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of the duties so paid or secured to be paid, upon the several parcels and packages of goods so destroyed, pursuant to the provisions of this act.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall meet at such time and place in the city of New York, as shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury by a notice for that purpose, to be published in at least five of the public newspapers printed in the said city, for the period of at least ten days before the time appointed for the said meeting; and, when so convened, shall proceed to take testimony in relation to the goods so destroyed, and the amount of duties paid, or secured to be paid, to the United States thereupon, and to the persons entitled to receive or have remitted to them the amount of such duties; and shall continue the examination and investigation as constantly as their other official duties will permit, until all the claims presented to them for the remission or refunding of duties provided for by this act, which may be presented to them, shall be examined to their satisfaction; but no claim shall be received which shall not be presented within four months from and after the time appointed by the Secretary for the first meeting of the commissioners; and each of the said commissioners shall be, and is hereby, authorized to administer the necessary oaths to all persons who are to give testimony in the premises; and all the testimony presented to or taken before the said commission, shall be committed to writing, and signed by the respective witnesses giving the same; and any wilful false swearing before the said commission, or in any affidavit or deposition taken before any one of the said commissioners, shall subject the person guilty of the offence, upon conviction before any court of competent jurisdiction, to the punishment prescribed by the laws of the United States for wilful perjury.

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Commission

full statement of their investigation.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That, as soon as the said commissioners shall have finally closed the taking of testimony in relation to ers to make a any one or more claims, they shall cause to be made a full and perfect statement of the goods, wares, and merchandises proved in said claim or claims, to their satisfaction, to have been destroyed at the conflagration aforesaid, in the unbroken and original packages in which the same were imported, designating in such statement the number of packages, the rate and amount of duty upon each, and the name of the person or persons entitled to receive or have remitted to him or them the duties paid, or secured to be paid, upon each package, and the fact whether such duty has been paid or remains unpaid and secured in the ordinary manner, and shall ascertain and report whether any and what part of the merchandise so destroyed was insured or sold, what proportion of the insurance has been paid, or is secured to be paid in consequence of its destruction by the conflagration aforesaid, and shall deduct from the certificate to be granted under the provisions of this act, the amount paid on such insurance and the amount of duties paid on the goods sold. And the said commissioners shall cause three fair copies of such statement to be made and certified by themselves to be the true and correct results of their investigations, one of which copies they shall file with the collector of the customs for the port of New York, another with the naval officer of the said port, and the third together with the testimony taken before the said commission they shall transmit to the Secretary of the Treasury, to be by him kept on file in his Department. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, with as little delay as practicable, to es amine the testimony taken before the said commission, from time to time, as the same shall be returned to him, to compare the same with the said statement and adjudications of the said commissioners, and to signify to them his approval or disapproval of their determinatlon as to each claim; and as soon as the determination of the Secretary shall be

Three copies of said statement to be fied by the commissioners.

made and certi

Sec. Treas. to

examine the testime to time. timony from and signify his approval or disapproval of the determination of the commis

sioners as to each claim. Commissioners to deliver the approval, with a certificate, to each claimant. Proviso.

Proviso.

1836, ch. 42.

Certificates to be received in payment of duties.

Certificates,

after being cancelled, shall be transmitted to

the Secretary of

the Treasury.

Proportionate remission on

packages only partially destroyed.

A clerk may be employed his salary.

