amine the evidence which may be offered in support of or against such claim, and, upon the proofs being closed, shall determine upon and decide the same: Provided, That no decision of said register and receiver shall be final until approved by the Commissioner of the General Land Office.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the claimant in whose favor final decision has been made, upon paying to the receiver of the land office at San Francisco for the land embraced in such final decision the sum therefor prescribed in the first section of this act, shall be entitled to a patent for such land from the United States, conveying all the interest of the United States therein to such claimant.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That upon all proceedings under this act being closed, and upon the appeal taken to the Supreme Court of the United States by E. L. Beard and others, claimants of said lands, against the United States, being dismissed, or the decree appealed from affirmed, the surveyor general of the United States for California shall cause the lines of the public surveys to be extended over all portions of said land which shall not have been disposed of under the provisions hereof, and thereafter the same shall be disposed of as in the case of other public lands.

Approved March 3, 1865.

AN ACT to enable the accounting officers of the treasury to settle the claim of the State of Kansas.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the proper accounting officers of the treasury be, and they are hereby, authorized to receive secondary evidence, in lieu of the original vouchers, in support of a claim for expenses incurred by the State of Kansas, provision for reimbursement of which was made by the "Act to indemnify the States for expenses incurred by them in defence of the United States," approved July twenty-seven, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, said original vouchers having been destroyed by fire at the late massacre in Lawrence, Kansas: Provided, That, in the settlement of the abovementioned claim, there shall not be allowed to the State of Kansas a sum exceeding the sum of twelve thousand three hundred fifty-one dollars and four cents, ($12,351 04.)

Approved March 3, 1865.

AN ACT to extend the provisions of the first section of "An act for the government of persons in certain fisheries," approved June nineteenth, eighteen hundred and thirteen.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provisions of the first section of "An act for the government of persons in certain fisheries," approved on the nineteenth of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, shall extend and apply to the master or skipper and seamen of vessels of the burthen of twenty tons or upwards, qualified according to law, for carrying on the mackerel fisheries, bound from a port in the United States to be employed in such fisheries, in the same way as if such fisheries had been embraced in said act: Provided, That the agreement named in said section shall be duly made, indorsed, and countersigned.

Approved March 3, 1865.

AN ACT to incorporate the Colored Union Benevolent Association.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Gurden Snowden, Charles Brown, James Wright, Sandy Alexander, Henry Logan, Charles Wilson, Henry Brooks, John Shorter, Joseph Shorter, and their associates and successors, be, and they are hereby, constituted and declared to be a body politic and corporate, by the name and title of the Colored Union Benevolent Association, located in the city of Washington, and by its corporate name said association shall have perpetual succession, with power to sue and be sued, to implead and be impleaded, in any court of the United States or of the District of Columbia of competent jurisdiction; to receive subscriptions, gifts, and benefits, and to make such rules and by-laws as shall be deemed necessary and expedient for the government of the association, and to alter the same, from time to time, in such mode as shall be prescribed therein: Provided always, That such rules and by-laws shall be in nowise inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, or with the objects of the association. The objects of the association are hereby declared to be to provide for the care and comfort of such members as shall be sick, disabled, or dependent, and of the families of such members, in cases where the proper officers of the association shall deem it expedient, and also to provide for the decent interment of such persons as may die in membership of the association or belonging to the families of such members.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That said association shall have power to hold real estate, or personal and mixed estate, by purchase, gift, or devise,, for the purposes of such association and no other, and to lease, sell, or convey such real estate, or mixed estate, or personal property, as may be devised or donated to such association, and the leasing or sale of which will promote the interests of said association.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That Congress shall have the right, at any time, to modify, amend, or repeal this act. Approved March 3, 1865.

AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act to incorporate the Metropolitan Railroad Company in the District of Columbia."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That an act entitled "An act to incorporate the Metropolitan Railroad Company in the District of Columbia," approved July first, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, be, and the same hereby is, amended as hereinafter set forth, namely, that the first section be, and hereby is, amended by striking out all after the words "along H street north to Seventeenth street west, intersecting the double-track road," and inserting: also a double or single track railway, commencing at the intersection of D street north and Four-and-a-half street west, along Four-and-a-half street west to the gate of the arsenal; also a double or single track branch railway, commencing at the intersection of Ninth street west and the Washington canal, along Ninth street west to M street north, along M street north to Twelfth street west, and along Twelfth street west to the Washington canal and Maryland avenue to the Potomac river; also a double or single track branch railway, commencing at the intersection of Massachusetts avenue and H street north, along Massachusetts avenue to K street north, along K street north to the Circle, with the privilege of extending the said branch road at any time along K street north to Rock creek, across the bridge over Rock creek to Water street, Georgetown, along Water street in Georgetown to Green street, along Green street to Gay street,

and along Gay street and First street to Fayette street, Georgetown, with the privilege of extending at any time the road now in operation from Seventeenth street west to the Capitol; from the present terminus of said road on A street north, along A street north to First street east, along First street east to east Capitol street, along east Capitol street to Ninth street east, along Ninth street east to L street south, with the right to run public carriages thereon, drawn by horse power, receiving therefor a rate of fare not exceeding eight cents per passenger, for any distance between the termini of either of the said main railways, or between the termini of said branch railways, or between either terminus of said main railway and the terminus of either of said branch railways: Provided, That the use and maintenance of the said road shall be subject to the municipal regulations of the city of Washington within its corporate limits.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That section eight be, and hereby is, amended by striking out the words "five hundred thousand dollars,” and inserting the words "one million dollars:" Provided, That the directors of said Metropolitan Railroad Company shall have power to require the subscribers to the capital stock to pay the amount by them respectively subscribed at such time, in such manner, and in such instalments as they may deem proper; and if any stockholders shall refuse or neglect to pay any instalments, as required by a resolution of the board of directors, after reasonable notice of the same, the said board of directors may sell at public auction, to the highest bidder, so many shares of said stock as shall pay said instalments, (and the highest bidder shall be taken to be the person who offers to purchase the least number of shares for the assessment due,) under such general regulations as may be adopted in the by-laws of said corporation, or may sue for and collect the same in any court of competent jurisdiction.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That section seventeen be, and hereby is, so amended as to allow the said corporation three years from the date of the approval of this act in which to complete the railways herein described and those described in the act to which this is an amendment.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the twenty-second section be, and hereby is, amended by striking out the words "at the rate of twenty-five for one dollar," and inserting the words "at the rate of sixteen for the dollar."

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the provision prohibiting any exclusion from any car on account of color, already applicable to the Metropolitan railroad, is hereby extended to every other railroad in the District of Columbia. Approved March 3, 1865.

AN ACT to incorporate the Continental Hotel Company of the city of Washington. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Lewis Delmonico, of New York city, B. B. French, Henry D. Cooke, John W. Forney, of Washington city, Stephen Flanagan, William Overfield, jr., J. Warren Brown, of Maine, Thornton Smith, George D. Kellogg, and George Plowman, of Philadelphia, and their associates, and all persons who now or hereafter may be holders of the stock hereinafter mentioned, shall be, and they are hereby, declared to be constituted a body politic or corporate by the style of The Continental Hotel Company, to have perpetual succession, to be capable in law of suing and being sued, to have a common seal, and to have, hold, receive, enjoy, and take, either by absolute conveyance in fee simple or upon ground rent, and in case of a conveyance upon ground rent, with power to execute the necessary covenant for securing the payment thereof, such real estate as may be necessary or proper for the construction of a hotel in the city of Washington, with such supplementary buildings as

may be adapted to and form part of the general plan and design thereof, with power to furnish and equip the same for the accommodation and use of any parties who may be desirous of renting and occupying the same, and the real estate, or any part thereof, when in the opinion of said corporation it may be proper to do so, to sell and to convey to any person or persons who may be desirous of purchasing the same the furniture and equipment thereof.

