CHAPTER LII.

AN ACT AUTHORIZING AND REQUIRING THE COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS TO INVEST IN UNITED STATES BONDS THE SCHOOL FUND NOW IN THE STATE TREASURY.

WHEREAS, There is now in the State Treasury the sum of ($60,258 61) sixty thousand two hundred and fifty-eight dollars and sixty-one cents, ($58,979 31) fifty-eight thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine dollars and thirty-one cents, in coin, and ($1,279 30) one thousand two hundred and seventy-nine dollars and thirty cents, in currency, belonging to the school fund of the State; and

Whereas, By section nine of article nine of the constitution, it is made imperative that this fund should be invested in the bonds of the United States; therefore,

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the Comptroller of Public Accounts be and he is hereby authorized and required to invest the said sum of ($60,258 61) sixty thousand two hundred and fifty-eight dollars and sixty-one cents in five-twenty United States bonds, at as early a day as practicable, and on the best terms possible, and shall deposit the said bonds and coupons in the State Treasury.

SEC. 2. That this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved August 12, 1870.

CHAPTER LIII.

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE DISPOSAL OF THE PUBLIC LANDS OF THE STATE OF TEXAS.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Teras, That every head of a family who has not a homestead, shall be entitled to one hundred and sixty acres of land out of any part of the public domain as a homestead, upon condition that he or she will select, locate and occupy the same for three years, and pay the office fees on the same. And all single men twenty-one years of

age, shall be entitled to eighty acres of land out of any part of the public domain upon the same terms and conditions as are imposed upon the head of a family.

SEC. 2. Any person who shall occupy any portion of the public domain as a homestead under the preceding section, shall have the same surveyed, and the field-notes returned to the Land Office within. twelve months after settling upon the same; and such person shall be entitled to a patent therefor upon filing in the Land Office an affidavit to the effect that such person has occupied and improved said land for three years in good faith, and has complied with the requirements of this act and paid all fees, and which affidavit shall be corroborated by the affidavits of two disinterested and credible citizens of the county in which the land is situate, and all of which affidavits shall be subscribed and sworn to before the district clerk, who shall certify to the same and the credibility of said citizens under his seal of office.

SEC. 3. Any person who shall hereafter, in good faith, actually settle upon any part of the public domain, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, and shall furnish to the Commissioner of the General Land Office satisfactory evidence that he or she has, in good faith, actually so settled, shall be entitled to purchase the same from the State at the sum of one dollar per acre; and the certificate of the surveyor of the county or district in which the land is situate, that such person is an actual settler on said land, shall be deemed satisfactory evidence thereof.

SEC. 4. Any person now occupying any part of the public domain of the State in good faith, shall have the right to take the necessary steps, at any time within twelve months from the passage of this act, to appropriate the same, or a part thereof, to a homestead under the first section of this act, or to purchase the same, or a part thereof, under the third section of this act; and no person shall have the right to interfere with said actual settler, by file, location, or survey, by virtue of any land certificate, or other land claim whatever, within said prescribed time.

SEC. 5. The holder of any genuine land certificate, or other valid land claim against the State of Texas, shall hereafter have the right to locate the same upon any part of the public domain of the State not subject to the claim of actual occupants, as prescribed in the foregoing sections of this act, and in accordance with the laws now in force in reference to the location, surveving and patenting of lands in this State; provided, that all such certificates shall be located, surveyed and returned to the General Land Office by the first day of January, 1875, or be forever barred.

SEC. 6. All laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith are here by repealed; and this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved August 12, 1870.

CHAPTER LIV.

AN ACT REGULATING PUBLIC PRINTING.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That there shall be elected by joint vote of the two houses of each Legislature hereafter convened, within the first two weeks of its first session, some suitable person to do and perform all the printing and publishing of whatever nature for the use of both houses of the Legislature, for the executive, judicial and other departments of State. Such person elected to do and perform such printing, as provided in this act, shall, for the purpose of reference herein, be termed the State Printer.

SEC. 2. The person who may be elected State Printer at the present, or any other session of the Legislature, shall enter into bond, with two or more good sureties, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, payable to the State of Texas, conditioned that he will faithfully perform the duties incumbent on him as public printer for the State of Texas, which bond shall be approved by the Governor and filed in the office of the Secretary of State; on breach of said bond the same may be put in suit upon the order of the Governor, which suit may be brought in the county in which the seat of Government may be located; and said bond shall not become void on first recovery, but suit may be maintained thereon until the whole amount. thereof be recovered.

