valuation of the land applied for; which certificate shall authorize the county surveyor to survey the land embraced in the original application, and to enter the same on his books as sold, and he shall not entertain another application to purchase said lands until notified of their forfeiture as hereinafter specified; provided, that should the applicant fail to make his first payment of one-tenth of the appraised value of the land embraced in his application to the treasurer, and present the certificate of the commissioner of the general land office to the surveyor or his deputy within ninety days from the date of the record of his application, then and in that case the said land shall be again for sale and the surveyor shall be authorized to receive application for the same.

Sec. 8. That so soon as the application above named has been received by the surveyor, the applicant shall execute his obligation or promissory note for the balance of the appraised value of the land he desires to purchase, agreeing and stipulating to pay to the governor of the State of Texas and his successors in office, on the first day of January of each year, one-tenth of the amount of his obligation or promissory note, with ten per cent. interest on such amount of the principal as may be due at the date of each payment, giving in said obligation such description of the land purchased as is contained in his application; provided, that the purchaser may have the privilege of paying the entire amount of the appraised value of such land at the date of purchase, or such amount of principal and interest as may be due at any time subsequent to the execution of his obligation or promissory note; provided, that any payment of principal may be deferred for one or more years, except the first onetenth or one-fourth, but all payments of both principal and interest must be paid inside of ten years, and all interest must be paid annually on or before the first day of March of each year. Where any land sold under the provisions of this act shall be timbered land, no person shall have the right to cut and remove any of the timber therefrom for the purpose of selling the same until the purchase money for said land has been paid in full.

Sec. 9. That the note or obligation so executed by the purchaser, shall be forwarded to the commissioner of the general land office, and he shall have the same registered in a well bound book kept for that purpose, setting forth the name of the purchaser, the amount and date of the obligation or note, the tract or tracts for which it is given, and the county in which situated; and shall then endorse the same "Registered," with the date of such registry, sign his name thereto, and deliver the same to the treasurer of the state who shall carefully file the same in his office.

Sec. 10. That upon presentation of the certificate of the commissioner of the general land office provided for in section seven of this act, to the surveyor or his deputy, the said surveyor shall immediately proceed to survey the land embraced in the original application of the purchaser; he shall record the field notes of such survey or surveys in his office and forward the same, duly certified, to the commissioner of the general land office, who shall file the same with the application and treasurer's receipt of said purchaser. For the surveying and recording herein provided for, the surveyor shall be entitled to the legal fees provided by law, to be paid by the purchaser; provided, that when the field notes are on file in the general land office, the applicant shall not be required to have the same surveyed.

Sec. 11. That the commissioner of the general land office shall pro

cure a well bound book in which shall be kept an account with the purchaser of said lands, showing the amount for which the original obligation was given and the interest, accruing thereon; and it shall be the duty of the state treasurer, upon the payment of the amount due by any purchaser of these lands, to execute his receipt for the same in the name of the purchaser, and deliver said receipt, to the commissioner of the general land office, who shall credit the account of said purchaser with the amount so paid, and forward his certificate of such payment to the purchaser.

Sec. 12. If, upon the first day of March following the maturity of any payment, the interest on money due has not been paid to the state treasurer, and his receipt filed with the commissioner of the general land office, as provided in section eleven of this act, it shall be the duty of said commissioner to notify the county or district attorney of the county in which such land is situated of such failure, giving the name of the purchaser so failing to make payment, with the amount and date of his note, and the amount of principal and interest due at the time of such failure; and upon the receipt of such notice it shall be the duty of the county or district attorney to cause a writ to be issued and served on the purchaser, or, in case of his death, upon his heirs or legal representatives, requiring him or them to show cause why he or they should not be ejected from such land; and upon his or their failure to show that the annual installments of interest have been paid, as above provided, a judgment shall be rendered against him or them, and a writ of possession shall be issued in favor of the state. That a copy of such judgment, under the signature and seal of the clerk of the court rendering the judg ment, shall be forwarded to the state treasurer, who shall immediately indorse the obligation of such purchaser "forfeited." note the fact of such endorsement on the copy of judgment aforesaid, and forward the same to the commissioner of the general land office. The said commissioner shall file said copy of judgment with the claim of such defaulting purchaser, and shall note such forfeiture on the account kept with said purchaser, and shall notify the surveyor of the county in which said land is situated that said land is again for sale.

