OCR Text |
Show I figures showing the exact number of leases, the area of land covered by them, and theincome derived therefrom. He submitted reportsfrom i the clerk of the Seneca Nation and from the county clerk of Cattarau. gus County upon whom he was obliged to eall for information. 1 The Seneca clerk reports that there are recorded in a book com-mencing March 22,1881, 76 leases; that from the year 1892 there are five libers containing the records of 1,443 leases for the term of ninety-nine years; that the same records show a large number of i'subleases" ' recorded, the original leases having been of large tracts which were snbseqnently snhdivided and subleased; that the number of acre8 covered by theseleases is approximately 5,490; and that the description i of the lands in a great many leases is so imperfect that i t would he impossible to give the quantity of laud from any data contained in the descriptions. 1 The report of the county clerk of Cattaraugus County shows that 1 the total number of Seneca leases recorded in his office is 3,111; total number made prior to 1892 being 2,031, the average term of which wae for twelve years; that the number of leases renewed in 1892 which have I been recorded is 1,080, the same being for ninetynine years, under the I act of 1875 (18 Stat. L., 330) and the act of 1180 (26 Stat. L., 558); that prior to 1880 the greater portion of these lands was leased in large tracts and afterwards divided up into smaller parcels and subleased; that the average amount of rental (as stated in the leases) received by the Indians per annum prior to 1892 was $10 per lease; that the aver-age rental per annum since 1892 is $5 per lease, and that the character of the descriptions is such in nearly all the leases that it will be impos-sible to determine the qnautity of land contained therein without a survey. The agent also reported that a large percentage of the leases recorded in the books of the Senecs Nation are also recorded in the office of the clerk of Cattaraugus County, and it would be a matter of great diB-culty to ascertaiu the exact number which are recorded in both places. His report was transmitted to Congress, and may he found published in Senate Ex. Doc. No. 53, Fiftyfourth Oongress, second session. The Indians suffer, and this oBce is embarrassed by legal difficulties growing ont of the individual property rights of the Indians of the Seneca Nation. Under the laws of the State of New York sole juris-diction in land matters is conferred upon the peacemaker's courts of the Seneca Nation-tribunals of fully established ignorance and alleged corruptibility. As a result, the defeated parties usually appeal to this office for redress, and it is difficult to make them understand that the office can not interfere with the judgments of the legally constituted courts. The agent has been directed to prepare a petition for signa-ture by the Indians asking the legislature to give the State courts appellate jurisdiction in these cases, and when the petition shall be presented to this office it will be submitted to the New York legislature with strong recommendation for favorable action. |