officially communicated to the said commissioners, as to any one or more of the said claims, they shall forthwith execute and deliver to each claimant, whose claim has received the approval of the Secretary, a certificate, signed by them, and stating the amount of duties which the claimant has paid, and is entitled to have refunded to him, and the amount he has secured to be paid, and is entitled to have remitted upon his bonds: Provided, That no such certificate shall be delivered to any claimant, his agent or attorney, or to his order, until he, or some person on his behalf, shall have executed and delivered to the collector of the customs for the port of New York, a bond, with sureties to the satisfaction of the said collector, in a penalty of double the sums to be refunded or remitted, as shown by the said certificate, and conditioned for the repayment, to the United States, of the whole amount refunded or remitted to such claimant, with interest from the date of the said bond, in case it shall thereafter be made to appear that the goods upon which the duties so remitted or refunded were chargeable, were not in fact destroyed at the conflagration aforesaid. Provided, That in all cases when the applicant for relief under this act shall have had bonds other than those given for duties on goods destroyed by said fire, suspended under the act entitled "An act for the relief of the sufferers by fire in the city of New York," approved nineteenth March eighteen hundred and thirtysix, the amount of twenty-four per cent. on the amount of duties secured by such bonds shall be deducted from the sum which would otherwise be remitted to such applicants under this act.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That upon the presentation by any person to the collector of New York, of any certificate so issued by the said commissioners, showing that a remission is to be made upon any unpaid bond given to secure duties, and then in the hands of the said collector, it shall be his duty to make the requisite endorsement upon the said bond or bonds, and likewise so far to cancel the said certificate by a proper endorsement thereon as his endorsement upon the bond or bonds shall require, and so far as any such certificate shall show that duties paid are to be refunded, the said collector of the port of New York shall receive such certificate in lieu of money for the payment of duties at all times endorsing upon the certificate the amount of duties thus cancelled by its presentation; and as fast as the said certificates shall be thus fully cancelled the said collector shall retain and transmit [them] to the Secretary of the Treasury to be by him placed upon the files of the Department, with the statement from which they were is sued, and the testimony upon which the duties are refunded or remitted.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where any article or package, as imported, shall have been partially and not entirely destroyed by the said conflagration, the remission or refunding of duties upon such article or package shall be in proportion to the destruction by the said fire, as that proportion shall be ascertained and certified to the said commissioners by the appraisers for the port of New York; but this section shall not be so construed as to extend to any merchandise or property destroyed or damaged other than in the original and unbroken packages as imported.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners may employ a clerk who shall be paid for his services out of any unappropriated money in the Treasury such reasonable compensation as the Secretary of the Treasury shall allow, which payment the said Secretary is hereby authorized and directed to make, not to exceed the rate of two thousand dollars per annum.

APPROVED, July 7, 1838.

CHAP. CLXXV.—An Act to establish a new collection district in the State of Mississippi.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all that part of the State of Mississippi north of the point where the range line strikes the Mississippi river, between townships thirteen and fourteen, of the Washington land district, is hereby created a collection district, to be called the Vicksburg district, whereof Vicksburg shall be the port of entry, subject to all the regulations and duties prescribed in regard to the district of Mississippi, by an act passed the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, entitled "An act to establish a port of entry at Natchez, in Mississippi, and creating certain other ports of delivery, and for other purposes;" and that Grand Gulf shall be a port of delivery within said district of which Natchez is the port of entry. APPROVED, July 7, 1838.

CHAP. CLXXVI.- An Act to establish additional land offices in the States of
Louisiana and Arkansas.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the disposal of that portion of the lands belonging to the United States in the State of Louisiana, within the following boundaries, to wit: beginning at the point on the Sabine river, where the base line or thirty-first degree of north latitude strikes the same; thence up said river to the point where the boundary line between the United States of Mexico and the aforesaid State of Louisiana shall leave the same; thence with said boundary, when the same shall be finally fixed, to the northern boundary of the State; thence east with said northern boundary to the dividing line between ranges three and four west; thence with said dividing line south to the base line or thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence with said line to the beginning: a land office shall be established and kept in the town of Natchitoches, to be known as the office for the Northwestern land district in the State of Louisiana.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That a register and receiver of public moneys shall be appointed for said land district in the manner required by law, who shall reside in the town of Natchitoches; they shall give bond and security in the same manner and in the same sums, as other registers and receivers in said State; and their salaries, emoluments, duties and authority shall in every respect be the same, in relation to the lands in the aforesaid district as are now given or granted to the registers and receivers in the other land offices in said State.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That during the continuance of the act entitled "An act to grant pre-emption rights to settlers on the public lands," approved June twenty-second, in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, the register and receiver of the aforesaid land district shall attend at least once in two months if necessary at Shreeveport in said district for the purpose of receiving proof of and acting on such claims for pre-emption rights, as may be presented to them under said act, and remain at said place as long as may be necessary not exceeding two weeks at a time, and said register and receiver shall give public notice for at least two weeks of the time they will attend at said place.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby invested with authority to direct in what manner and on what conditions the said land office shall be supplied with plats and copies of plats and surveys from the offices now establish

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STATUTE II.

July 7, 1838. [Obsolete.]

ed at Monroe and Opelousas, and the office of the Surveyor General of Louisiana.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That all that portion of the present Fayetteville district which lies south of the line between townships eleven and twelve north of the principal base line, shall form a separate land district, and be called the Western land district, and the land office for said district shall be established at the county seat of Johnson county or such other place as the President of the United States shall desig

nate.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, under the existing laws, a register and receiver in and for said district, whose compensation shall be the same as provided for other registers and receivers; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, as soon as it can be done, to cause the necessary tract books, plats, maps and surveys of the public lands, in said district, to be filed in said office; and all applications for entries in said district shall be made as heretofore prescribed by law at the land offices now established, until the first day of June next.

APPROVED, July 7, 1833.

