shall be by him covered into the Treasury of the United States at such times and under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe. The clerk may employ necessary clerical help with the approval and at compensation to be fixed by the court to aid him in the expeditious discharge of the business of his office. Any person so employed shall be paid by the clerk on the order of the court, as other court expenses are paid.

The governor, surveyor-general, marshals, judges, clerks of court. and district attorneys shall, in addition to their salaries, be paid their actual traveling and subsistence expenses when traveling in the discharge of their official duties. Accounts for such expenses shall be rendered and paid as are accounts of judges, marshals, clerks, and district attorneys for like expenses in other districts.

In case of the death, removal, resignation, or absence of the governor from the district, the surveyor-general as ex officio secretary of the district shall have, and he is hereby authorized and required to execute and perform, all the powers and duties of the governor during such vacancy or absence, or until another governor shall be appointed to fill such vacancy.

SEC. 11. An accurate detailed account of all fees received and disbursements made by commissioners and deputy marshals shall be filed quarterly with the clerk for the proper division of the district court and approved by the judge thereof, if found to be in accordance with law; and all net fees received in excess of the sum of three thousand dollars per annum by any commissioner or deputy marshal shall be annually paid to the clerk of the proper division of the court and by him paid into the Treasury of the United States, such payment to be accompanied by a verified detailed statement of such deputy or commissioner.

SEC. 12. The clerks of the court shall each, before entering upon the duties of his office, execute a bond, with sufficient sureties, to be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, or the court or a judge thereof, in the penalty of twenty thousand dollars, for the faithful performance of his official duties, and file the same with the AttorneyGeneral; and each commissioner shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, execute a bond, with sufficient sureties, to be approved by the court, or a judge thereof, in the penalty of one thousand dollars, for the faithful performance of his official duties, and file the same with the clerk, who shall send a certified copy thereof to the Attorney-General.

SEC. 13. The judges of the district, or a majority of them, shall, as soon as practicable after their appointment, meet, and by appropriate order, to be thereafter entered in each division of the court, divide the district into three recording divisions, designate the division of the court to supervise each, and also define the boundaries thereof by reference to natural objects and permanent landmarks or monuments, in such manner that the boundaries of each recording division can be readily determined and become generally known from such description, which order shall be given publicity in such manner by posting, publication, or otherwise as the judges or any division of the court may direct, the necessary expense of the publication of such order and description of the recording divisions to be allowed and paid as other court expenses.

At any regular or special term an order may be made by the court establishing one or more recording districts within the recording division under the supervision of such division of the court and defining the boundaries thereof by reference to natural objects and permanent landmarks or monuments, in such manner that the boundaries thereof can be readily determined.

The order establishing a recording district shall designate a commissioner to be ex officio recorder thereof, and shall also designate the place where the commissioner shall keep his recording office within the recording district:

Provided, The clerk of the court shall be ex officio recorder of all that portion of the recording division under the supervision of his division of the court not embraced within the limits of a recording district established, bounded, and described therein as authorized by this Act, and when any part of the division for which a clerk has been recording shall be embraced in a recording district, such clerk shall transcribe that portion of his records appertaining to such district. and deliver the same to the commissioner designated as recorder thereof.

Whenever it appears to the satisfaction of the court that the public interests demand, or that the convenience of the people require, the court may change or modify the boundaries or discontinue a recording district or change the location of the recording office, or remove the commissioner acting as ex officio recorder, and appoint another commissioner to fill the office.

SEC. 14. The clerk as ex officio recorder must procure such books for records as the business of his office requires and such as may be required by the respective commissioners designated as recorders in his division of the court, but orders for the same must first be obtained from the court or the judge thereof. The respective officers acting as ex officio recorders shall have the custody and must keep all the books, records, maps, and papers deposited in their respective offices, and where a recorder is removed or from any cause becomes unable to act, or a recording district is discontinued, the records and all books, papers, and property relating thereto shall be delivered to the clerk or such officer or person as the court or judge thereof may direct.