Sec. 13. That such forfeited tracts shall be sold in the same manner as hereinbefore provided for the original sale of such lands; provided, however, that any improvements on said land shall be paid for by the purchaser, and the value of said improvements shall be assessed by the board of appraisers herein before provided for, or such other persons as the governor may designate, when the same proceedings may be had as provided in this act for the original appraisement and purchase.

Sec. 14. That should any purchaser die before the payment of any one installment, and interest thereon falls due, his administrator, executor or heirs shall have an extension of twelve months within which to pay the same.

Sec. 15. That in case any purchaser desires to sell said land after he has made his first payment on the same, he may do so, but in that event his vendee shall file in the general land office a properly authenticated transfer from said purchaser, and said vendee shall be liable to the obligations and penalties imposed upon said original purchaser; and upon final and full payment on any purchase made under the provisions of this act, the commissioner of the general land office shall issue a patent to the purchaser making the same, or to his vendee or heirs; provided,

no one patent so issued shall include more than one section of land, nor portions of any two sections.

Sec. 16. Said lands shall be subject to taxation from the date of the first payment into the treasury of the state.

Sec. 17. That the proceeds arising from the sale of these lands shall be paid into the common school funds; the principal to be invested in United States or state bonds, and the interest arising therefrom shall be applied to the use of common schools.

Sec. 18. The commissioner of the general land office and the attorney general shall prescribe such minute details as may be necessary to carry out the objects of this act, and necessary instructions to surveyors and appraisers.

Sec. 19. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed; provided, nothing herein contained shall effect the rights or obligations of purchasers of these lands under former laws.

Sec. 20. That whereas, the present session of the Legislature is o near final adjournment, and the existing law would operate almost to the destruction of the school fund and entail unreasonable expense upon the state, an emergency exists for the suspension of the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house, and said rule is hereby suspended, and as a public necessity requires that this act should take effect and be in force from and after its passage, it is therefore so enacted.

Approved July 8, A. D. 1879.

Takes effect ninety days after adjournment.

CHAPTER XXIX.-An act to amend "an act to authorize the governor, attorney general and superintendent of the penitentiary to contract for conveying convicts from the places where sentenced to the penitentiary," approved April 22, 1879.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That section two of the above recited act be so amended as to hereafter read as follows:

"Section 2. That the operation of all laws concerning the transportation of convicts be and the same are hereby declared to be suspended during the existence of any such contract as that provided in the preceding section, and the governor shall by proclamation give notice for the making of such contract, and a copy of such proclamation shall be forwarded by the secretary of state to each sheriff in the state, and each sheriff shall, after the issuance of said proclamation, upon demand, deliver to the order of the party contracting with the state, all convicts, together with a copy of the decree of the court before which said convict or convicts were tried, convicted and sentenced, taking and filing among the papers in his office a receipt therefor. When a contract is made according to the terms of this act, the contractors shall enter into a bond in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, payable to the governor and his successors ir office, with two or more securities, to be approved by said board, conditioned that said contractor will faithfully and fully carry out and comply with said contract; provided, that should the person making such contract fail or refuse to call on the sheriff of any county for any convicts where the place of confinement of the prisoner or prisoners is

within fifteen miles of a point having railroad connection with the penitentiary, within seven days, or where the place of confinement of the prisoner or prisoners in (is) not less than fifteen nor more than sixty miles from a point having railroad connection with the penitentiary within ten days, or where the place of confinement of the prisoner or prisoners is not less than sixty nor more than one hundred and fifty miles from a point hav9ing railroad connection with the penitentiary within fifteen days, or where the place of confinement of the prisoner or prisoners is not less than one hundred and fifty miles from a point. having railroad connection with the penitentiary within twenty days after the adjournment of the court in which said convict or convicts were tried, then the sheriff shall proceed at once to convey such convicts to the penitentiary as though no such contract had been entered into; and when he does so convey convicts to the penitentiary, he shall receive such compensation for so doing as he would be allowed by law if no contract existed; the same to be paid by such contractor upon the delivery of such convict by the sheriff inside the walls of the penitentiary, and should such contractor fail or refuse to pay the sheriff it shall be the duty of the comptroller to draw his warrant for the amount due in favor of the sheriff on the appropriation to carry out the contract, and the same shall be paid out of said appropriation and deducted from the moneys paid such contractor for conveying convicts to the penitentiary.

