Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/654



by the boards respectively to the Secretary of the Treasury according to law. To each of the said commissioners and clerks a further allowance of five hundred dollars, to be paid after the completion of the business of each of the boards respectively, to the officers then in office. And to each of the translators, at the rate of six hundred dollars a year, and not to exceed in the whole for each the term of eighteen months: Provided always, that the above mentioned allowance of fifty cents for each claim decided upon, shall not be made to any of the commissioners who may be absent at the time of such decision; the attendance of each to be certified by the clerk, or by a majority of the board: And provided also, that no allowance shall be made to any agent heretofore employed by the Secretary of the Treasury, for any period of time subsequent to the time when such agent ceased to act, or when the board ceased to receive evidence.

. And be it further enacted, That the two principal deputy surveyors of the territory of Orleans shall, and they are hereby authorized, in surveying and dividing such of the public lands in the said territory, which are or may be authorized to be surveyed and divided, as are adjacent to any river, lake, creek, bayou or water course, to vary the mode heretofore prescribed by law, so far as relates to the contents of the tracts, and —— to the angles and boundary lines —— and to lay out the same into tracts as far as practicable, of fifty-eight poles in front and four hundred and sixty-five poles in depth, of such shape, and bounded by such lines as the nature of the country will render practicable, and most convenient: Provided however, that such deviations from the ordinary mode of surveying shall be made with the approbation of, and in conformity with the general instructions which may be given to that effect by the surveyor of the public lands south of the state of Tennessee.

. And be it further enacted, That for the disposal of the lands of the United States, lying in the eastern land district of the territory of Orleans, a land-office shall be established at New Orleans; and that for the disposal of the lands of the United States, lying south of Red river, in the western land district of the territory of Orleans, a land-office shall be established at Opelousas; and that for the disposal of the lands of the United States, lying north of Red river, in the western land district of the territory of Orleans, a land-office shall be established, which shall be kept at such place as the President of the United States may direct. The register of the western land district of the territory of Orleans shall act as register of the land-office of Opelousas, and as one of the commissioners for ascertaining the rights of persons claiming lands in any part of the said western land district. And for the land-office, north of the Red river, a register, and for each of the said three offices, a receiver of public monies shall be appointed, who shall give security in the same manner, in the same sums, and whose compensations, emoluments, duties and authority, shall in every respect be the same, in relation to the lands which shall be disposed of at their offices, as are or may be provided by law, in relation to the registers and receivers of public monies in the several offices established for the disposal of the lands of the United States, in the territory of Mississippi.

. And be it further enacted, That the powers vested in the President of the United States by the eleventh section of the act, entituled “,” passed on the twenty-first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and six, in relation to the public lands lying in the western district of the territory of Orleans, and all the other provisions made by the same section, for the sale of said lands, and for obtaining patents for the same, shall be, and the same are hereby in