The Clerk read as follows: DEPTor rnir INTERIOR. GENERALLass Orricic. June 21.1866. Sin: I have the honor to acknowledgethe receipt of albill to amend section 2 of an act donating pwuhbiclihc mlaanydsprtoovttdhoe several States and Territories collegesfor the benefitof agriculture and the mechanicarts.approvedJuly 2, With your oral 1862. requestthat the opinion of the offico be expressedupon its provisions. The bill provides that the act aboverecited be so Satmaetensd, edas to make theserifptissuedto the older under the provisions of the aforesaidact. receivablefrom bonnfldesettlersin any State or Torri tor for the purchaseof anypubliclandsin such State, oicretteorrpitroivrya, tealetnhtoruyg, "hasurecshtlraientdiosnmnaoywnroct bueir"esdubby law. It Will readil beseen that this provision exosesat once the w olcsurve ed portion of the pubic domain to this scrip, and that eldersof this class of paper have only to locate in the name of some aacctquuairleresident to enablethem, in anyTerritory. to the surveyed lands to an indefinite extent, probably in many instances monopolizingall of the most desirable lands. and thusdefeattoa large extent the bunefieentprovisions of‘the homestead and procuiption laws, or drive that class of  settlersupon the less valuable and less desirablelands. And in any State the same would be tructo the extent of one million acres. To the holdersof the scrip such a law would bead vant cons.as it wouldpromptlgandlargely enhance the va no of the scrip bymorot an doubling the act ivo presentbasisfor its redemption and enabling it to go in advance of the precinption and homestend settler.gathering the choicelauds. But in the new Statesand Territories and the new districts in the older land States, it would be a great hinderance to isnettthleement of dncoutlotinvlaytiroent.aardnidnwgotuhledahdawaentcheeseeftftelcet.ments but would compelthe pioneers to pay an in creasedprice for theseselectedlands greptly larger than the scrip holding Stateswould receive in the enhanced price of the scrip, the differencepassing into the hiindsof the intermedrate agentwho by the law muststand betweenthe State and the location, the Statesbeing Wisely forbidden to make such loca on. Being madereceivable for both offeredand unof fered lands, until substantially exhausted, it would cut 08 almostentirely cashreceiptsfor public lands. The scrip issuedand tobe issued underthe law as it now standswill require 7,020,000 acresfor itssatisfaction.andit is submitted whethersuch a barrier canWith advantagebeplaced around our pioneer settlements, and whether both the nation and the new States and territories would ngoatinrebsypectivelylose more than the older States would the proposedmodification of the law. Imay add that in thisvicw the Judgment of the GLO is unqualifiodl adverseto the measure asinconsistentwith the public interest. With greatrespect, your obedientservant ] M. E(D, ‘MomUNmDuSu.mr. Hon. I. DONNILLY, HoRep The bill was laid on the table. TERRITORIAL LAND DISTRICTS.