392 FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. SEss. ll. Ch. 112, 113. 1877. and for instruction of engineer battalion in their preparation and appli- Pmvisc. cation, fifty thousand dollars: Provided, That the money herein appropriated for torpedoes shall only be used in the establishment and maintenance of torpedoes to be operated from shorestations for the destruction of an enemy’s vessel approaching the shore or entering the channel and {airways of harbors. Approved, March 3, 1877. March 3, 1877. CHAP. 113.-An act respecting the limits of reservations for town-sites upon the ·······——*#it···~· public domain _ Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United ‘··!l**%¤%*pf Ofhmd States of America in Congress assembled, That the existence or incorpo-
- §?,,¥,0$, i,;“;,¥§i 1"3¤i0¤ of any t0WH upon the public lands of the United States shall not
sj5g_ be held to exclude from pre-emption or homestead entry a greater quantity than twenty-tive hundred and sixty acres of land, or the maximum area which may be entered as a town-site under existing laws, unless the entire tract claimed or incorporated as such town-site shall, including and in excess of the area above specilied, be actually settled upon, inhabited, improved, and used for business and municipal purposes. v_Cf¥‘*=**;1 f‘“)fF;“ Sno 2. That where entries have been heretofore allowed upon lands
- `,;;‘Q;;Imé’_“ “`“ "’“ afterward ascertained to have been embraced in the corporate limits of
any town, but which entries are or shall be shown, to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of the General Land-Oliice, to include only vacant unoccupied lands of the United States, not settled upon or used for municipal purposes, nor devoted to any public use of such town, said entries, if regular in all respects, are hereby confirmed and may be carried into l”Y<>V*jP· patent: Provided, That this coniirmation shall not operate to restrict E sri3S9i *" 440* the entry of any town-site to a smaller area than the maximum quantity of land which, by reason of present population, it may be entitled to enter under section twenty-three hundred and eightynine of the Revised Statutes. Wl¤~¤<*>i<>w¤·~=it<> 812.0.3. That whenever the corporate limits of any town upon the
- ’X"""°l""“‘°""‘“"‘ public domain are shown or alleged to include lands in excess of the
maximum area specitied in section one of this act, the Commissioner of the General Land Office may require the authorities of such town, and it shall be lawful for them, to elect what portion of said lands, in compact lorm and embracing the actual site of the municipal occupation and improvement, shall be withheld from pre-emption and homestead entry; and thereafter the residue of such lands shall be open to disposal under the homestead and preemption laws. And upon default of said town authorities to make such selection within sixty days after notification by the Commissioner, he may direct testimony respecting the actual location and extent of said improvements, to be taken by the register and receiver of the district in which such town may be situated; and, upon receipt of the same, he may determine and set off the proper site according to section one of this act, and declare the remaining lands open to settlement and entry under the homestead and pre-cmption laws, Copies cram in- and it shall be the duty of the secretary of each of the Territories of the <>¤FP°}‘=¤i{1.¤¤¤*V¤SS United States to furnish the surveyor-general of the Territory for the hm" °"""Sl"°’d‘ use of the United States a copy duly certilied of every act of the legislature of the Territory incorporating any city or town, the same to be forwarded by such secretary to the surveyor-general within one month from date of its approval. . _W here town- Sec. 4. lt shall be lawful ior any town which has made, or may here-
- Ys",lf‘lL1;’S*‘ umn after make entry of less than the maximum quantity of land named in
`R_`S_,23g,9,p_440_ section twenty-three hundred and eighty-nine of the Revised Statutes to make such additional entry, or entries, of contiguous tracts, which ‘ may be occupied for town purposes as when added to the entry or entries therefore made will not exceed twenty-five hundred and sixty acres : Pro-