CHAP. CLXXVII.—An Act to continue in force the act for the payment of horses and other property lost in the military service of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the act approved January eighteen, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, entitled "An act to provide for the payment of horses and other property lost or destroyed in the military service of the United States," be, and the same is hereby, continued in force for two years from the end of the present session of Congress.

APPROVED, July 7, 1838.

CHAP. CLXXVIII.—An Act exempting from duty the coal which may be on board of steamboats or vessels propelled by steam on their arrival at any port in the United States.

age

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passof this act, it shall be lawful for the captain or master of any steamboat or vessel propelled by steam, arriving at any port in the United States, to retain all the coal such boat or vessel may have on board at the time of her arrival, and may proceed with said coal to a foreign port, without being required to land the same in the United States, or to pay any duty thereon; and all acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, shall be, and the same are hereby repealed.

APPROVED, July 7, 1833.

CHAP. CLXXIX.—An Act making appropriation for the compilation of the laws of Florida.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Appropriation. States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of two thousand dollars be, and the same hereby is, appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended in compiling the statutes and other laws of the Territory of Florida; the same to be placed for that purpose under the control of the Governor of said Territory.

APPROVED, July 7, 1838.

CHAP. CLXXX.-An Act making appropriations for building light-houses, lightboats, beacon-lights, buoys, and making surveys, for the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following appropriations be, and the same are hereby, made and directed to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to enable the Secretary of the Treasury to cause to be erected and established, the light-houses, beacon-lights, buoys, and to make the surveys herein provided for, to wit:

STATUTE II.

July 7, 1838.

[Obsolete.]

Maine.

State of Maine.-For the erection of two buoys near the entrance of Portland harbor, viz: one on Taylor's ledge, and one on Broad- Taylor's ledge cove rock, five hundred dollars.

and Broadcove rock.

Wood island. Fort-point ledge, Adam's

For rebuilding the light-house on Wood island, five thousand dollars. For placing monuments on Fort-point ledge, Adam's ledge, and Buck ledge, in Penobscot river, one thousand three hundred dollars, ledge, and Buck in addition to the former appropriation for that purpose.

ledge.

Bulwark ledge.

For placing a monument on Bulwark ledge, about seven miles eastsoutheast of Portland light-house, three thousand dollars. For placing one buoy on Drummer's ledge, south of Mark island, Drummer's and one buoy on Mark island ledge, five hundred dollars. For erecting a light-house on Bear island, at the entrance of Mount Desert harbor, three thousand dollars.

For erecting a monument on Bunker's ledge, outside of said island, one thousand dollars.

For placing one buoy at the southwest entrance of said Mount Desert harbor, and two buoys on the reef in the middle of Bass harbor, one hundred and fifty dollars.

For placing a buoy on Bantam ledge, outside of Ram island, two hundred dollars.

For erecting a stone beacon and a buoy on Half-tide ledge in the county of Hancock, twelve hundred dollars.

ledge and Mark island ledge. Bear island.

Bunker's

ledge.

Mount Desert

harbor, and Bass harbor.

Bantam ledge.

Half-tide

ledge.

Crab-tree's

For placing a spar buoy on a ledge in the vicinity of Crab-tree's point, about four miles below Sullivan harbor, in said county, one point. hundred and fifty dollars.

For the erection of a monument or beacon on York ledge, off the entrance of York harbor, ten thousand dollars. For erecting a light-house and sea-wall at Saddle-back ledge, in Penobscot bay, ten thousand dollars in addition to the former appropriations. State of New Hampshire.-For the erection of a pier on the east side of Whaleback light-house, to protect the same, seventeen thousand dollars, in addition to the appropriation already made for that purpose. State of Massachusetts. For the erection of two small beacon-lights, on the north side of Nantucket island, in addition to a former appropriation for that purpose, two thousand one hundred dollars. For completing the light-house on Mayo beach, in Welfleet bay, two thousand dollars.

For a monument, in the place of one carried away, on Bowditch's ledge, in the harbor of Salem, five thousand dollars.

For a monument on Bowbill ledge, in the harbor of Manchester, or for removing the same, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, five thousand dollars.

For rebuilding the two light-houses on Plumb island, near Newburyport, four thousand dollars.

State of Rhode Island.-For buoys or dolphins in Providence river, six hundred dollars.

For placing two spindles at the mouth of Paucatuck river, the sum of four hundred dollars.

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York ledge.

Saddle-back

ledge.

New Hampshire. Whale-back light-house. Massachusetts.

Nantucket isl

and.

Mayo beach.

Bowditch's ledge.

Bowbill ledge.

Plumb Island.

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