The record books procured by the clerk, as herein provided, shall be paid for by him, on the order of the court, out of any moneys in his hands, as other court expenses are paid.

SEC. 15. The respective recorders shall, upon the payment of the fees for the same prescribed by the Attorney-General, record separately, in large and well-bound separate books, in fair hand:

First. Deeds, grants, transfers, contracts to sell or convey real estate and mortgages of real estate, releases of mortgages, powers of attorney, leases which have been acknowledged or proved, mortgages upon personal property;

Second. Certificates of marriage and marriage contracts and births and deaths:

Third. Wills devising real estate admitted to probate;
Fourth. Official bonds;

Fifth. Transcripts of judgments which by law are made liens upon real estate;

Sixth. All orders and judgments made by the district court or the

commissioners in probate matters affecting real estate which are required to be recorded;

Seventh. Notices and declaration of water rights;

Eighth. Assignments for the benefit of creditors;

Ninth. Affidavits of annual work done on mining claims; Tenth. Notices of mining location and declaratory statements; Eleventh. Such other writings as are required or permitted by law to be recorded, including the liens of mechanics, laborers, and others: Provided, Notices of location of mining claims shall be filed for record within ninety days from the date of the discovery of the claim described in the notice, and all instruments shall be recorded in the recording district in which the property or subject-matter affected by the instrument is situated, and where the property or subjectmatter is not situated in any established recording district the instrument affecting the same shall be recorded in the office of the clerk of the division of the court having supervision over the recording division in which such property or subject matter is situated.

SEC. 16. Any clerk or commissioner authorized to record any instrument who having collected fees for so doing fails to record such instrument shall account to his successor in office, or to such person as the court may direct, for all the fees received by him for recording any instrument on file and unrecorded at the expiration of his official term, or at the time he is required to transfer his records to another officer under the direction of the court. And any clerk or commissioner who fails, neglects, or refuses to so account for fees received and not actually earned by the recording of [an] instrument shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, and imprisoned for not more than one year, or until the fees received and unearned as aforesaid shall have been properly accounted for and paid over by him, as hereinbefore provided. And in addition such fees may be recovered from such clerk or commissioner or the bondsmen of either, in a civil action which shall be brought by the district attorney, in the name of the United States, to recover the same; and the amount when recovered shall be by the court transferred to the successor in office of such recorder, who shall thereupon proceed to record the unrecorded instruments: Provided, Miners in any organized mining district may make rules and regulations governing the recording of notices of location of mining claims, water rights, flumes and ditches, mill sites and affidavits of labor, not in conflict with this Act or the general laws of the United States; and nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to prevent the miners in any regularly organized mining district not within any recording district established by the court from electing their own mining recorder to act as such until a recorder there for is appointed by the court: Provided further, All records heretofore regularly made by the United States commissioner at Dyea, Skagway, and the recorder at Douglas City, not in conflict with any records regularly made with the United States commissioner at Juneau, are hereby legalized. And all records heretofore made in good faith in any regularly organized mining district are hereby made public records, and the same shall be delivered to the recorder for the recording district including such mining district within six months from the passage of this Act.

SEC. 17. Every person appointed as a notary public must at the time of his appointment be a resident of the district and must continue to reside therein during his term of office. Removal from the district vacates his office and is equivalent to resignation.

The term of office of a notary public shall be four years from and after the date of his commission, but he may be sooner removed by the governor for misconduct in office.

SEC. 18. It shall be the duty of a notary public

First. When requested, to demand acceptance and payment of foreign, domestic, and inland bills of exchange, or promissory notes, and protest the same for nonacceptance and nonpayment, and to exercise such other powers and duties as by the law of nations and according to commercial usages or by the laws of any State, government, or country may be performed by notaries, and keep a record of such acts. Second. To take acknowledgment or proof of powers of attorney, deeds, mortgages, grants, transfers, and other instruments of writing executed by any person and to give a certificate of such proof or acknowledgment indorsed or attached to the instrument.

