boxes and other documents before said committee, and such process shall be executed by the sergeant-at-arms of the house in which the contest is pending, or by such other person as may be designated by the presiding officer of said house.

SEC. 30. The house in which the contest is pending shall, as soon as practicable after the report of the committee has been received, fix a day for the trial of the contest, and shall proceed to determine whether the contestant or contestee, or either of them, is entitled to the contestant's seat: Provided, the said house may hold the election void after full consideration of all the evidence and for the reasons prescribed in section 18 of this act, and in such case the Governor shall be at once notified of the vacancy. Such fees shall be paid to the witnesses and the officers serving the process as shall be prescribed by the rules of the house in which said contest is pending, and no mileage or per diem shall be paid to either of the parties to said contest until said case is determined, and in no case shall any mileage or per diem be paid to any party against whom any contest is decided.

SEC. 31. If the contest be for the validity of an election for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Treasurer, Commissioner of the General Land Office or Attorney General, the same shall be tried and determined by both houses of the Legislature in joint session, and the provisions of this chapter governing in the case of a contest for the validity of an election for members of the Legislature shall apply to and govern in a contest for the offices above named, as far as the same may be applicable.

SEC. 32. If the contest be for the validity of an election held for any other purpose than the election of an officer or officers in any county or part of a county or precinct of a county, or in any incorporated city, town or village, any resident of such county, precinct, city, town or village, or any number of such residents, may contest such election in the district court of such county in the same manner and under the same rules, as far as applicable, as are prescribed in this chapter for contesting the validity of an election for a county office.

SEC. 33. In any case provided for in the preceding section, the county attorney of the county, or where there is no county attorney the district attorney of the district, or the mayor of the city, town or village, or the officer who declared the official result of said election, or one of them, as the case may be, shall be made the contestee, and shall be served with notice and statement, and shall file his reply thereto as in the case of contest for office; but in no case shall the costs of such contest be adjudged against such contestee, or against the county, city, town or village which they may represent, nor shall such contestee be required to give any bond upon an appeal.

SEC. 34. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this act be and are hereby repealed.

SEC. 35. The fact that there is no general law in force in this State regulating contested elections, and the great number of bills now requiring the attention of this Legislature, constitute an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read in each house of the Legislature on three several days be suspended, and said rule is so suspended.

Approved April 16, 1895.

LANDS-SALE AND LEASE OF PUBLIC FREE SCHOOL, ASYLUM
AND PUBLIC LANDS.

CHAP. 47.—[S. B. No. 95]. An act to provide for the sale of all lands here-88x675°

tofore or hereafter surveyed and set apart for the benefit of the public free schools and the several asylums, and the lease of such lands and of the public lands of the State, and the patenting of any part of said lands for church, cemetery or school house sites; and to prevent the free use, occupancy, unlawful enclosure or unlawful appropriation of such lands, and to prescribe and provide adequate penalties therefor.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

That

all lands heretofore or hereafter surveyed and set apart for the benefit of the public free schools, the Lunatic Asylum, the Blind Asylum, the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, and the Orphan Asylum shall be sold and leased under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 2. The Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby vested with all the power and authority necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and shall have full charge and discretion of all matters pertaining to the sale and lease of said lands, and their protection from free use and occupancy and from unlawful enclosure, with such exceptions and under such restrictions as may be imposed by the provisions of this act, or by the Constitution of the State. He shall, as soon as practicable, adopt such regulations not inconsistent with the Constitution or this act as may be deemed necessary for carrying into effect the provisions of this act, and may from time to time alter or amend such regulations so as to protect the public interest; but all regulations shall be submitted to the Governor for his approval before adoption or promulgation. He shall adopt all necessary forms of applications for sales or leases and all other forms necessary or proper for the transaction of the business imposed upon him by this act, and may from time to time call upon the Attorney General to prepare such forms; and it shall be the duty of that officer to furnish the Commissioner of the General Land Office with such advice and legal assistance as may be requisite for the due execution of the provisions of this act; and it shall be the duty of such Commissioner to call upon the Attorney General for advice whenever there is any doubt as to the meaning of this act or any provisions thereof. SEC. 3. The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall from time to time, as the public interest may require, cause any or all of the lands belonging to the several funds mentioned in this act to be carefully and skillfully classified and valued that have not heretofore been classified, and for this purpose he may appoint, with the approval of the Governor, such number of competent agents, who shall be citizens of the county or district where such land is situated, as may be necessary, or may determine and declare the classification and valuation without the aid of such agents, and upon such facts as may be satisfactory to the Commissioner. Such agents shall receive for their work a reasonable compensation, to be fixed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and not to exceed the sum of three dollars per section; and no such expense shall be incurred in the absence of an appropriation by law to cover such expenditure, and the State shall not be liable for any expenditure of this character incurred in excess of current appropriations.

SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of such agents as may be appointed under the provisions of this act, under such restrictions and instructions as may. be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, to classify such lands belonging to the several funds mentioned in this act as the Commissioner may direct, into agricultural, pasture, and timber lands, and for this purpose they shall carefully examine the same, and after such examination they shall prepare an accurate plat of each section, showing the relative proportions of timber and open land on such section, and their situation; also, the quality of the soil, the topography of the land, and the quality and kind of timber, and the streams and other sources of water supply, and their location, and such other facts as may be important; and from time to time, as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, such agent shall prepare and forward to the Commissioner, with such plats, a tabulated statement of such lands so examined by him, with the value of each section, and such plats and reports when approved by the Commissioner, shall be filed in the General Land Office as a part of the records of said office; but nothing in this act shall be construed to require or authorize a classification of lands already classified under former laws: Provided, that any section or part of any section heretofore classified as timbered land which is not pine land nor valuable chiefly for the timber thereon may be classified under the provisions of this act as agricultural lands.

SEC. 5. When any portion of said land has been classified to the satisfaction of the Commissioner under the provisions of this act or former laws, such lands shall be subject to sale, but to actual settlers only, and in quantities of not less than forty acres, and in multiples thereof, nor more than one section containing six hundred and forty acres more or less: Provided, that when there is a fraction less than forty acres of any section left such fraction may be sold; but lands classified as purely pasture lands may be sold in quantities not to exceed four sections to the same settler.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of the General Land Office to notify in writing the county clerk of each county of the valuation fixed upon each section of land in his county, and in each county attached to it for judicial purposes, which he offers for sale, which notification shall be kept by the clerk in his office and recorded in a well bound book, which shall be open to public inspection.

SEC. 7. All lands belonging to the public free schools and the several asylum funds shall be sold at no less than two dollars per acre, except pasture lands, which shall be sold at not less than one dollar per acre, and all timber lands shall be sold at not less than five dollars per acre. timber lands as here used is meant lands valuable chiefly for the timber thereon.

By

SEC. 8. Any bona fide actual settler who may reside on any part of the lands the sale of which is authorized by this act at the time this act may go into effect, shall have the prior right for a period of ninety days after this act goes into effect, or after said land shall have been placed upon the market, to purchase such quantity of land as may be limited by this act, to include his improvements, upon complying with the provisions of this act regulating sales as in other cases, and such land shall be appraised without reference to the improvements thereon. Any bona fide settler who has heretofore purchased or who may hereafter purchase not

exceeding one section of agricultural land, shall have the right to purchase three strictly pastoral sections, upon his making oath that he is not acting in collusion with others for the purpose of buying for any other person or corporation, and that no other person or corporation is directly or indirectly interested in the purchase of the same.

