The POTUS. To the HoRep: Iherewith return without my a proval the bill entitled “ An act erecting the erritory of Montana into a surveying district, and for other purposes.”, The bill contains 4 sections, the 1st of which erects the Territory into a surveying district, and authorizes the appointment of a surveyor general; the 2nd constitutes the Territory a land district; the 3rd authorizes the appointment of a register and receiver for said district, and the 4th requires the surveyor general to “ select and survey 18 alternate odd sections of non-mineral timber lands within said district for the NewYork and Montana Iron Mining and Manufacturing company, incorporated under the laws of the State of NewYork, which lands the said company shall have immediate possession of on the payment of $1 25 peracre, and shall have a pat ent for the same whenever, within 2 cars after their selection, they shall have furnished evidence, satisfactory to the SecyInterior, that they have erected and have in operation on the said lands iron works with a capacity for manufacturin 1500 tons of iron perannum; provided that the said lands shall revert to the U.S. in case the above mentioned iron works be not erected within the specified time, and provided that until the title to the said lands shall have been perfected, the timbflr shall not be cut off from more than one section of the said lands.” To confer the special privileges specified in this 4th section appears to be the chief object of the bill, the provisions of which are subject to some of the most important objections that induced me to return to the Senate with mly disa proval the bill entitled “Anacttoensble the NewYork and Montana Iron Mining and Mann facturing Company to purchase acertain amount of the public lands not now in market.” That bill authorized the same corporation to select and survey in the Territory of Montana, in square form, 21 sections of land, 3 of which might contain coal and iron ore, for which the minimum rate of $1 25 peracre was to be paid. The present bill omits these sections of mineral lands, and directs the surveyor general to select and survey the timber lands; but it contains the objectionable feature of granting to a private mining and manufacturing corporation exclusive rights and privilegesin the public domain which are by law denie to individuals. The 1st choice of timber land in the Territory is bestowed upon acorporation foreign to the Territory, and over which Congress has no control. The surveyor general of the district, a public officer who should have no connection With any purchase of public land, is made the agent oft e corpomtion to select the land; the selections to be made in the absence of all competition; and over 11,000 acres are be stowed at the lowest price of public lands. It is by no means certain that the substitution of alternate sections for the comact body of lands contemplated by the other ill is any less in jurious to the public interest; for alternate sections stripped of timber are not likely to enhance the value of those reserved by the government. Be this as it may, this bill bestows.a large monopoly of public lands without ade quate consideration; confers a right and privilege in quantity equivalent to 72 preemption rights; introduces a dangerous system of privileges to private trading corporations and is an unjust discrimination in favor o traders and speculators against individual settlers and pioneers who are seeking homes and improving our western Territories. such a departure from the long established, wise and just policy which has heretofore governed the disposition of the public funds cannot receive my sanction. The objections enumerated apply to the 4th section of the bill. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sections, providing for the appointment of a surveyor general, register, and receiver, are unobjectionable, if any necessity requires the creation of these offices and the ad itional expenses of a new surveying land district. But they appear in this instance to be only needed as a art of the machinery to enable the “NewYork and Montana Iron Mining and Manufacturing company” to secure these privileges; for I am in ormed by the proper Dept, in a communication hereto annexed, that there is no public necessity for a surveyor general, register, or receiver in Montana Territory, since it forms part of an existin surveying and land district, wherein the public business is, under present laws, transacted with adequate facility, so that the provisions of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sections would occasion needless expense to the GeneralfGovernment. ANDREWJOHNSON. Wasniscroiv, D. 0., July 28, 1866.