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Show REPOHT OF THE COXMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 95 It will be observed that it is provided that any Indian residing in said town site and in possession of lots of ground with improvements shall have the same right to purchase under the town-site laws as white citizens; also that the tract of land situated near to .and north of the town of Wadsworth, upon which is located the Pyramid Lake Indian school, containing about 110 acres, is reserved from the town site estab-lished, unless it shall be determined by the Department that the tract is not needed for Indian school purposes. July 27,1898, the Indian agent of the Nevada Agency was furnished with a copy of the act, aud directed .to notify the Indians of its pro-visions, and to assist any who might be residing within the town site and be in possession of lots of ground and improvements to obtain title thereto under the town-site laws. Steps have been taken, also, to m r t a i n whether the school tract is still needed for school purposes. INDIANS IN NEW YORE. No change has been made in the condition or political status of the Indians in the State of New York during the past year. The chief obstacle to the betterment of their wndition, namely, the claim of the Ogden Land Company, still exists, with no apparent prospect of its being soon removed. Mention was made in my last annual report of the difficulties that were continually growing out of individual property rights, and that effort would be made to have the New York legislature amend the laws so as to give litigants in property matters the right to appeal from the Peacemakers to the State courts. A petition for such amendment, numerously signed by the Indians, was t,ransmitted to the Department January 8 last, and was, I am informally advised, transmitted to the governor of New York January 13. A matter of wnsiderable interest to the Indians is the collection of the moneys due from the leasing of town lots iu the six villages of the Allegany Reservation. Under existing law these moneys are paid to the treasurer of the Seneca Nation, to he expended for the benefit of the whole people. But it is alleged by many prominent members of the nation that the money is not properly expended, and that when finds are distributed many Indians do not get their share. To remedy this wrong a faction of the Seneca Nation had a bill iutmduced at the last session of Oongress, the purpose of which was to have a11 lease moneys collected by the United States Indian agent. This bill (9.2888) was favorably reported on in office letter to the Department, March 10, 1898, and passed the Senate and is now pending in the House. On April 11 last the Supreme Court of the United States rendered a decision in the case of the New York Indians against the United States. The Indians had sued the United States to recover the value of lands in Kansas which had been set apart a8 a reservation for them by their treaty of 1838. These lands had never been occupied by the Indians and had been sold by the Government and the proceeds placed |