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Show DEPREDATION CLAIMS. A clause in the act of March 3,1885 (23 Stat., page 3'76)! iL making a& propriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indiau De-partment ' * ?ud for other purposes," appropriated $10,000 "for the investigation of certain Indiau depredatiou chims," and pro. vided thatc' in the expenditure of said sum the Secretary of the Inte-rior should cause a complete list of all claims heretofore filed in the Interior Department * * * to be made and presented to Congress at its next regular session." The Secretary was further authorized by said act ' I to cause such additional investigation to be made and such ' further testimony to be taken as he might deem necessary to enable him to determine the kind aud value of the property damaged or de-stroyed." For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the above act, a division was created in theIndia0 Bureau in 1885, known as the "Dep redations Division," though i@ did not receive that desigoarion officially until January 1,1889. The number of office employ6s in this division hall varied from two to six, and there are now four, viz, the chief clerk, two clerks or examiners, and a typewriter. For the purpose of cans-ing "add~tional inrestigati'on to be made,'? special agents have beenap-pointedand sent. to the localities where the alleged depredations are said to have been committed, to take such additional testimou~a s is obtain-able aan'd report the claim to this office with their conclusions therwn. These special agents receive a compensation of $8 for every day actually employed, and their necessary expenses, exclusive of subsist-ence; the number employed at no time has exceededsix. The construction placed upon the aforesaidact by the Indiau Bureau, and concurred in by the Deparcmcnt of the Interior, precluded from inrestigation on their merits all claims barred by the following clause of the seventeenth section of the act of Juue 30,1834 (4 Stat., 731): Unlesa snob claim ahall be presented within three years after the commission of the injury the same shall be barred. Therefore such claims were reported to Oongress as barred and not entitled to investigation. After a number of them had been so re-ported, a clause iu the act of May 15, 1886 (24 Stat., 44), extended the scope of investigation by saying : L'And the invevtigation and re-port shall include claims, if any, barred by statuh, such fact to be stated in the report?' This necessitate$ a return frdol 0oug:ess of all those olaims which, without an investigation on their merits, had been re-ported as barred, and thus rendered useless much of the work which hid been done up to that time. .The following tables show the number of claims on hand, received and disposed of since June 30,1885. |
