Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 28.djvu/714

FIFTY-THIRD CONGRESS. SEss. III. Ch. 131. 1895. 685 ohice of the land district in which the land examined and classified is situated a full report. in duplicate, in such form as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, showing all lands examined by them during the preceding month, and specifying clearly, by legal subdivisions, where the land is surveyed, or otherwise by natural objects or permanent monuments to identify the same, the lands cla sined by them as mineral lands and those classified as nonmineral; and with said report shall be filed all testimony taken and written communications received by said commissioners relating to the lands embraced in the report. The register and receiver shall hle one duplicate of said report in their office, together with all accompanying testimony and papers, and the other duplicate shall be by them forwarded direct to the Secretary of h°¢i1;r¤zS¤¢¤¤rr<>i the Interior, and said commissioners shall furnish to the Secretary of ° ° °°"°r` the Interior at any time such further or additional report or information as he may require concerning any matters relating to their duties or the performance of the same. Upon receipt of such report the register of ¥’¤W¤¤¤·>¤· the land office shall, at the expense of the United States, cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the land is located, and in one newspaper published at the capital city of the State in which the lands may be situated, at least once a week for four consecutive weeks, notice of the classification of lands as shown by said report, and any person, corporation, or company feeling aggrieved by such classification may, at any time within sixty days after the first publication of said notice, iile with the register and receiver of the land office a verified protest against the acceptance of said classification, which protest shall set forth in concise language the grounds of objection to the classification as to the particular land in said protest described, whereupon a hearing shall be ordered by, and conducted Hwwz ¤f1¤¤>¤¤¤t¤- before, the said register and receiver, under rules and regulations as near as practicable in conformity with the rules and practice of such land office in contests involving the mineral or monmineral character of land in other cases; and an appeal from the decision of the register hppa and receiver shall be allowed to the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the Secretary of the Interior, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe: Provided, That at TM- such hearin gs the United States shall be represented and defended by ;.,,,.{‘°""°"°°°"'°°° the United States district attorney or his assistants for the judicial district in which the land is situated, unless the ·Secretary of the Interior shall detail some proper officer of the Department of the Interior for that purpose. The compensation for such service shall not Compensation. exceed ten dollars per day for each day’s actual service before the register and receiver, to be paid out of the fund provided for the examination and classification of said mineral lands. Sec. 6. That as to the lands against the classification whereof no _,£'f,{{;, °_§;··,:;,{'g protest shall have been filed as hereinbefore provided, the classification mas. when approved by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be considered final, except in case of fraud, and all plats and records of the local and general land offices shall be made to conform to such classification. All lands so classified as above without protest, and the classification whereof is disapproved by the Secretary of the Interior, and all lands whereof the classification has been invalidated for fraud, shall be subject to hearing and determination in such manner as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe. And as to all such lands, and as to the lands against the classification whereof protests may be filed, the final ruling made after the day set for hearing shall determine the proper classification; and all records of the local and general land onices shall be made to conform to the classification as determined by such final ruling, and all costs of such hearin gs shall be paid by the unsuccessful party, under such rules as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to establish such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry into effect the true intent and provisions of this Act as speedily as practicable.