Third. To take depositions and affidavits and administer oaths and affirmations in all matters incident to the duties of the office or to be used before any court, judge, or officer.

Fourth. When requested and upon payment of his fees there for to make and give a certified copy of any record in his office.

Fifth. To provide and keep an official seal, upon which must be engraved the name of the district and the words "Notary Public," with the surname of the notary and at least the initials of his Christian name.

SEC. 19. The protest of a notary public under his hand and seal of a bill of exchange or promissory note for nonacceptance or nonpayment, stating the presentment for acceptance or payment and the nonacceptance or nonpayment thereof, the service of notice on any and all parties to such bill of exchange or promissory note and specifying the mode of giving such notice and the reputed place of residence of the party to such bill of exchange or promissory note and of the party to whom same was given and the post-office nearest thereto is prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein.

SEC. 20. It shall be the duty of every notary public, on his resignation or removal from office or at the expiration of his term and in case of his death of his legal representative, to forthwith deposit all the records kept by him in the office of the clerk of the division of the district court in which he resides, and on failure to do so the person so offending is liable in damages to any person injured thereby.

SEC. 21. It shall be the duty of each clerk aforesaid to receive and safely keep all records and papers of the notary in each case above named and to give attested copies of them under his seal, for which he may demand such fees as by law may be allowed to the notaries, and such copies shall have the same effect as if certified by the notary. SEC. 22. Each notary must execute an official bond in the sum of one thousand dollars, which bond must be approved by the clerk of the division of the district court located nearest his residence.

SEC. 23. Each notary public, upon approval of his official bond, so soon as he has taken his official oath, must transmit such bond and oath, signed by him with his own proper signature to the office of the

secretary of the district, whereupon the governor must issue a commission.

SEC. 24. For the official misconduct or neglect of a notary public, he and sureties on his official bond are liable to the parties injured thereby for all damages sustained.

SEC. 25. The officers properly qualified and actually discharging official duties in the district at the time of the approval of this Act may continue to act in their respective official capacities until the expiration of the terms for which they were respectively appointed unless sooner removed.

SEC. 26. The laws of the United States relating to mining claims, mineral locations, and rights incident thereto are hereby extended to the District of Alaska: Provided, That subject only to such general limitations as may be necessary to exempt navigation from artificial obstructions all land and shoal water between low and mean high tide on the shores, bays, and inlets of Bering Sea, within the jurisdiction of the United States, shall be subject to exploration and mining for gold and other precious metals by citizens of the United States, or persons who have legally declared their intentions to become such, under such reasonable rules and regulations as the miners in organized mining districts may have heretofore made or may hereafter make governing the temporary possession thereof for exploration and mining purposes until otherwise provided by law: Provided further, That the rules and regulations established by the miners shall not be in conflict with the mining laws of the United States; and no exclusive permit shall be granted by the Secretary of War authorizing any person or persons, corporation or company to excavate or mine under any of said waters below low tide, and if such exclusive permit has been granted it is hereby revoked and declared null and void; but citizens of the United States or persons who have legally declared their intention to become such shall have the right to dredge and mine for gold or other precious metals in said waters, below low tide, subject to such general rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe for the preservation of order and the protection of the interests of commerce; such rules and regulations shall not, however, deprive miners on the beach of the right hereby given to dump tailings into or pump from the sea opposite their claims, except where such dumping would actually obstruct navigation, and the reservation of a roadway sixty feet wide, under the tenth section of the Act of May fourteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, entitled "An Act extending the homestead laws and providing for right of way for railroads in the District of Alaska, and for other purposes," shall not apply to mineral lands or town sites.

SEC. 27. The Indians or persons conducting schools or missions in the district shall not be disturbed in the possession of any lands now actually in their use or occupation, and the land, at any station not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, now occupied as missionary stations among the Indian tribes in the section, with the improvements thereon erected by or for such societies, shall be continued in the occupancy of the several religious societies to which the missionary stations respectively belong, and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to have such lands surveyed in compact form as nearly as