Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 5.djvu/682



present. And the judge of the district in which said lands are situated (or, in his absence, the register of the land office at Green Bay, or the commanding officer of the United States troops at Fort Howard) shall attend at the time and place aforesaid, and preside at said meeting, superintend the said election, and see that the proceedings are fairly conducted. And the said presiding officer may, in his discretion, prescribe whether the said election shall be by ballot or viva voce, and shall, in other respects, cause the proceedings to be conducted in such a manner as to ensure a fair and proper choice or election; and after the said commissioners shall have been so chosen or elected, the said presiding officer shall immediately certify that fact, setting forth the names of the commissioners who shall be elected, and shall make two copies of said certificate, one of which he shall file in the office of the register of the land district at Green Bay, and the other he shall transmit by mail to the President of the United States.

. And be it further enacted, That after the said commissioner shall have been elected or chosen as above prescribed, and as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, they shall proceed to make partition and division of all the lands aforesaid, among the individual members of said tribe, or among such of them as, by the laws, customs, usages, or agreements of said tribe, are justly entitled to the same, and in such way and manner, and upon such principles, and in such proportions, as shall be agreeable to equity and justice, and consistent with the laws, usages, customs, and agreements of said tribe: Provided, however, That the buildings and improvements, and the farms on which the same are situated, which are now held or possessed in severalty by the members of said tribe, shall, so far as the same can consistently be done, be allotted or apportioned to the present occupants; and that no person or individual of said tribe shall be dispossessed or deprived of the improvements or land which they now occupy, unless it shall be found by the said commissioners that such person or persons are in possession of and occupying more land than they are justly entitled to, and then the overplus may be apportioned to others.

. And be it further enacted, That after the said commissioners shall have made such partition and division as aforesaid, they shall make, or cause to be made, a full report of their proceedings in the premises, setting forth the name of each person to whom they have apportioned any part of said land, the quantity apportioned or allotted to each, with the metes and bounds, or other definite description of each several piece or parcel of land; and they shall accompany the said report with a fair and accurate map of the whole, showing the divisions and partitions aforesaid; which report and map, or a true copy thereof, shall be deposited with the town clerk of said tribe, on or before the first day of July, eighteen hundred and forty-three, and shall remain open for inspection to all for the space of twenty days thereafter; and if any member or members of said tribe shall object to the partition or division so made by the said commissioners, or shall deem himself or themselves aggrieved thereby, he or they may, within ten days thereafter, give notice thereof to the said commissioners, who shall, within twenty days thereafter, meet to hear and determine such grievances, and take testimony, if necessary, and, after such hearing, shall have power to alter or modify such partition, if, in their judgment, any alteration or modification is necessary, in order to do equal and exact justice to all parties interested.

. And be it further enacted, That after the said report shall be finally completed, the commissioners shall cause three fair copies of the said report, and of the map accompanying the same, as finally agreed upon and settled, to be made and signed by said commissioners, one copy of which shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of said