posed law upon their constituents, and upon the country in which they are interested. Upon both they solemnly believe that it will press with a severity which ought not to belong to the legislation of this great State; and they therefore pray the Senate and As sembly to take their case into deliberate consideration, trusting that the justice and wisdom of the Legislature will sanction the remonstrance which they respectfully make against the passing of the law. All which is respectfully submitted. JOHN J. VANDERKEMP, General Agent of the Holland Land Company, and W. & J. WILLINK. JOSEPH FELLOWS, General Agent of the Pulteney Estate. Albany, 18th March, 1833. IN ASSEMBLY, March 16, 1833. REPORT Of the select committee, on the petition of the inhabitants of the town of Oswegatchie, in the county of St. Lawrence. Mr. Allen, from the select committee, to whom was referred the petition of the inhabitants of the town of Oswegatchie, in the county of St. Lawrence, for the erection of a public building in said town, REPORTED: The petitioners state that at the annual town-meeting in said town the assessors then chosen were instructed to make inquiry, obtain information, and report to the next annual town-meeting, the practicability and probable expense of erecting a public building, for a town-house, in the village of Ogdensburgh. The assessors reported the result of their labors, and introduced a resolution recommending the erection of a town-house, which was unanimously concurred in by the meeting. The resolution proposes the levying a tax on the real and personal estate in said town, sufficient to raise the sum of two thousand dollars; provided the inhabitants in the village of Ogdensburgh shall raise the like sum, by subscription or otherwise. The petitioners state that the said two thousand dollars required to be paid by the village has been secured to be paid. It appears to your committee that the resolution and proceedings in town-meeting are properly certified by the proper town officers; and there being no remonstrance or opposition before the committee, they are of opinion the prayer of the petitioners is reasonable and ought to be granted. They have, therefore, prepared a bill and ask leave to introduce the same. IN ASSEMBLY, March 16, 1833. REPORT Of the committee on claims, on the petition of James Wickam, praying compensation for the deficiency in a lot of land purchased by him from the State. Mr. Russell, from the committee on claims, to which was referred the petition of James Wickam, praying compensation for the deficiency in a lot of land purchased by him from the State, REPORTED: Lot No. 27, in the Crumhorn Mountain tract, in the county of Otsego, was purchased by the petitioner and one Benjamin Pierce, on the 9th May, 1821, and was reputed to contain 199 acres of land. On the first of October, in the same year, the petitioner transferred to Pierce one hundred and twenty-five acres of the lot. It was afterwards discovered that several of the lots in this tract were inaccurately surveyed, and on the 16th April, 1822, an act was passed for the relief of the purchasers. This act directed accurate surveys to be made and filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and the accounts of purchasers liquidated by the Comptroller, according to the contents of their repective lots, as ascertained on the re-survey: and that when the lands should be paid for, they should be patented according to the description in the new survey. Pursuant to this act a re-survey was made, and 40 acres was added to said lot No. 27, making in that lot 239 acres, and the owners of the lot charged with the additional quantity. After this, several assignments and conveyances of parts of the lot passed between the petitioner and Pierce, which were adopted by the Commissioners of the Land-Office, and a patent finally [Assem. No. 250.] 1 issued to Pierce, in pursuance of that arrangement, and the accounts of the respective parties, at the Comptroller's office, were regulated accordingly. After this a controversy arose between the petitioner and Pierce, in relation to the relative value of the respective parts of the lot which each held, and on the 26th of June, 1824, a reference was made to two individuals to settle this dispute. Upon this investigation it was conceded, by the petitioner and Pierce, (if the award is to be relied on,) that the petitioner had 72 acres and upwards, and Pierce 166 acres and upwards in this lot, making up the whole quantity contained in the lot. What inducement operated upon the parties, when making this partition, the committee have thought was unnecessary for them to investigate the disparity in quantity is indeed great, but it may not have been so in value; and even if it was, a pecuniary consideration may have passed between the parties, by which the apparent disparity was made equal: these were matters of a private nature, and are not properly inquirable into here. For a more minute detail of the facts connected with this claim, the committee beg leave to refer to the report of the Commissioners of the Land-Office, which may be found in Document No. 236, in this House the present year. Whatever ground of complaint the petitioner may have against Mr. Pierce, the committee are of opinion he has none against the State: they have therefore come to the conclusion that the prayer of the petition ought not to be granted, and offer, for the consideration of the House, the following resolution: Resolved, That the prayer of the petitioner, James Wickam, ought not to be granted, |