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Show I XXVI REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. I TIXBER DEPIZEDATIONS ON INDIAN LANDS. Notwithstanding the repeated recomruendatio~~msa de by this office for legislat,ion to protect tbe timber on Indian lands, uo definite action has been taken by Congress, 'nd depredations upon valnable timber, especially in the Indian Territory, are of constant occurrence. At the Rrst session of t,he Forty-seventh Congress a, bill (S. 1646). prepared in this office, extending to Indian lands the ~~r o v i s i oofn ~ge ction 6388 of I the Bevisetl Statutes of the United States for the protectiou and pws-i ervatiou of timber, passed the Senate with a slight amendment, but failed to receive action in the House, either at that or the ooncludiog session. The urgent necessity for this m&ure is &own in the corre-spondence set out iu t,he report of the Senate committee," to whicb 1 beg to refer. CASH PAYMENTS TO INDIANS, During the year there has bee11 paid to Indians, in cash, as annuity or otherwise, in round numbers, $746,000. Of this amount $305,000 was used to reimburse the Creek orphan fillid, as provided for iu the act approred August 7,188'2; about $220,00Owas interest on indebted-ness to Indians, funded and otherwise; about $13,00Ofiuished the pay-ment of tbe principal sum doe to the Eastern Miamis, and nearly $10,000 was paid for dama.ges to the property of Indians, the result of their n:moval, or the rosecu cut ion of public works to the injury of their res-ervations, &e., thus leaving something less than $200,000 of annuity paymeats proper, many of which will expire in the near future by lim-itation in t,he various treaties, &c. Creek orpham.-The provisions of the aot above noted, requiring the 8iim of $306,021.58 to be paid to the Creeks who were orphans on the 24th day of Marcb, 1832, or to their heirs, to rei~nburset he fuud due to them uuder treaty of that date., from which fuud this money had been diverted by the Government, nrade i t the duty of t l ~ eD epartment to ascertain who were entitled to this payment, ant1 to see that the money w ~psa id to the aotoal beueficiaries under the law. The agent who was .to make the payment was therefore instructecl to carefully revise and eorrect the ceusus list of these Indians, ant1 before enrolling their names 60 closely examine and verify the clain~s of all who presented them-selves. These instructions he carried ont in a very satisfactory mau-uer, submitting a census list showing 27 of the original 573 orpbaus at,ill living, a.11d nearly 800 heirs, mauy being descendants of the third generatiou. This list was certified to as correct by all the chiefs, thirt,y-nine iu number, and by the agent, and, after being carefully examined and compared with the original rolls, was approved by the Department on the 28th December, 1882, and the pa~menrt u d e during the follow-iug Marcb. As no evidences of dissatisfaction thc!rewith hare reached me from the Creeks, I believe that rione exists. - 'Xeport No. 392, Forty-seventh Cungreaa, first session. |