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Show i ; . . . ~ i. 1 i . , . . , ' XEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIANAFFAIRII. 45 ' ton, Wahpatou, Medawakanton, and wakp&koota bands of Sionx In-dians i'n 1862, payment to be made out of appropriati0,ns contained i n I that act. Such of these claims as were allowed and paid by the com-. mission are now on file in the office of the Second Auditor of the Treas- : uryi with the accounts of the disbursing officer of the commission. : The remainder, 91 in number, were forwarded to the Department oCthe Interior, '79 of them labeled "Oases in which no proof was suhmit- 1 ted, and they were therefore not acted upon," and 12 others, which : the commission reported "There was a hasty submission on insufficient testimony." Prom the Department they werb firwarded to the Senate, : , March 14,1868, in answer to a resolution of that body of March 3,186s. and, without action thereon, were subsequently returned to the Depart-ment files. Afterwards, on the 17th September, 1888, they, together with the correspondence thereon, were transmitted to the Indian Bureau : <'for fileand preservation in that office in connectioll with therecords and papers relating to Indian depredation claims, in order t,hat proper reply may be made to the frequent inquiriea of claimants as to the condition of their claims." The PJ cases referred to, however, were never received in this office. The honorable Secretary, in his letter transmittink the 79, states that ? the 12 were "informally borrowed by a clerk in the Depredations Divis- ' . ion;" but as no record of such claims ever having been received in the ; Indiau Ofice can be found, nor can the claims themselves be found i after a most thorough search, the office is forced to conclude that the . clerk who informallgborrowed" them never deposited them in the office. As the act providing for this commission also providedfor pay- : ing such of, the claipls as the commission might find worthy, and as the-i 79 claims above referred to were rejected by that commission, they I ' are considered as res adjudicata, so far as thisoffice is concerned, and ' have not been considered as within the scope of the act of March 3,1885, . and hence have not been examined or placed on file in this office. During the year ending June 30,1889,202 claims involving $881,107 have been reported upon by this office, and on these $300,660 have been recommended for allomance. During the same period there were filed 891 cairns, subject to investigation, involving $242,316.90, and 420 elaims not subject to present consideration, involving $1,140,788.10, from which it isseen tbat while 202 claims have been reported and disposed ' of, so far as this office is concerned, 89 have been added to the list, making a net gain of 113 claims disposed of during this year. Prior to the passage of the act of March 3,1885, the work of investi-gating and report,ing on Indian depredation claims was performed in . the Oivili~ation and EducatinnJJ Division of the office, and, being only an incident of that division, it necessarily received less attention than it would have obtained in a separate division. After the organi-zation of the Depredations Division claims of all kinds then on file were at once turned over to it, while the act just referred to provided for the |