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Show I BEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF IADIAN AFFAIRS. 108 I ployees of the Attorney-General and a large part of the force of, the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes have been sent to the offices of the recorders of deeds in the various counties created out of the territory of the Five Civilized Tribes, to procure the needed data; and as a result, suits have been brought or directed involving more than 12,500 tracts covered by illegal instruments of conveyance. LEASES. Up to June 30,1908, there had been filed with the agency for the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma, called the Union Agency, 17,727 leases covering allotted land, of which 17,428 were for oil and gas production, 228 for coal and asphalt, and 71 were miscellaneous. The number filed during the fiscal year 1908 was 3,143. At its close 9,732 leases were in effect and 6,930 had been disapproved or can-celed, leaving 516 pending in this o6ce and the department and 549 pending at the agency. On October 14, 1907, tba Secretary of the ~hteriorp romulgated the following amendment to the regulations governing oil and gas leases : The minimum rate of royalty on oil shall be 10 per cent of the gross proceeds of all oil produced from the leased premises, payment to be made at the tlme of the sale or disposition of the oil, but the Secretary of the Interior may, from t h e to time, increase the existing minimum rate of royalty to a minimum rate nut exceeding 16$ per cent, provided that any lease hereafter deliverd to the ' lessee, in which the royalty specified is at any time less than the minimum rate of royalty in force at that time, as Exed in accordance herewith, shall be subject to such mlnimum rate of royalty instead of the rate originally specified in the lease. On April 20, 1908, revised regulations covering the leasing of lands of allottees of the Five Civilized Tribes were promulgated, the most important modifications being thatithe minimum rate of royalty is increased from 10 to l24 per cent; instead of mineral leases being made for a term of fifteen years, they are to be made for a period of five years from the date of approval by the Secretary of the Interior, and will continue in force as much longer thereafter as the oil or gas or other minerals named in the lease are found in paying quantities; in leases approved, delivered or signed before the date of the revised regulations, wherein the royalty on oil is less than 124 per cent, the lessees may take advantage of the indefinite extension of the lease provided they stipulate in writing to increase the royalty to 124 per cent; and leases approved at earlier dates which provide for a rate of 124 per cent or more may also be extended, on terms to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, at any time before the removal of the restrictions. The agreement with the Seminole Nation, ratified by Congress on July 1, 1898 (30 Stat. L., 567), provided that of all royalties |