SEC. 2. [And be it further enacted,] That the capital stock of said corporation shall not exceed two million dollars, divided into twenty thousand shares of one hundred dollars each, and that it shall be held as personal property, and may be transferred under such regulations as the corporators shall judge convenient. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That a general meeting of the corporators shall be annually held on the second Monday of January, for the election of five managers, and the transaction of other business; but if such meeting or election shall not then take place, the corporation shall not for that cause be dissolved, but such meeting or election shall take place as soon thereafter as may be, one week's public notice thereof being first given in at least two daily newspapers in the city of Washington.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the election of managers shall be by ballot from among the corporators, and that in the enactment of by-laws for the government of the corporation and its officers, and in the decision of all questions, whether of election of officers or disfranchisement of corporators, either because of their delinquency in paying for the amount of stock by them purchased of the corporation, or for other causes, and on all questions at the meetings of the corporation, the corporators present, either in person or by proxy, shall severally vote once for each share of stock held by them.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the managers shall continue in office until their successors are elected; they shall elect a president from among themselves, supply vacancies in their number, whether occasioned by death, resignation, or refusal to act, and shall have the general and entire control of the affairs and interests of the company, except so far as may be otherwise provided by the corporators. Three members shall be a quorum at these meetings.

the

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That until other officers shall be duly elected persons named in the first section of this act shall be held to be managers of the said corporation, and shall have power and authority as such.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That Congress may at any time hereafter alter, amend, or repeal this charter.

Approved March 3, 1865.

AN ACT providing for the confinement of juvenile offenders against the laws of the United

States in houses of refuge.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That juvenile offenders against the laws of the United States, being under the age of sixteen years, and who may hereafter be convicted of crime by any court of the United States, the punishment whereof shall be imprisonment, shall be confined during the term of sentence in some house of refuge, to be designated by the Secretary of the Interior, and shall be transported and delivered to the warden or keeper of such house of refuge by the marshal of the district where such shall have occurred; or if such conviction be had in the District of Columbia, then, and in such case, the transportation and delivery shall be by the warden of the jail of said District, and the reasonable actual expense of the transportation, necessary subsistence, and hire and transportation of assistants and the marshal, or warden, only, shall be paid by the Secretary of the Interior out of the judiciary fund.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to contract with the managers or persons having control of such houses of refuge for the imprisonment, subsistence, and proper employment of all such juvenile offenders, and to give the several courts of the United States and of the District of Columbia notice of the places so provided for the confinement of said offenders; and such offenders shall be sentenced to confinement in the house of refuge nearest the place of conviction so designated by the Secretary of the Interior.

Approved March 3, 1865.

AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for the better organization of Indian affairs in California.'

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of sixty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of enabling the Secretary of the Interior to pay the settlers in Hoopa valley, California, for their improvements on the Indian reservation therein: Provided, That before the same or any part of the money hereby appropriated shall be paid, the said improvements shall be appraised by the superintendent of Indian affairs, the Indian agent at said reservation, and the surveyor general of California; and if, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior, their appraisement shall be reasonable, and shall not in the aggregate exceed the sum herein appropriated, the said Secretary is hereby authorized to apply the same, or so much thereof as may be necessary, in payment for the said improvements, taking the proper releases therefor: And provided further, That the moneys hereby appropriated be reimbursed from the proceeds of the sales of Indian reservations in said State under the provisions of the act to provide for the better organization of Indian affairs in California, approved April eight, eighteen hundred and sixty-four.

Approved March 3, 1865.

AN ACT authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to lease or sell certain property of the United States situated at Bath, in the State of Maine.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to lease the wharf property belonging to the United States situated at Bath, in the State of Maine, for a term of years, the lessee making all repairs thereupon; or he may sell the same at his discretion if it is no longer in use or required for the public service, and he is hereby authorized to make, execute, and deliver all needful conveyances to the purchaser or purchasers thereof. Approved March 3, 1865.

AN ACT to increase the pay of midshipmen and others.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That midshipmen, after their final academic examination, and until their promotion to the grade of ensign, shall be paid at the rate of eight hundred dollars per annum while on sea service.