IN ASSEMBLY,

April 17, 1833.

REPORT

Of the committee on Indian affairs, on the petition of the chiefs of the first Christian party of the Oneida Indians, residing at Green Bay.

Mr. Farrington, from the committee on Indian affairs, to whom was referred the petition of the chiefs of the first Christian party of the Oneida Indians, residing at Green Bay, praying for an investigation of their accounts with the State,

REPORTED:

That the petitioners are Daniel Bread and Cornelius Beard, chiefs of the first Christian party of Oneida Indians, residing at Green Bay. They set forth in their petition that their party, in two several treaties made with the State of New-York, sold to the State two several parcels of their land; one of which was apprais ed at and sold for $12,972.97, and the other for $19,728.98; that Eli Savage, Esq. was appointed by the Governor under the act of 11th February, 1829, an agent "to take charge of their money and go with them to Green Bay;" that Daniel Bread, one of the petitioners, removed with his party, consisting of 106 souls, in the summer of 1829, with the said agent to Green Bay; and that Cor nelius Beard, the other petitioner, removed with his party, accompanied by said agent, to the same place in the summer of 1830. The petition, after adverting to an apparent discrepancy in some items of receipts and expenditures, as they are entered in the Comptroller's books, prays for the "appointment of a committee to investigate the manner in which the said sums of $12,972.79 and $19,728.98 have been paid out of the treasury, and by what authority; to cause the said agent to render a just account of all [Assem. No. 315.]

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of said moneys received and disbursed by him, and to examine the bills and receipts in support of each item thereof; in order that if it shall appear that the condition of said agent's bond has not been performed, that such measures as may be deemed requisite by the Legislature may be adopted to cause the said bond to be prosecuted and their rights to be maintained."

Agreeably to the prayer of the petitioners, your committee have investigated the manner of expenditure and the authority by which the moneys aforesaid have been paid out of the treasury, together with the bills and receipts in support of each item of disbursement.

The whole of the sum first above mentioned, and a part of the latter, have been paid to and disbursed by the said agent, except some payments which were made directly from the treasury to the said Indians. These payments were made by the Treasurer upon the warrant of the Comptroller, in the usual manner of transacting business of that kind.

The chairman of your committee, aided by the late Comptroller, who transacted the business with said agent, has gone through with and investigated all the vouchers, amounting to several hundred in number, in support of the several items of expenditure by the said agent, as they appear by the books of the Comptroller's office. These vouchers fully account for all the moneys paid to the agent out of the treasury.

The petitioners complain, that by the Comptroller's books it appears that the expense of transporting the said Cornelius Beard and his party to Green Bay amounted to $4,833.10; a sum believed by the petitioners to be beyond the amount actually expended. This item appears upon the book of the Comptroller as one of several items received by the agent at various times, and expresses the general purpose for which it was paid to the agent. The entry is in these words: "Rec'd from the treasury, June 9, 1830, for transporting Cornelius Beard and his party, $4,833.10." On examination of the vouchers which account for the expenditure of this sum, your committee find that the sum of $1,450.53 only was expended for the conveyance or transportation of the said Beard and party, and that the residue of said sum, amounting to $3,457.30, was expended for various articles of property for said Indians, such as provisions, clothing, blankets, implements of husbandry, &c. and for the erection of a mill. The statement upon

the Comptroller's book, of the various items of money received by the agent, does not particularize the items of expenditure, but expresses generally the object of their receipt by the agent. It is probably from this general expression that the idea is obtained by the petitioners that the whole sum was charged as the expense of their transportation merely, when in fact the greater part of it was expended for other purposes.

The petitioners notice in their petition a discrepancy between the receipts and expenditures in the transportation of Daniel Bread's party to Green Bay, as appears from the entries in the Comptroller's book. One item received by the agent amounts to $7,500, and the statement of expenditure to $6,500 only, leaving apparently $1,000 unaccounted for. On examination of the vouchers, however, the latter entry is found to be erroneous; it should be $7,500; the vouchers showing that sum to have been actually expended. Another item of expenditure in the same statement is put down, as appears by the vouchers, at $1,000 too much. The aggregate of the two items therefore is correct; the one being just as much too large as the other is too small. The effect of this is to make two apparent discrepancies, of $1,000 each, between the receipts and expenditures; and which, if true, would give to the tribe collectively $1,000 less than their due, and to some individual Indians the same amount more than their due. But this, as your committee have before remarked, is not true in point of fact; the vouchers showing the money to have been properly expended, but an error made in the entry.

Your committee, without going further into detail upon the subject of the receipts and disbursements of the money of the said. Indians by the said agent, have only to remark, that they have given the subject referred to them an elaborate investigation, and have been unable, from the facts which have come to their knowledge, to discover any mismanagement or misapplication of the moneys belonging to said Indians. The committee are therefore of opinion that no legislation is necessary in the premises, and recommend that the petitioners have leave to withdraw their petition.

All which is respectfully submitted.

IN ASSEMBLY,

April 18, 1833.

REPORT

Of the Commissioners of the Land-Office, on the bill entitled, "An act to vest in the city of Hudson, the title to certain lands therein mentioned."

The Commissioners of the Land-Office, to whom was referred by the Assembly, the bill entitled, "An act to vest in the city of Hudson the title to certain lands under water," have the honor to submit the following

REPORT:

It has long been the established policy of the State to grant to the proprietors of the adjacent soil, lands under the waters of navigable rivers, &c. for the purposes of commerce. These grants have been uniformly made without pecuniary consideration, and with no other benefit on the part of the State than the improvement of its commerce and industry.

The Revised Statutes, vol. 1, page 208, sec. 67, provide that the "Commissioners of the Land-Office shall have power to grant so much of the lands under the waters of navigable rivers or lakes as they shall deem necessary to promote the commerce of this State; but no such grant shall be made to any person other than the proprietor of the adjacent lands, and every such grant that shall be made to any other person, shall be void."

The Commissioners of the Land-Office, before making grants of such land to individuals, have required the applicants to make affidavit that they intended to appropriate the lands applied for, to the purposes of commerce, by erecting thereon a dock or docks; and to produce an affidavit of the first judge of the county, or the su[Assem. No. 318.]

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