SEC. 9. All sales shall be made by the Commissioner of the General 7x.ca, Land Office, or under his direction, and he shall prescribe suitable regu-35 lations whereby all purchasers shall be required to reside upon as a home the land purchased by them for three consecutive years next succeeding the date of their purchase, except when otherwise provided. Such regulations shall require the purchaser to reside upon the land for three consecutive years herein mentioned, and to make proper proof of such residence and occupancy to the Commissioner of the General Land Office within two years next after the expiration of said three years, by his affidavit, corroborated by the affidavits of three disinterested and credible persons, to be certified by some officer authorized to administer oaths, and on making such proof the Commissioner shall issue to the purchaser, his heirs and assigns, a certificate showing that fact. If, however, any purchaser has sold his purchase, or any part thereof, his vendee shall be permitted to compute the time of the occupancy of his vendor as a part of his own occupancy; and if any person has sold the whole or any part of his purchase under this or any former law, his vendee, or if he refuses to do so, the vendor himself, may make proof of occupancy as provided herein. Any person desiring to purchase land in accordance with the provisions of this act shall forward his application to the Commissioner, describing the land sought to be purchased, which application shall be accompanied with the affidavit of the applicant, in effect that he desires to purchase the land for a home, and has in good faith settled thereon, except where otherwise provided herein, and he shall also swear that he is not acting in collusion with others for the purpose of buying the land for any other person or corporation, and that no other person or corporation is interested in the purchase thereof. Any owner of land heretofore purchased, and which land has been or may be forfeited for nonpayment of interest, shall have ninety days prior right after this act goes into effect, or after the land is again placed upon the market, to purchase said land without the condition of settlement and occupancy, in case it has been occupied for three consecutive years as required by law; but if not, then he shall reside thereon until the occupancy under the first and last purchase shall together amount to said term of three years: Provided, that when any forfeiture has been made the Commissioner of the General Land Office shall add to the appraised value of such land the amount of interest due thereon at the time of forfeiture, which shall be paid in cash with the first payment of one-fortieth of the appraised value of the land when purchased under the preference right to purchase given herein. Any original purchaser or his vendee of any of the lands the sale of which is provided for in this act, who has improved such land as a home, and who has been forced to temporarily abandon same on account of drouth, and who shall in good faith reoccupy the same, either by themselves or vendees, within six months after this act goes into effect, shall not have the forfeiture declared against them under the law providing for the forfeiture of such lands for non-occupancy: Provided, that they shall make affidavit, supported by the affidavit of three disinterested witnesses, that

they have reoccupied the land as a home in good faith, and that they had abandoned the same since their purchase on account of the drouth and not otherwise; and such absence shall not be deducted from the three years occupancy required by law in making final proof of occupancy: And provided further, that any purchasers or their vendees of such lands who have failed to make proof of occupancy as required by the law regulating such purchases shall have six months after this act shall take effect to make such proof of occupancy as required by the provisions of this act. The purchaser shall transmit to the Treasurer of the State onefortieth of the aggregate purchase money for the particular tract of land, and send to the Commissioner his obligation to the State, duly executed, binding the purchaser to pay to the State on the first day of November of each year thereafter, until the whole purchase money is paid, onefortieth of the aggregate price, with interest at the rate of three per cent per annum on the whole unpaid purchase money, which interest shall also be payable on the first day of November of each year; and upon receipt of one-fortieth of the purchase money by the Treasurer, and the affidavit and obligation aforesaid by the Commissioner, the sale shall be deemed and held effective from the date the affidavit and obligation are filed in the General Land Office: Provided, that if the land applied for be timbered land, then the purchaser shall be required to pay the full amount of the purchase money at the time of his purchase.

SEC. 10. Purchasers shall have the option of paying the purchase money for their lands in full at any time after they have occupied the same for three consecutive years; and when they have made such payment in full, together with the proof that they have occupied the land for three consecutive years, they shall receive patents for the same upon payment of the patent fees prescribed by law. Purchasers may also sell their lands, or a part of the same, in quantities of forty acres or multiples thereof, at any time after the sale is effected under this act, and in such cases the vendee, or any subsequent vendee, or his heirs or legatees, shall file his own obligation with the Commissioner of the General Land Office, together with the duly authenticated conveyance or transfer from the original purchaser and the intermediate vendee's conveyance or transfer, if any there be, duly recorded in the county where the land lies or to which said county may be attached for judicial purposes, together with his affidavit, in case three years residence has not already been had upon said land and proof made of that fact, stating that he desires to purchase the land for a home, and that he has in good faith settled thereon, and that he has not acted in collusion with others for the purpose of buying the land for any other person or corporation, and that no other person or corporation is interested in the purchase, save himself, and thereupon the original obligation shall be surrendered or cancanceled or properly credited, as the case may be, and the vendee shall become the purchaser direct from the State, and be subject to all the obligations and penalties prescribed by this act, and the original purchaser shall be absolved in whole or in part, as the case may be, from further liability thereon: Provided, that whenever a town shall be located and established upon any lands sold under this or any former act, the purchaser or his vendee shall be permitted to pay the entire balance of principal and interest due the State upon such land and obtain a patent therefor at any time, but no such payment shall be permitted or patent