Estimate of amount of appropriation required to prepay postage at present rates for the Post-Office Department during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
Washington, D. C., June 11, 1873.

In view of the recent laws of Congress, abolishing the franking privilege from and after July 1, 1873, it is decided that such articles, in the nature of supplies, as are essential for the proper working of this Department and its officers, may be transported without payment of postage.

The following articles are designated as supplies, and postmasters, railway postal clerks, route-agents, and other officers of the postal service. will permit packages thereof, when indorsed in accordance with the instructions herein contained, to pass through their respective offices and over their routes, viz.

Blanks, sent from the Department to its officers.

Mail-bags and locks sent from regular depositories to postmasters and others.

Packages of postal stamps, stamped envelopes, newspaper-wrappers, postal cards, official envelopes, registered-package envelopes and seals, sent from Department to postmasters.

Dead letters sent from post-offices to the Department.

Damaged postage-stamps and stamped envelopes from postmasters to the Department for redemption.

Used or spoiled registered-package-envelopes returned to the Depart

ment.

Packages of the above-named articles must bear, in addition to the address, the official certificate of the officer by whom sent, thus: POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OFFICE SUPPLIES.

By order of the POSTMASTER-GENERAL.

A B
Chief Clerk.

(Or other officer, as the case may be.)

On all matter not designated as supplies, postage must be paid at the regular rates by the official stamps, with which every office will be supplied.

OFFICIAL MAIL MATTER SENT FROM ALL OTHER EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT.

To afford the several Executive Departments of the Government every facility consistent with the law abolishing the franking privilege, packages of blanks, charts, or other printed matter, (except books,) emanating from said Departments, will be allowed to pass through the mails at a prepaid postage (by postage-stamps) of one cent for each two ounces or fraction thereof, being the minimum rate for such matter; double these rates must be charged for books, viz, two cents for each two ounces or fraction thereof.

For the better protection of such matter, the packages can be sealed as heretofore, provided the contents are properly certified by an officer designated for such purpose by the head of the department or bureau to which he is attached. The following form of certificate (with proper variations of heading for the several departments) has been suggested: UNITED STATES TREASURY BLANKS.

I certify that this package contains no written matter.

By order of the SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY:

Postmasters and others receiving a copy of this will carefully observe

the foregoing instructions.

JNO. A. J. CRESWELL,
Postmaster-General.

DECEMBER 18, 1873.-Referred to the Committee on Private Land-Claims.
JANUARY 21, 1874.-Ordered to be printed.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, D. C., December 3, 1873.

SIR: Pursuant to the 5th section of the act approved June 22, 1860, (10 Stat., p. 85,) I have the honor to transmit herewith the following papers for the action of Congress, and its final decision thereon:

1. Copy of letter addressed to me on the 14th April last by the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, transmitting, with his disapproval, a report dated February 28, 1870, by the register and the receiver of the consolidated land-office of the United States at New Orleans, La., acting as commissioners under the act aforesaid, in which they recommend for confirmation six claims in the name of Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines. 2. The report and papers accompanying the Commissioner's letter. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

C. DELANO,

Hon. JAMES G. BLAINE,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Secretary.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND-OFFICE,

Washington, D. C., April 14, 1873.

SIR: As directed by the fourth section of the act of Congress approved June 22, 1860, (12 Stat., p. 85,) entitled "An act for the final adjustment of private land-claims in the States of Florida, Louisiana, and Missouri, and for other purposes," extended by the act of Congress approved March 2, 1867, (14 Stat., p. 544,) I have the honor to submit herewith, to be transmitted to Congress, a report dated February 28, 1870, by the register and the receiver of the consolidated land-office of the United States at New Orleans, La., acting as commissioners under

H

the acts aforesaid, in which report they recommend for confirmation six claims in the name of Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines.

Claim No. 1.-The documents filed with the commissioners in this case

are

1. An unauthenticated paper purporting to be a copy of a “return” made April 17, 1804, by Carlos Trudeau, Spanish surveyor, in which a tract of land containing 40,000 arpents is alleged to have been surveyed in favor of Don George Pollock.

2. An unauthenticated paper purporting to be a copy of a grant dated January 15, 1805, from Don Juan Ventura Morales to George Pollock, for 40,000 arpents of land, solicited by Pollock in 1803, and subsequently located, purchased, and paid for, provided that this grant should not interfere with the rights of those having a better title, and that the grantee should observe the land-laws promulgated by the intendencia on the 17th of July, 1799, with diagram attached.

3. Certified copy of an "act of sale," dated January 29, 1805, from George Pollock to Daniel Clark, purporting to convey a tract of land located and described in the foregoing alleged grant.

4. Unauthenticated papers purporting to be translations of above alleged return and grant.

5. Diagrams of land alleged to be covered by the foregoing grant and sale, and lists of valid interferences therewith.

The copy of the deed above mentioned is certified by Andrew Hero, jr., custodian of notarial records for the parish of Orleans, Louisiana, to be a true copy of the original act extant on the records of Pierre Pedesclaux, late a notary in the city of New Orleans; but the copy of the alleged return of the Spanish surveyor, and of the grant by Morales, as well as the translations of the same, are not certified, though the copy of said alleged "return" and grant is attached to the "act of sale" aforesaid by a single brass fastener. The form of the certificate attached to the "act of sale" is in itself sufficient to show that the "return" and "grant" aforesaid were not covered by it; and said alleged return and grant cannot, therefore, be considered by me as evidence in this case.

In addition to this failure in the evidence, which must necessarily prove fatal to the claim of Mrs. Gaines, there is no evidence in the case to show that Clark died possessed of the claim under consideration, or that the present claimant is his sole heir; neither has she filed the sworn statement required by section 1 of the act of June 22, 1860, as to the supposed location of the land covered by her claim. I also call your attention to the fact that this claim is reported as No. 22 in Register C of the report of Commissioner James O. Cosby, (Am. State Papers Public Lands, D. Green's edition, vol. 3, p. 54;) said Register C being a "Register of claims to lands," "founded on grants said to be derived from either the French, British, or Spanish Government," which, in the opinion of Mr. Cosby, were "not valid agreeably to the laws, usages, or customs of such government."

There being no legal evidence of the validity of the grant relied upon, nor of the right of the present claimant to a confirmation, as recommended by the register and the receiver, the above claim is hereby rejected by this office.

Claim No. 2.-The documents in this case are

1. An uncertified copy of an alleged figurative plan and field-notes of nine tracts of land purporting to have been surveyed by Pintado, in favor of Thomas Urquhart, as follows:

Plan No. 1641, containing 3,000 arpents.

Plan No. 1642, containing 9,000 arpents.