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Show REPORT OF THE UOMHISBIOXER OF INDIAN AEFALRS. 159 ritory suggested March 6, 1900, that the town-site commissions be instructed to report to and be under his immediate supervision instead of reporting direct to this ofice. March 10, this o5ce concurred in his suggestion, because it was thought that the inspector being on the groundwonld be able to harmonize any differences existing between inhabitants of a town or between the commission and the inhabitants relative to the survey of such town. March 26, the Department approved the recommendation, and the town-site commissions were instrncted accordingly. TheIndianappropriationact approved May 31,1900 (31 Stat. L., 221), contains a provision as follows: Nothing herein wntsjned shall have the effect of avoiding any work heretofore done in pursuance of the eaid act of June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, in the way of surveying, laying out, or platting town sites, appraising or diapoaing of town lots in any of eaid nations, but the same, if not heretofore car-ried to a state of wmpletion, may he wmpleted according to the provisions hereof. It also provides tha& The Secretary of the Interior, where in his judgment the public intmesis will he thereby subserved, may permit the authorities oi any town in any of said nations, at the expense of the town, to survey, lay out, and plat the site thereof, subject to his supervision and approval, as in other instances. June 4, 1900, the Department instructed the inspector to direct the Choctaw and Chickasaw town-site commivsions to proceed to establish the exterior limits of town sites in said nations, in accordance with the Department's instructions of March 9, 1900, and also to ascertain whether the authorities of any town desired to take advantage of the opportunity given it to do its own surveying and platting. June 27, 1900, the inspector made the following suggestions: First. To furlough both memhera of the Choctaw townaite commission, now at South McAlester, immediately. Second. Then to employ, at the m e eallasy now allowed, Mr. Smiser (at present commissioner on behalf of the Choctaw Nation)and direct him to proceed to the various towns and establish the exterior limits in the manner nro~osed in mv letter A of the 26th instant. Third. To em.~ l.o vD r. Sterrett (the other member of the commission). at t h e m e lialary nuw allontd, iur the purpurc of tillpn'ising fhr work at 9cn111r >lvAlcau,r irod st the four other towns in the ('hoctaw Natiur~w llirlr are Lt i n-r mrvesalarrd ulntled at their own expense. Fourth. That the work in the Choctaw (Chickasaw) Nation be performed in the m e manner. Office report of June 30, concurred in the plan of the inspector except that instead of furloughing the Choctaw town-site commission the office recommended that Dr. Sterrett of the commission be per-mitted to complete the town-site work which the commission had already commenced, and that Mr. Smiser, the representative of the commis-sion on behalf of the nation, be detailed to assist one of the town-site surveyors, who had been appointed by the Department in the estab-lishment of the exterior limits of town sites in the Choctaw Nation. |