are made "in trust for the several use and benefit of the occupants thereof according to their respective interests," in the most liberal and comprehensive sense and to the advantage of these natives. Therefore, the trustees of the several town sites entered in said Territory shall levy assessments upon the property either occupied or possessed by any native Alaskan the same as if he were a white man, and shall apportion and convey the same to him according to his respective interest, without regard to the question of citizenship. But, in case of white settlers, or associations or corporations, the trustees shall require the same evidence of citizenship or the right to hold real estate, as the case may be, as is required above of purchasers of land for purposes of trade or manufactures.

27. The entry having been made and forwarded to this office, the trustee will cause an actual survey of the lots, blocks, streets, and alleys of the town site to be made, conforming as near as in his judgment it is deemed advisable to the original plan or survey of such town, making triplicate plats of said survey and designating upon each of said plats the lots occupied, together with the value of the same and the name of the owner or owners thereof; and in like manner he will designate thereon the lots occupied by any corporation, religious organization, or private or sectarian school. When the plats are finally completed, they will be certified to by him as follows:

I, the undersigned, trustee of the town site of Alaska Territory, hereby certify that I have examined the survey of said town site and approved the foregoing plat thereof as strictly conformable to said survey made in accordance with the act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, and my official instructions.

One of said plats shall be filed in the land office in the district where the town site is located, one in the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and one retained for his own use. The designation of an owner on such plats shall be temporary until final decision of record in relation thereto, and shall in no case be taken or held as in any sense or to any degree a conclusion or judgment by the trustee as to the true ownership in any contested case coming before him.

28. As soon as said plats are completed, the trustee will then cause to be posted in three conspicuous places in the town a notice to the effect that such survey and platting have been completed, and notifying all persons concerned or interested in such town site that on a designated day he will proceed to set off to the persons entitled to the same, according to their respective interests, the lots, blocks, or grounds to which each occupant thereof shall be entitled under the provisions of said act. Such notices shall be posted at least fifteen days prior to the day set apart by the trustee for making such division and allotment. Proof of such notification shall be evidenced by the affidavit of the trustee, accompanied by a copy of such notice.

29. After such notice shall have been duly given, the trustee will proceed on the designated day, except in contest cases, which shall be disposed of in the manner hereinafter provided, to set apart to the persons entitled to receive the same the lots, blocks, and grounds to which each person, company, or association of persons shall be entitled, according to their respective interests, including in the portion or portions set apart to each person, corporation, or association of persons the improvements belonging thereto, and in so doing he will observe and follow as strictly as the platting of the town site will permit the rights of all parties to the property claimed by them as shown and defined by the records of the clerk of the district court of Alaska, who is ex officio recorder of deeds and mortgages and other contracts relating to real estate in said Territory.

30. After setting apart such lots, blocks, or parcels, and upon a valuation of the same as hereinbefore provided for, the trustee will proceed to determine and assess upon such lots and blocks according to their value, such rate and sum as will be necessary to pay all expenses incident to the town-site entry. In those cases in which there appears more than one claimant for any lot or block, the trustee will require each claimant to pay the assessment, and upon the final determination of the contest, as hereinbefore provided for, the unsuccessful claimant or claimants will be reimbursed in a sum equal to the assessment paid by them, such reimbursements to be properly accounted for by the trustee. In making the assessments the trustee will take into consideration

First. The reimbursement of the parties who deposited the money to pay the costs of surveying and platting the outboundaries of the town site, and who advanced such money as was necessary in addition to pay the purchase price of the land.

Second. The money expended in advertising and making proof and entry of the town site.

Third. The compensation of himself as trustee.

Fourth. The expenses incident to making the conveyances.

Fifth. All necessary traveling expenses and all other legitimate expenses incident to the expeditious execution of his trust.

More than one assessment may be made, if necessary, to effect the purposes of said act of Congress and these instructions. Upon receipt of the assessments the trustee will issue deeds for the uncontested lots, blank forms of conveyance being furnished by this office for that purpose.

