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The aggregate number of acres of such land now belonging to the State, cannot be obtained in this office for the reason that a large number of patents of said land contained expressions similar to the following:

"All that certain piece or parcel of land situate in the county of Onondaga, and distinguished as block No. 8, in the village of Salina, in the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation, as the same has been surveyed, and is designated on Randall's new map of said reservation on file in our Surveyor-General's (State Engineer and Surveyor's) office," thus not giving the number of acres conveyed; and not knowing the number of acres originally in the reservation, nor the number of acres sold, it is impossible to tell the number of acres still belonging to the State in said reservation.

The information desired in reference to leases cannot be obtained from this office for the reason that leases of lands in the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation are made by the Superintendent of the Salt Springs and are not on file in this office.

The Commissioners of the Land Office leased or set apart to individuals and corporations lands in the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation for the manufacture of coarse salt. The following action of the Commissioners of the Land Office, October 9, 1855, will be a fair sample of such coarse salt leases:

"David S. Earll made application for a lease to him of certain lots and parcels of land, in the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation for the manufacture of coarse salt, which application is in the following terms, viz.:

"The undersigned, your petitioner, respectfully sets forth that it is his intention to erect works for the manufacture of coarse salt; that the amount of capital intended to be invested by the undersigned in such erections is thirty thousand dollars, and the quantity of land necessary for such purpose is twenty-two acres.

"I, therefore, make application to your body to set apart to me the lands owned by the State for such purposes, and described as follows: Farm lot one hundred and seventeen (117) of the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation, and also the right of way to the Oswego canal along the north side of lot (118), and also a lot twelve rods square from the south-west corner of lot 118, on the berme bank of the Oswego canal for the erection of a store-house, and for other purposes in the manufacture of salt.

Onondaga County, ss.:

David S. Earll, being duly sworn, doth for himself, depose and say, the above application is made in good faith, and that the facts set forth in the above application are true.

DAVID S. EARLL.

Sworn before me this 25th day of September, 1855.

Thereupon,

J. HUNT,

Commissioner of Deeds, Syracuse.

Resolved, Said application be granted, and that the land applied for be set apart to David S. Earll, for the manufacture of coarse salt, pursuant to the provisions of section 4 of title 10 of chapter 9 of the first part of the Revised Statutes.

But there is hereby reserved to the State the right to dig for salt springs, and to lay logs for conveying salt water on said premises, and also, the right of way to the salt lands of the State."

In order to furnish full and complete information covered by the resolution of the Convention, it will be necessary to examine the records in the county clerk's office of Onondaga county, the office of the State Engineer and Surveyor, and the office of the Secretary of State, and in cases where the acreage of the land is not given in the conveyances, actual surveys of such lands would be necessary. An investigation of such a character would require much time and would involve considerable expense, to cover which this office has no available funds.

Yours respectfully,

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JOHN PALMER,
Secretary of State.

COMMUNICATION

FROM HON. P. J. BRUMELKAMP, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE NEW YORK STATE SALT SPRINGS, WHICH WAS ORDERED PRINTED AND REFERRED TO THE COMMITTEE ON SALT SPRINGS.

August 1, 1894.

Hon. Charles E. Fitch, Secretary Constitutional Convention, Albany, N. Y.:

Dear Sir.-In reply to the request contained in resolution of the Constitutional Convention, adopted the 25th inst., asking the Superintendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs for a statement relative to all leases of salt lands in the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation, I have to say:

The statutes relating to the Onondaga Salt Springs provide for two classes of leases of lands on the reservation for salt purposes, and they are distinguished as grants of lands for the purpose of the manufacture of coarse salt by solar evaporation, and leases of fine salt lots for the purpose of the manufacture of salt by artificial heat. The grants of land for the purpose of the manufacture of coarse salt were made by the Commissioners of the Land Office pursuant to the provisions of section 104 of title 10, chapter 9, of the first part of the Revised Statutes, and the amendments thereto. The grant consists of a resolution of the Commissioners of the Land Office that certain lands, the fee of which is in the State, described in the application of the party seeking the grant, be "set apart to the applicant for the purpose of the manufacture of coarse salt." There is no limitation as to the time such grants shall continue in force contained in the grant itself, or the statute authorizing it.

The Commissioners of the Land Office have, from time to time, during the past seventy years, set apart various tracts of land, containing in the aggregate about 900 acres. These lands are, at the present time, held and occupied by virtue of such grants by twenty-six different individuals and corporations, for the pur pose of manufacturing coarse salt. The description of each particular grant can be found in the records of the Commissioners of the Land Office. The leases of lots for fine salt purposes, were all issued by the Superintendent of the Salt Springs, pursuant to chapter 346 of the Laws of 1859, and all such leases expired

by limitation June 20, 1889, and none have been renewed. It appears from an examination of the books in this office, that 199 fine salt lots were leased, and that most of them are still occupied by the lessees.

The leases for fine salt lots are required by statute to be recorded in the clerk's office of Onondaga county.

1 Yours respectfully,

P. J. BRUMELKAMP,

Superintendent.

THE JUDICIARY.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

OF THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE RELATIVE TO THE PROPOSED JUDICIARY ARTICLE.

To the Convention:

Your Committee on Judiciary report herewith a new judiciary article, and recommend its adoption.

The principal changes proposed are the following:

I. The nine General Terms which now exist, five in the Supreme Court and four in the Superior City Courts, are to be abolished. The State is to be divided into four departments. In each department an appellate tribunal is to be constituted of five justices selected by the Governor from all the justices elected to the Supreme Court. The name "Appellate Division of the Supreme Court" is adopted in place of the now meaningless expression, "General Term." All appeals, except in capital cases, are in the first instance to be to the Appellate Division.

We propose to make this tribunal a more efficient and satisfactory court of review than the old General Term:

(a.) By making its judgments final in a much wider range of questions, through limitations imposed upon the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals and upon appeals to that court.

(b.) By giving it stability and independence through the establishment of fixed terms for its members, and power to control its own sessions and appoint its own clerk and designate the place of his office.

(c.) By making it large enough to insure full discussion and the correction of individual opinions by the process of reaching a concensus of opinion.

(d.) By relieving its members from all other duties, so that there shall be the fullest opportunity for consultation and deliberation, undisturbed by the demands of Circuit or Special Term

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