IN ASSEMBLY, January 8, 1831. REPORT Of the Select Committee on the petition of settlers on the school lot in the town of Augusta, Oneida county. Mr. Moulton, from the select committee to whom was referred the petition of the settlers on the school lot in the town of Augusta, in the county of Oneida, REPORTED That it appears from the petition and statements made before the committee, that the settlers upon this lot entered upon the same several years since, and purchased the improvements made upon the same, with the expectation that the amount to be paid the state for the title, would be the sum of five dollars per acre, which was the sum charged for lands of this description in that section of country. A law relative to this land was passed April 2, 1827; the last section of which provides for the conveyance of the same for a sum which, at six per cent, would produce the amount now annually paid by the settlers, which is thirty dollars upon the hundred. The petitioners suppose that it never was intended to raise the price of this land to six dollars per acre, as is done by this section, and the committee deem it just and reasonable that the settlers should be allowed to receive their deeds on their paying into the treasury a sum which, at six per cent, the interest they now pay, would realize the amount annually paid on said school lot. The committee are satisfied that five dollars per acre, in addition to the amount paid by the settlers for improvement, is as much as the land is worth. They therefore ask leave to introduce a bill. IN ASSEMBLY, January 13, 1831. REPORT Of the Commissioners of the Land-Office, on the petition of David Kendall and others, settlers on the school lot, New-Stockbridge. The Commissioners of the Land-Office, to whom was referred the petition of David Kendall and others, RESPECTFULLY REPORT: That the petitioners set forth that they are the present occupants and sub-lessees of a tract of land of one thousand acres, in NewStockbridge, called the school lot; that they purchased their several parts of the said lot, under the belief that they could obtain title to the land from the state, by paying into the treasury the money therefor, at the rate of five dollars per acre; that by an act of the Legislature, passed on the 2d of April, 1827, they are required, in order to obtain title to the lands, to pay into the treasury such a sum as, at an interest of five per centum per annum, will produce the amount of the rent with which their lands respectively are charged; and that this act, in effect, compels them to pay six dollars per acre. The facts in relation to this tract of land are-that in the year 1804, it was directed to be leased upon perpetual leases, reserving an annual rent of thirty bushels of wheat upon each one hundred acres of the land, and appropriating the rents to the payment of the wages of a school teacher for the Stockbridge Indians. In 1805, the price of the wheat to be paid as rent, was fixed by law at [A. No. 11.] 1 one dollar per bushel, thus making the rent thirty dollars upon each one hundred acres of the land. The petitioners seem to suppose that this rent was fixed with reference to the value of the lands in their then state, and to the interest which the sum they were worth would have produced, if invested at six per cent. They probably infer this from the fact that six per cent was then and ever has remained, by law, the rate of interest charged by the state upon the purchase money due on the sale of unappropriated lands. The Commissioners, however, have not been able to find that any appraisement of these lands was made previous to the act directing the leases, nor are they able at all to say upon what principle the rent was fixed. They however see no reason, from any thing they can find in the laws upon the subject, or upon the journals of the Legislature at the time these early laws were passed, which authorises them to say that the state then even designed to part with the title to the lands, or to change the tenure by which the lessees held. In the Revised Laws of 1813, vol. 2, page 172, will be found a direction, "that the Treasurer shall annually pay, on the warrant of the Comptroller, the rents reserved in the leases for lands granted to John Gregg senior, John Gregg junior, and to James Alexander," (being the original leases for this one thousand acres of land,) "situated in New-Stockbridge, although such rents may not have been received into the treasury." This would seem to indicate that the Legislature did not contemplate any change, and certainly none which could affect the amount of the rents; for it should be constantly borne in mind, that the state has at no period possessed the least interest in this land or these leases, other than as it took upon itself, to this extent, the guardianship of these Indians and of their interests. The leases were made upon the petition of the Indians themselves, and in conformity with their wishes; and the state became responsible to them for the amount of the rent, and held and still holds the leases as its indemnity. The Commissioners do not find any legislation upon this subject, subsequent to the act last referred to, until the year 1819. On the 26th of March of that year an act was passed, upon the application of Philip Pond and others, directing the sale by the SurveyorGeneral, in the ordinary mode of selling public lands, to the said |