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Show 226 such excess land holdings.446 A question has recently arisen as to whether title to land now privately owned is subject to for- feiture under this provision, in a case where it is within an irrigation district which has executed a contract with the Gov- ernment. A recent expression of administrative views points out that the statute applies only to original patents and water- right applications, and then only if the forfeiture provision is included in the patent or water-right application.447 No record has been found where the forfeiture provision has been invoked.448 In addition to the foregoing problems respecting acreage limitations, speculation in lands posed problems in the admin- istration of Reclamation Law. Speculators would buy arid lands with no intention of ever cultivating them, and then sell them to the actual farmers at prices enhanced greatly by the construction of an irrigation project.449 It became evident that specific legislation would be needed to cope with this situa- 448 Act of August 9,1912, § 3, 37 Stat. 265, 266, 43 U. S. O. 543, 544. In part, Section 3 provides that, except as otherwise provided in the statute, no person shall acquire, own, or hold irrigable land covered by reclamation entry or water-right application before final payment of all construction and betterment charges on account of land in excess of one farm unit as fixed by the Secretary as the limit of area per entry of public land or per single ownership of private land for which a water right may be pur- chased respectively, nor in any case in excess of 160 acres. It also prohibits furnishing of water for such excess, with a specified exception permitting the holding for two years of excess lands acquired in good faith. Finally, the section provides that "every excess holding prohibited as aforesaid shall be forfeited to the United States by proceedings instituted by the Attorney Gen- eral for that purpose in any court of competent jurisdiction; and this proviso shall be recited in every patent and water-right certificate issued by the United States under the provisions of this act." § 3, 37 Stat. 266, 43 U. S. O. 544. 447 Memorandum from Regional Counsel, Region No. 2, Bureau of Reclama- mation, dated March 31, 1949, concurred in by the Bureau's Chief Counsel. 448 In this connection, see Landownership Survey on Federal Reclama- tion Pbojects, Department of the Interior, p. 41 (1946). "'Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Public Lands on S. 912, 80th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 202-203 (1947). Information assembled from various projects prior to 1914 reflects increases of from 75% to 5,390% in the value of unimproved land upon announcement of intention to construct a project. Id. p. 204. |