Mr. CONNESS. I move to take up the bill (S.No.343 to quiet land titles in California. It isa bill which has been reported by the ComPubLands. The motion was agreed to; and the bill was considered as in ComWhole. It was introduced by Mr. Cossnss, and reported by the ComPubLands with amendments. The 1st section provides that in all cases where the State of California has heretofore made selections of any portion of the public domain in part satisfaction of any grant made to that State by any act of Congress, nnd has disposed of the same to purchasers in good faith under her laws, the lands so selected shall be confirmed to the State. It is, however, provided that no selection made by the State contrary to existing laws shall be confirmed by this act for lands to which an adverse preemption, homestead, or other rigiit has, at the date of the passage of the act, been acquired by any settler under the laws of the U.S., or to any lands which have been reserved for na val, military, or Indian purposes by the U.S., or to any mineral land, or to any land which, at the time of the passage of the act, was included within the limits of any city, town, or village, or within the county of SanFran cisco. By the 2nd section, where the selections named in section one have been made upon land which has been surveyed by authority of the U.S., it will be the duty of the proper authorities of the State, where the same as not already been done, to notify the register of the U.S. land office for the district in which the land is located of such selection, which notice shall be regarded as the date of the State selection, and the ComrGLO is to instruct the several local registers to forward to the GLO, after investigation and decision, all such selections, which, if found to be in accordance with section one, the Commissioner shall certify over to the State in the usual manner. Under the 3rd section, vwhere the selections' named in section one have been made from lands which have not been surveyed by authority of the U.S., but which selections have been surveyed by authority of and under the laws of the State, and the land sold to purchasers in good faith under the laws of the State, such selections shall, from the date of the passage of this act, when marked off and designated in the field, have the same force and effect as the preemption rights of a settler upon unsurveyedpublic land; and if, upon a survey by the U.S., the lines of the 2 surveys shall be found not to agree, the selection shall be so changed as to include those legal subdivisions which nearest conform to the identical land included in the State survey and selection. upon the filing with the register of the proor U.S. land office of the township at in which any such selection of unsurveyedpland is located, the holder of the State title shall be allowed the same time to present and prove up his purchase and claim under this act as is allowed preemptors under existinglaws; and if found in accordance with section one of this act. the land embraced therein shall be certified over to the State by the ComrGLO. The 4th section provides that in all cases where township surveys have been or shall hereafter be made under authority of the U.S., and the plats thereof approved, it shall be the duty of the ComrGLO to certify over to the State of California, as swamp and overflowed, all the lands represented as such, upon such approved plats, within one year from the iassage of Giis act, or within one year from the return and approval of such townshipplats. The Commissioner shall direct the U.S. surveyor general for the State of California to examine the segregation maps and surveys of the swam and overflowed lands made by the State; and where he shall find them to conform to the system of surveys adopted by the U.S., he shall construct and approve township plats accordingly, and forward to the GLO for approval. In segre gating large bodies of land, notoriously and obviously swamp and overflowed, it shall not be necessary to subdivide the same, but to run the exterior lines of such body of land. In case the State surveys are found not to be in accordance with the system of U.S. surveys, and in such other townships as no survey has been made by the U.S., the Commissioner shall direct the surveyor general to make segregation surveys, upon application to the surveyor general by the Governor of the State, within one year of such application, of all the swamp and overfloyved land in such townships, and to report the same to the GLO, representing and describing what land was swamp and overflowed under the grant, according to the best evidence he can obtain. If the authorities of the State shall claim as swamp and overflowed any land not represented as such upon the map or in the returns of the surveyors, the character of such land at the date of the grant, September 28, 1850, and the right to the same, shall be deter mined by testimony, to be taken before the surveyor general, who shall decide the same, subject to the approval of the Commissioner. The fitth section makes it the duty of the ComrGLO to instruct the officers of the local land offices and the surveyor general, immediately after the passage of this act, to forward lists of all selections made by the State referred to in section one, and lists and maps of all swamp and over floived lands claimed b the State, or surveyed as before provided in the act, for final disposition and determination: and if such final position shall not be made within one year! from and after the receipt at the GLO of any such list or map, the title of the State of California to the lands embraced in any of such lists or maps shall be complete and ff nal. The 6th section proposes to construe the i not to provide for the snrvey of the public lands in California, the granting of preemption rights therein, and for other purposes, approved March 3, 1855, so as to give the State of California the right to select for school purposes other lands in lieu of such 16th and 36th sections as were settled upon prior I to survey, reserved for‘public uses, covered by l swamp lands or grants made under Spanish or I Mexican authority, or by other private claims, or where such sections wouldibe so covered if i the lines of the public surveys were extended over such lands, which shall be determined whenever township lines shall have been extended over such land, and in case ofSpanish or Mexican grants, when the final survey of such grants shall have been may e. The surveyor general of the State of california is to furnish the State authorities with lists of all such sec‘tions so covered, as a basis of selection. But the State of California is authorized to provide, by law for the investment of all moneys derived 1 from the sale of school lands in a permanent productive fund; the proceeds of which shall e forever applied, under the direction of the Legislature of said State, to the use and sup' ort of public schools in the several school districts in that State and to no other use 0r purpose whatsoever; and the previous application in such manner by the State of California of funds derived from the sale of such lands is ratified and confirmed, so far as the assent of the U.S. to the same may be neces sa’iiy to the confirmation thereof. he 7th section provides that where, in good faith, and for a valuable consideration, pemns have purchased lands of Mexican grantees, which grants have subsequent] been rejected, and have used, improved, an continued in the actual assession of the same, and where no valid a verse title (except of the U.S.) exists, such purchasers may purchase the same, after having such lands surveyed under existing laws, at the minimum price established by law, upon 1st making proof of the facts, under regulations to be provided by the ComrGLO. Under the' 8th section, in all cases where a claim to land by virtue of a right or title derived from the S anish or Mexican authorities has been final y confirmed, and a survey and plat thereof shall not have been made, as pronded by sections 6 and 7 of the act of July 1, 1864, to expedite the settlement of titles to lands in the State of California, and in all cases where a like claim shall here after be finally confirmed, and a survey and plot thereof shall not be made as provided by those sections within 6 months after final confirmation, it shall be the duty of the surveyor general of the U.S. for California to cause such survey and plat to be made as soon as practicable, and to return the same to the ComrGLO at Washin ton; and for the excrises of each survey an plat made, and of the publication required by the act of July 1, 1864, the surveyor general is to be paid from the up ro priations for the surveys of the public lands in California. The 9th section provides that from the decrees of the district courts of the U.S. for the district of California, up roving or correcting the surveys of private land claims under Spanish or Mexican grants, rendered after the 1st day of July, 1865, an appeal shall be allowed for the period of one year after the i entry of such decrees to the circuit court of the U.S. for California, as provided by ll section 3 of the act of July 1, 1864, to I expedite the settlement of titles to land in the State of California, and the decision of the circuit court shall be final. " The 10th section declares that if, upon final investigation and decision, it shall be deter mined that there has been confirmed to the State of California by this act more land than under the several grants made by Congress it is entitled to, the State shall pay into the subTi easury of the U.S. at SanFrancisco a sum equal to $1.25 peracre for each and every acre so confirmed in excess of any such grant or grants, such payments to be made within one year of such final decision. The 1st amendment reported by the ComPubLands was in section one, line 14, after the word “military” to insert It orlii