SEC. 3. The newspaper in which the State printer shall publish the journals of the two houses of the Legislature, the laws of the State, and other official matter, as hereby provided, shall be known and designated as the official journal of the State.

SEC. 4. That the State Printer shall deliver to the Secretary of State copies of his official journal containing any of the laws or joint resolutions of the Legislature of the State, which shall have been hereafter enacted or agreed to, immediately after the same shall have been published therein; and as soon as practicable thereafter, the said Secretary of State shall cause the said official jour

nal to be sent to the judges and clerks of courts, and it shall be their duty to preserve all copies of the official journal so received, carefully in their respective courts for the use thereof, until they shall have received the copies of the laws in pamphlet form; and the State Printer shall receive sixteen dollars for every two hundred papers delivered to the Secretary of State in accordance with the provisions of this section.

SEC. 5. There shall be printed by the State Printer, five thousand copies of the laws of a general nature, and one thousand copies of the special laws, including all acts for private relief, all acts incorporating towns and cities, all of a personal nature, and all acts incorporating private associations of every description, that may be passed at each session of the Legislature, and one thousand copies of the journals of each house of the Legislature; and the Secretary of State shall send to each member of the Legislature one copy of the laws of a general nature, one copy of the special laws, and one copy of the journals of each house, immediately after they are delivered to him by the State Printer. There shall be printed, under the supervision of the Secretary of State, one thousand copies of the annual reports of the Comptroller of Public Accounts, Treasurer, Commissioner of General LaLd Office, Superintendent and Financial Agent of the l'enitentiary, Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum, of the Asylums of the Blind, and Deaf and Dumb, and the reports of all other officers who are required to report to the Governor or the Legislature, whose reports contain statistical information, five hundred copies of which shall be delivered by the Secretary of State to the two houses of the Legislature, for their use, at as early a day as practicable after they are printed, and the remaining five hundred copies shall be stitched together by the public printer, as an appendix to the journals of the House of Representatives, and delivered to the Secretary of State. There shall be printed such number of copies of the messages of the Governor, and other documents, as the Legislature or either house may order; provided, however, that when the Governor's messages are printed, five hundred copies shall be reserved by the printer aforesaid, which shall be attached to said appendix; other matter than that enumerated may be attached to said appendix, as the Legislature may order. The laws and journals, and all reports and documents, shall be printed on small pica type, to be forty-four lines long, exclusive of the folio, and twenty-seven ems wide, without side notes. The paper shall be white and of a uniform color, and of a quality equal to the best upon which the laws of any session of the Legislature have at any time heretofore been printed; and

all of said laws and journals, reports and other documents, shall be neatly folded, stitched, trimmed and covered with colored paper.

SEC. 6. The Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives shall cause the journals of their respective houses to be furnished to the public printer, from day to day after they shall have been adopted, for the purpose of being printed; and when printed, the manuscript journals shall be returned and filed with the archives of the Legislature; and the said Secretary and Chief Clerk, respectively, shall furnish to the said public printer a comprehensive index of the same, which shall be printed at the end of the respective journals, and charged at like rates.

SEC. 7. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to cause copies of all laws and resolutions to be furnished to the public printer as early as possible after they severally shall have been approved or passed. He shall also furnish to said public printer a comprehensive index of said laws, which shall be printed in like type and style to the index of the general laws of the Ninth Legislature.

SEC. S. The whole number of laws and journals, reports of public officers and institutions, and other public documents authorized to be printed, shall be delivered at the office of the Secretary of State, except such printing as may be ordered by the two houses of the Legislature, or either of them, for their session.

SEC. 9. The laws and journals shall be delivered within sixty days after the last copy shall have been furnished to the public printer. The reports of public officers, institutions, and other documents, shall be required to be delivered to the Governor, by the respective officers making the same, in sufficient time to be furnished to the public printer one month before the meeting of the Legislature; and if so furnished to said printer, shall be delivered by him to the Secretary of State within the first week of said session; and if furnished less than one month before the meeting of the Legislature, or after, the same shall be delivered by said public printer to the Secretary within one month after they are so furnished. The Secretary of State shall certify that the laws thus published are true copies of the originals in his office, and also certify the date upon which the Legislature adjourned, which shall be appended to, and printed at the end of each volume. He shall also superintend the printing of the same, and read and correct the proof; provided, however, that this act shall not dispense with the duty of the public printer of furnishing some competent person or persons also to read and correct the proof; and provided further, that should the laws be printed at any point away from the seat of Government, the actual expenses of the Secretary of State, while supervising the