31. His work having been completed to this point, the trustee will then, and not before, in cases where he finds two or more inhabitants claiming the same lot, block, or parcel of land, proceed to hear and determine the controversy, fixing a time and place for the hearing of the respective claims of the interested parties, giving each ten days' notice thereof, and a fair opportunity to present their interests in accordance with the principles of law and equity applicable to the case, observing as far as practicable the rules prescribed for contests before registers and receivers of the local offices; he will administer oaths to the witnesses, observe the rules of evidence as near as may be in making his investigations, and at the close of the case, or as soon thereafter as his duties will permit, render a decision in writing. If the notice herein provided for can not be personally served upon the party therein named within three days from its date, such service may be made by a printed notice published for ten days in a newspaper in the town in which the lot to be affected thereby is situated; or, if there is none published in such town, then said notice may be printed in any newspaper published in the Territory. Copies of such notice should also be posted upon the lot in controversy and in at least three other conspicuous places in the town wherein the lot is situated. The proof of such publication and posting of notices, to be filed with the record, may be made as provided in these rules and regulations in other cases. The proceedings in these contests should be abbreviated in time and words, or the work may not be completed within the limit of any reasonable period of time or expense.

Before proceeding to dispose of the contested cases the trustee will require each claimant to deposit with him each morning a sum sufficient to cover and pay all costs and expenses on such proceedings for that day. At the close of the contest, on appeal or otherwise, the sum deposited by the successful party shall be returned to him, but that deposiited by the losing party shall be retained and accounted for by said trustee.

32. Any person feeling aggrieved by the decision of the trustee may, within ten days after notice thereof, appeal to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, under the rules (except as to time) as provided for appeals from the opinions of registers and receivers, and if either party is dissatisfied with the conclusions of said Commissioner in the case, he may still further prosecute an appeal within ten days from notice thereof to the Secretary of the Interior, upon like terms and conditions and under the same rules that appeals are now regulated by and taken in adversary proceedings from the Commissioner to the Secretary, except as modified by the time within which the appeal is to be taken. All costs in such proceedings will be governed by the rules now applicable to contests before the local land offices.

33. The trustee shall receive and pay out all money provided for in these instructions, subject to the supervision of this office, and he shall keep a correct record of his proceedings and an accurate account of all money received and disbursed by him, taking and filing proper vouchers therefor, in the manner hereinafter provided; and before entering upon duty he shall, in addition to taking the official oath, also enter into a bond to the United States in the penal sum of $5,000, for the faithful discharge of his duties, both as now prescribed and furnished by the Department of the Interior.

34. All lots remaining unoccupied and unclaimed when the trustee shall have made his allotments and assessments will be sold at public outery, for cash, to the highest bidder. The proceeds of such sales, together with any balance remaining in the hands of the trustee to the

credit of the town-site occupants, to be expended, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, for the benefit of the town.

35. All payments by the occupants of any town site for any of the purposes above named, except the survey of the outboundaries of the land so entered, shall be in cash, and made only to the trustee thereof, who shall make duplicate receipts for all money paid him, one to be given the party making the payment, and the other to be forwarded to this office with the trustee's papers and accounts. Said trustee shall also take receipts for all money disbursed by him, and be held strictly accountable by this office, under his bond, for the proper handling of the trust funds in his possession.

36. The trustee of any town site in said Territory will be allowed compensation at the rate of $5 per day for each day actually engaged and employed in the performance of his duties as such trustee, and his necessary traveling expenses.

37. The trustee's duties herein prescribed having been completed, the account of all his expenses and expenditures, together with a record of his proceedings and a list of the lots to be sold at public sale, as hereinbefore provided, with all papers in his possession, and all evidence of his official acts, shall be transmitted to this office to become a part of the records hereof, excepting from such papers, however, the subdivisional plat of the town site, which he shall deliver to the clerk of the district court, to be made of record and placed on file in his office as exofficio recorder of deeds, mortgages, and other contracts relating to real estate in the Territory of Alaska.

The provision of the manual of surveying of June 30, 1894, p. 64, authorizing the deputy surveyor, in cases where great delay, expense, or inconvenience would result from a strict compliance with the requirement that such oaths shall be taken before some officer duly authorized to administer oaths, to administer the necessary oaths to his assistants, is held applicable to surveys in Alaska, but in such cases the deputy surveyor must submit a full written report of the circumstances of the case to the surveyor-general.

