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Show I REPORT OF THE COMMI8SIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIE4. 41 homes, all con~i.ningat least small patches susceptible of cultivation. None of the lands allotted are particularly valuable for the timber thereon. On timber lands.-By letter dated February 21,1903, to the Com- , missioner of the General Land Office, the Department modified the ruling previously in force prohibiting the allotment nnder the fourth section of the general allotment act of lands "more valuable for the timber than. for agricnItural or grazing purposes." As modified, the regulations now permit the allotment of any lands containing a snf-ficient arable area to support an Indian family and suitable on the whole for a home for the allottee. In other words, such allottees are placed on the same footing with homestead entrymen, the lands being "subject to the same conditions, limitations, and restrictions as when entered under the homestead law." This modified ruling is a very important one for this class of allottees, averting as it does the necessity of canceling the large num-ber of allotments in different portions of the United States, which contain more or less merchantable and valuable timber. In my last annual report, in which this subject of timber allotments was discussed, it was stated that, in the Snsanville district alone 129 allotments had been reported for cancellation on this ground. Unfortunately, a considerable number of such allotments in various districts had been canceled on this account during the past seven or eight years, before the ruling was modiiied. Joint investigation.-Department letter of February 21 last also approved the recommendation made by this Office and the General Land Office, that all the nonreservation allotments of record he jointly investigated by the two offices. The purpose of this work, which had already been prosecuted by this Office for two or three years previously in the Redding and Snsanville districts, is to effect the cancellation of all improper and unsuitable allotments, and to place the remainder on a more secure basis, as regards contests and inter-ference on the part of white settlers, by determining the allottee's qualiiication, ascertaining the character of the land and its suitability, showing him the corners, persuading and assisting him, if an adult, . to make settlement, etc. This work of investigating all fourth-section allotments of record will be prosecuted with diligence by this Office and their validity determined at the earliest practicable date. As the General Land Office has not yet investigated the allotments in the Susanville and Redding districts through its special agents, the work there is still incomplete as regards compliance with the aforesaid Departmental instructions, and the allotments are still in a state of suspense. It is hoped that such investigation may be made at an early date, so that |