Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 20.djvu/283

 258 FORTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. C11. 4, 5. 1878. and to ascertain which of the same is best adapted for the purpose of the earliest and most certain transmission by signal of the occurrence of fire, and also the adaptability, usefulness, and need of the same for the further protection of the buildings and property of the government in the several departments in Washington, and to report the results of their examiner tion to the next session of Congress Approved, December 13, 1878. Dec. 16, 1878, CHAP. 5.-An act to correct an error of enrollment in bill making appropriations for -—————— sundry civil expenses of the goxremment for the iiscal year on ing June thirticth, 348,;*;, $6359, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and for other purposes. Be it emwted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Appropriation. States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of twenty-seven thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated to pay for clerk hire, engineering, marshal’s fees, Hot Springs salaries, and other expenses of the Hot Springs Commission; and the Commission. President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to appoint APP"‘”"""'* with the advice and consent of the Senate, three discreet, competent, and disinterested persons, who shall constitute a board of commissioners, Term of office. any two of whom shall constitute a quorum, who shall hold their offices for the period of one year from the date of their appointment, and shall have the same powers and authority in all respects as was provided for the commissioners appointed under the act of Congress approved March 1g7g0h_10B, third, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, entitled “An act in relation 19 Stat., 377. to the Hot Springs reservation in the State of Arkansas”; which act is hereby revived and continued in full force for the purpose of enabling said board of commissioners to take possession of all reeords, papers, and proofs, and to determine the claims presented to the board of commissioners appointed under said act, whose term of office has expired, and to do and perform all other acts and duties authorized by said act. Arlington Hotel And the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to lease to the yr¢>•md¤· present proprietors of the Arlington Hotel or their assigns the grounds, not exceeding one acre, now occupied by them, for a period of ten years, unless otherwise provided by law, at an annual rental of one thousand Bath-houses. dollars. And he is further directed to lease the hath-houses of a permanent nature now upon the Hot Springs reservation to the owners of the same, and lease to any person or persons upon such terms as may be agreed ou, sites for the building of other bath-houses for the tenn of tive years, unless otherwise provided by law, under such rules and regu- Tax lations as he may prescribe; and the tax imposed shall not exceed fifteen dollars per tub per annum, including land rent: Provided, That said leases shall in no way prejudice any legal right that any person or persons may have acquired under the act hereby revived and continued, 1,;,,,,, to 1,,,,;,- to any improvements on said ground: And provided further, That to tubs. prevent monopoly, no bath-house or hotel shall be supplied with more than enough water for forty bath-tubs of the usual size, imless there shall be more than enough hot-water to supply all other demands for the same, in which case no single establishment shall be allowed more Fm batluv. than forty bath-tubs of the usual size: And provided further, That the superintendent shall provide and maintain a sufficient number of free baths for the use of the indigent, and the expense thereof shall be defrayed out of the rentals hereinbefore provided for. p-,,0;;,,,, of gw_ In eases where fractions of lots are made by straightening, widening or laying out streets, the commissioners shall have power to determine the disposal of the same giving the preference to the owners of abutting Conditions o f lots: Provided, That all titles given or to be given by the United States titles. shall explicitly exclude the right to the purchaser of the land, his heirs or assigns, from ever boring thereon for hot water; and the Hot Springs, with the reservation and mountain are hereby dedicated to the United States, and shall remain forever free from sale or alienation. Approved, December 16, 1878.