subdivide any of the lands belonging to the State of Montana into any addition to any city or town, the said Governor and Secretary of State shall be and they are hereby authorized to execute and acknowledge the proper acquittances or other papers and shall join in the execution of a plat of such addition for the purpose of granting a right of way over and upon such lands and the same shall be considered as a full and clear right of way over such lands to all intents and purposes, the same as though the same was executed by an individual owner. Provided, however, that this section shall not be deemed to great (grant?) authority to convey any such land, except for the purposes above set forth other than as provided for in this act. Only alternate platted Townsite Additions. And, Provided, further, that nothing in this act contained shall be construed as giving a right to the State Board of Land Commissioners to sell lands subdivided or platted, or subdivided as an addition Lots to be sold in to any town, except alternate lots containing five acres or less, and not more than one-half of any one tract of land subdivided and made an addition to any town shall be sold prior to the year 1910, but the other parts or parcels of land which have been subdivided, platted and surveyed as an addition to any town, may be leased under such terms and restrictions as may be prescribed by the said Board of Land Commissioners. SEC. 47. In case any person appointed to select and appraise any State lands shall wilfully and knowingly make a false return of any survey or any appraisal of the value of land at variance from the true value thereof or without having personally surveyed and examined the same, he shall be deemed guilty of wilful perjury. Penalty for false Return of Survey or Appraisal of of Board as to Lands. SEC. 48. The State Board shall annually on or Annual Roport before the first day of December in each year, publish a full report of its transactions, showing the amount of lands belonging to the State, to what fund they belong, their value and the amount sold or leased during the year. Preference right of Settler to pur chase or lease State Lands. ing Lands. SEC. 49. In all cases of the sale, leasing or other disposition of the School or other lands of the State by the State Board of Land Commissioners under the provisions of this act, it shall be the privilege of every occupant or settler upon any of such lands, so to be sold or leased to have the preference right of purchase or lease at the price bid by the highest bidder at such sale or leasing, and it is hereby made the duty of said Board of Land Comminsioners to construe this section liberally with a view to the establishment of homes for actual settlers, and to prevent the said lands from being sold or leased to speculators. SEC. 50. Leases of lands of the first class known as "grazing lands" shall not be for less than one Lease of graz section, or such part of the section as may be the property of the State. Provided, that no lands shall be leased under the provisions of this act to any person not a citizen of the United States or who has declared his intention to become such. All occupants or settlers having improvements on grazing lands, and who do not wish to lease the same, shall No Lease Alien. to Settlers on Graz Rights of have the privilege of disposing of or recovering such improvements at any time within ninety (90) days from the date of the lease. ing Lands. APPROVED March 6, 1891. VACANCIES IN LEGISLATURE. An Act Entitled An Act to Fill Vacancies Occurring in the Legislative Assembly. Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Montana: Legislative in As SECTION I. Whenever a vacancy shall occur from any cause, either among the Representatives Vacancies or the Senators in the Legislative Assembly, the fact sembly. of such vacancy, together with the particular office made vacant, shall be forthwith declared upon the journal of the respective bodies if they be in session, or reported to the Governor or the person then exercising the functions of the Governor, by the other members of the Legislative Assembly or some one of said members from the same Representative District, if the Legislative Assembly be not in session at the time said vacancy occurs, and upon the receipt of such report, or the declaration of such vacancy, the Governor or person then exercising the functions of Governor, shall proceed forthwith to investigate the matter, and if he shall determine that the vacancy in either branch of the Legislative Assembly then exists, he shall forthwith issue a writ of election directed to the Board of County Commissioners of the respective county or counties wherein the said vacancy may exist, which said writ shall contain the name of the last incumbent of the vacant office, the date of the happening or to issue wr t of the vacancy, the period of the unexpired term, and the date at which the election to fill the said vacancy shall be held, and shall require the said Board of Commissioners to forthwith proceed to give notice of not less than 10 days nor more than When Govern of Election. Notice of, and Election. 20 days of the holding of said election by publication therefor for the period named in a newspaper or newspapers of general circulation within the district where said election is to be held, which said writ shall be issued by the Governor within twenty days after notice or declaration of vacancy as aforesaid. SEC. 2. Upon receipt of the said writ of election the Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners shall forthwith proceed to cause notice of said elecion to be published, official ballots to be prepared containing the names of candidates for the office so to be filled by said election, which candidates shall be nominated, and which ballots shall be prepared in the same manner as is now provided by law in case of general elections, and which said election shall be held and conducted upon the day named in the said writ, in all respects and manner as may be provided by law in cases of general election, and the votes thereat shall be cast counted, returned and certified, and the result declared, and certificates of election issued in the same manner as may be provided by law in the election of general State officers; Provided, That no new registration shall be required therefor. APPROVED March 6, 1891. SCHOOL AND OTHER STATE LANDS. An Act to Provide for the Selection and Conveyance of School and Indemnity Lands and of Certain Public Lands donated to the State of Montana by the United States for Various Public Buildings and Institutions and to Pay the Necessary Expenses thereof. Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Montana: SECTION I. That the Governor is hereby authorized to appoint by and with the consent of the State Board of Land Commissioners, a State Land Agent who is hereby authorized and empowered, and whose duty it shall be to select, subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior and cause to be conveyed to the State of Montana all School and Indemnity Lands and all public Lands donated to the State by the United States for various public buildings and institutions by virtue of an "Act to provide for the admission of Dakota into two States, and to enable the people of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington to form constitutions and State governments, and to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and to make donations of public lands to said States," approved February 22, 1889. SEC. 2. Said State Land Agent shall receive as compensation for his services a salary of three thousand dollars per annum, payable quarterly, and shall hold his office at the pleasure of the Board. He shall before entering upon his duties, file with the Secretary of State, a bond to the State, to be approved by the Board, in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office. SEC. 3. Any moneys appropriated for the purpose of carrying this act into effect and paying the expenses of field examinations, land office and other contested cases, cost of selecting and conveying the lands, and all other expenses incident thereto, shall be expended under the direction of the State Board |