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Show '-84 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIOXER OF INDIAN &FAIRS. , pmved by this oaoe. You may permit ontting nnder all contraots that have been heretofure submitted and approved in dne form, and which have not &en folly pef-forked; hut you must permit no timber to he,cnt under any contract that has not been thus submitted and approved. . s On the same day.Agent Gregory telegraphed those having such con-tracts as follows : . Yon can go on and complete your last winter contracts. December 3,1888, the Department modilied the then existing regula-tions regarding the sale of pine timber, and a form of renewal of in-completed contracts was prepared and forwarded to Agent Gregory December 5, 1888, as indicated in the last annual report. December 8,1888, a form of new contract for the sale of pine timber was prepared and forwarded to Agent Gregory, he being again instructed as follows: Permit no operations to Be colnmenced oo any tract unti1,gou receive notieeof the ap-proval of a oontraot covering the same. Soon therzfter complaint was made to this office on behalf of the Fond du Lac Indians that Patrick Hynes and Andrew Gowan, having contracts executed the previous season, but unapproved by this offioe, which contracts it was alleged had been obtained by fraud, were then making preparations to enter upon their lands and carry away their timber without their consent. Subseqnently, repeated instructions +ere given Agent. Gregory to prevent the cutting of timber, particu-' larly on the Fond dn Lac &eservation, and on allotments notapproved by the President. January 26,1889, late Commissioner Oberly made a full report upon the subject to the Department, in which he stated that- No contracts for outting on any of the reservations of the La Pointe Agency have been approved by thia offioe (with tbe exception of seven, the approvalof which hse not been made known either to the parties or Agent Gregory), so that any outting of timber on these reservations is without authority of this offiae and the Department, which both the *gent and the cantrsotors seem to have entirely ignored. He recommended the reference of the matter to the Department of Justice, with the request that the proper distriat attorney be in-structed to commence proceedings against all parties who had violated the statutes, and that the opinion of the.Attorne.y.~eneralb e requested as to the legal means that might be used to protect the interests of the allottees whose timber had been cut without their consent. In con-clnsion, he called attention to the many hardships and the probable fi~anciarlu in, that might be entailed upon those parties who had been outting under the impression that they had the right to do so under Agent Gregory's authority, and suggested that he be authorized to as-certain the contractors who had been cutting under these circnmstances and to relieve them of the effects of Agent Gregory's failure in his duty, by permitting them to continue to cut under their contracts, and to re-move the timber which had been already cut under such contracts. Jagnary 29, 1889, late Secretary Vila8 expressed the opinion that |
