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Show QOMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 33 9. Gas leases shall be made by the tribal council to the present gas lessees covering all or part of their present holdings and for such periods as the Sec-retary of the Interior may determine, provided that applications made prior to thisdate for leases of gas may be granted in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior. 10. The royalty on gas shall be 1/6, and all contracts for the sale or use of gas shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Such con- ' tracts shall be transmitted to the superintendent of the Osage Agency, who shall forward same without recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior, through the Commissioner of Ilidian AlTairs. Before any contract is approved, the superintendent shall he notified of the terms which the Secretary will approve, and the superintendent will thereupon notify the principal chief, who will then convene the tribal council and inform the members of the terms of the proposed contract. The council may, within 10 days from the receipt of such notice by the superintendent, communicate to the Secretary, through the superintendent and the commissioner, their vieas with reference to the said contract. 11. The present suhlessees will be notified of the terms upon which new leases may be made, and they shall file with the superintendent, not later than August 1, 1915, their acceptance. Should any sublessee neglect or decline to file his acceptance on or before August 1, 1915, all lands he might acquire uuder new leases shall, on the expiration of the present lease, be offered to the highest bidder, in the discretion of and subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. The above plan provides for new oil leases to the present suhlessees covering an aggregate area of about '70,000 acres of producing territory and approxi-mately 165,000 acres of nonproducing territory, the latter being subject to a rental of $1 per acre per annum in lieu of development. Such quarter-section units as are capab1.e of an average daily well pro-duction of 25 barrels or more, together with about 16,000 acres of additional producing territory, shall be leased at public auction to the highest bidder, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe. The remaining 430,000 acres of nonproducing territory shall be leased at such times and nuder such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe. OIL AND GAS, FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES. The conditions of the oil industry in the Five Civilized Tribes, Oklahoma, during the fiscal year 1915 have been somewhat demoral-ized and for various reasons the price of oil declined from $1.05 per barrel to 40 cents per barrel. Owing to Yhe unprecedented production in the Cushing field and the lack of transportation facilities, permission was granted in many instances for the storage of oil off the premises from which produced, the oil to be guaged at the time of removal and royalty paid thereon when actually sold. In this way the royalty interest of the Indians does not suffer from shrinkage, evaporation, or other losses incident to the storage of oil. On March 12,1915, the department fixed the minimum price basis for the settlement of loyalty on oil at the actual price for which the oil is sold, provided such price is not less than the highest posted price in % M L - 1 5 4 J |