THE BOARD OF EQUITABLE ADJUDICATION.

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The board of equitable adjudication is established and its powers defined by sections 2450 to 2457 of the Revised Statutes (Appendix No. 1, p. 142), amended by act of February 27, 1877, substituting the Secretary of the Interior for the Secretary of the Treasury as one of the board. It consists of the Secretary of the Interior, the Attorney-General, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and is authorized "to decide upon principles of equity and justice all cases of suspended entries of public lands and to adjudge in what cases patents shall issue upon same." The board has no power to adjudicate adverse claims between contesting parties, but only between the United States and claimants, in cases where the law has been substantially complied with, but where error or informality has arisen from ignorance, accident, or mistake, which is satisfactorily explained.

* * *

This board is a tribunal of special and limited jurisdiction, outside of which it has no authority, but inside of which it is exclusive. No appeal lies from its decisions, nor are they subject to review by any other tribunal.

(For the rules and regulations of the board of equitable adjudication, see Appendix No. 68, p. 227.)

CHANGES OF ENTRY.

In order to secure uniformity in proceedings upon applications for change of entry, attention is called to the following sections of the Revised Statutes and accompanying instructions:

SEC. 2369. In every case of a purchaser of public lands, at private sale, having entered at the land office a tract different from that he intended to purchase, and being desirous of having the error in his entry corrected, he shall make his application for that purpose to the register of the land office, and if it appears from testimony satisfactory to the register and receiver that an error in the entry has been made, and that the same was occasioned by original incorrect marks made by the surveyor, or by the obliteration or change of the original marks and numbers at corners of the tract of land; or that it has in any otherwise arisen from mistake or error of the surveyor, or officers of the land office, the register and receiver shall report the case, with the testimony, and their opinion thereon, to the Secretary of the Interior, who is authorized to direct that the purchaser is at liberty to withdraw the entry so erroneously made, and that the moneys which have been paid shall be applied in the purchase of other lands in the same district, or credited in the payment for other lands which have been purchased at the same office.

SEC. 2370. The provisions of the preceding section are declared to extend to all cases where patents have been issued, or may hereafter issue; upon condition, however, that the party concerned surrenders his patent to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with a relinquishment of title thereon, executed in a form to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 2371. The provisions of the two preceding sections are made applicable in all respects to errors in the location of land warrants.

SEC. 2372. In all cases of an entry hereafter made of a tract of land not intended to be entered, by a mistake of the true numbers of the tract intended to be entered, where the tract thus erroneously entered does not in quantity exceed one-half section, and where the certificate of the original purchaser has not been assigned, or his right in anyway transferred, the purchaser, or, in case of his death, the legal representatives, not being assignees or transferees, may, in any case coming withiu the provisions of this section, file his own affidavit, with such additional evidence as can be procured, showing the mistake of the numbers of the tract intended to be entered, and that every reasonable precaution and exertion has been used to avoid the error with the register and receiver of the land district within which such tract of land is situated, who shall transmit the evidence submitted to them in each case, together with their written opinion, both as to the existence of the mistake and the credibility of each person testifying thereto, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, who, if he be entirely satisfied that the mistake has been made, and that every reasonable precaution and exertion has been made to avoid it, is authorized to change the entry and transfer the payment from the tract erroneously entered to that intended to be entered, if unsold; but if sold, to any other tract liable to entry; but the oath of the person interested shall in no case be deemed sufficient, in the absence of other corroborating testimony, to authorize such change of entry; nor shall anything herein contained affect the right of third persons.

It will be observed that section 2369 is intended to afford relief to purchasers of public lands at private sale whose errors in entry have been occasioned by the original incorrect marking by the surveyor, or by the subsequent change or obliteration of those marks, or by any other error originating either with the surveyor or the land officers. Section 2370 extends the foregoing provision to cases where patents have been or may be issued.

Section 2371 extends the provisions of both the preceding sections to errors in the location of land warrants.

Section 2372, further extending these provisions, applies to all classes of entries, and also embraces cases where the error was not occasioned by any act of the surveyor or of the land officers, but restricts changes of entry to cases in which the tract erroneously entered does not in quantity exceed one half section, and where the certificate of the orig inal purchaser has not been assigned or his right in any way transferred.