LEGISLATURE, SENATE DOO 1863. [No. 6. ]] REPÓRT of the committee on Public Lands, relative to the grant of swamp lands to the German-American Seminary, of the city of Detroit. The committee on public lands, to whom was referred House bill No. 16, being A bill to amend act No. 175, of session laws of 1861, granting twenty-five thousand acres of State swamp land to the German-American Seminary, of the city of Detroit, After mature deliberations thereon, find, 1st. That the Legislature of 1861, made said grant for the purpose of aiding said seminary to erect buildings on ground leased of the city of Detroit; 2d. Said lease conveyed to said seminary for the term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, the use of some four acres of ground, on condition that buildings for an institution of learning should be built thereon within five years from the date of the lease, worth the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars; 3d. The terms on which the Legislature made the grant of land were, among others, a strict compliance on the part of the seminary with the terms of its lease with the city of Detroit; 2 SENATE DOC. and the act making the grant provided that the land should re vert to the State absolutely, in case of a failure by the seminary to fulfill all the requirements named in said lease, which provision of forfeiture or reversion to the State was to be incorporated in and be a part of the patent when made by the State, conveying the title to said swamp lands; 4th. The managers of said seminary now represent that the city of Detroit failed to place the leased grounds above referred to, in the possession of said seminary, but upon the contrary, the commissioners of the water works of said city successfully opposed ond absolutely prevented the seminary from occupying any portion of the same; hence the seminary has, of necessity, and not by its own fault, failed to comply with the terms of the grant from the State; 5th. The said managers, in behalf of said seminary, now show that it is the owner of a certain lot in the city of Detroit, 50 feet by 120 feet, or thereabouts, on which there is a brick building of considerable value, and that it is the intention of the managers to erect other buildings for the purpose, as near as may be, to carry out their original design; and further that they have located the swamp lands; that they have held correspondence with their German friends in Europe, and have many families waiting the action of this Legislature, to purchase a portion of said swamp lands, in case the grant is affirmed. They further state that the provision of forfeiture, directed, in the original act making the grant, to be incorporated in the patents of conveyance prevents them from making sales of the lands; 6th. The bill under consideration, continues in force the act of which it is amendatory, and in lieu of the forfeiture clause, provides for a bond, to be given by the Trustees of the Seminary, to the State, in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful expenditure of the net proceeds of sales of said swamp lands, in buildings, on such grounds as are already, or may hereafter, be owned by said Semenary; thereby changing the original act, as to the conditions on which the |