Sec. 2. The fact that a contract is already made for carrying convicts to the penitentiary, creates an imperative public necessity that this bill go into immediate effect and it is so enacted.

Approved July 8, A. D. 1879.

Takes effect from and after its passage.

CHAPTER XXX.-An act to reorganize the tenth judicial district of this state, to fix the times of holding the terms of the district courts therein, and attaching certain counties to the county of Wheeler for judicial purposes and for purposes of organization.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the counties of Cooke, Denton, Wise, Archer, Wichita, Clay, Montague and Wheeler be and the same are hereby constituted the tenth judicial district.

Sec. 2. That the district courts in the counties comprising the tenth judicial district shall be holden as follows: In the county of Cooke, on the first Mondays in February and August, and may continue in session six weeks; in the county of Denton, on the sixth Mondays after the first Mondays in February and August, and may continue in session six weeks; in the county of Wise, on the twelfth Mondays after the first Mondays in February and August, and may continue in session four weeks; in the county of Archer, on the sixteenth Mondays after the first Mondays in February and August, and may continue in session one week; in the county of Wichita, on the seventeenth Mondays after the first Mondays in February and August, and may continue in session one week; in the county of Clay, on the eighteenth Mondays after the first Mondays in February and August, and may continue in session two weeks; in the county of Montague, on the twentieth Mondays after the first Mondays. in February and August, and may continue in session three weeks; in the

county of Wheeler, on the twenty-fourth Mondays after the first Mondays in February and August, and may continue in session until the business is disposed of.

Sec. 3. That the unorganized counties of Childress, Hall, Briscoe, Swisher, Castro, Parmer, Deaf Smith, Randall, Armstrong, Donley, Collingsworth, Gray, Carson, Potter, Oldham, Hartley, Moore, Hutchison, Roberts, Hemphill, Lipscomb, Ochiltree, Hansford, Sherman, Dallam and Greer are hereby attached to Wheeler county for judicial purposes and for purposes of organization.

Sec. 4. The near approach of the close of the present session of this Legislature creates an imperative public necessity for the suspension of the rule requiring this bill to be read on three several days, and said rule. is therefore so suspended.

Approved July 8, A. D. 1879.

Takes effect ninety days after adjournment.

CHAPTER XXXI.-An act defining the manner in which lands sold at tax sales, to individuals, may be redeemed by the owner.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That any person having the right to redeem any land sold at tax sale may do so by payment, within the time prescribed by law, to the collector of taxes of the county in which the said land was sold of the amount which the law requires to be paid; provided, that the owner of said land, or his agent, shall first have made affidavit before some officer authorized by law to administer oaths, that he has made diligent search in the county where said land is situated for the purchaser thereof at the tax sale, and has failed to find him; or that the purchaser at such tax sale is not a resident of the county in which the land is situated, or that he and the purchaser cannot agree on the amount of redemption. money. In such cases only shall the owner or agent be authorized to redeem the same by the payment to the collector of taxes.

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of any collector of taxes, to whom payment is made under the provisions of this act, to give a receipt therefor, signed by him officially, in the presence of two witnesses, which said receipt, when duly recorded, shall be notice to all persons that the land therein described has been redeemed; and the collector of taxes shall, on demand, pay over to the purchaser at said tax sale the money thus received by him.

Sec. 3. The fact that the time given for redemption in tax sales for the year 1877 expires in a few weeks, whereby many parties may suffer by litigation and otherwise if no speedy remedy is provided, creates such a public necessity and emergency as to justify the suspension of the rule requiring bills to be read on three several days; therefore, said rule is suspended, and this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved July 8, A. D. 1879.

Takes effect from and after its passage.