the service was put upon an annual appropriation basis by the act of August 13, 1914 (38 Stat. 686). Prior to that time the act did not apply to the work of the Reclamation Service (Bureau of Reclamation). (Comp. Dec., June 3, 1915.)

Circular letters.-No. 350, August 12, 1914, on estimates of expenditures. No. 423, January 22, 1915, in reference to comptroller's decision regarding contracts.

No. 430, January 27, 1915, on appropriation and fund accounting.

No. 542, February 28, 1916, in reference to contracts extending beyond fiscal year.

Miscellaneous. See sundry civil appropriation act of March 3, 1915 (38 Stat.

860).

RESERVATIONS FOR PARKS AND COMMUNITY CENTERS

An act to authorize the reservation of public lands for country parks and community centers within reclamation projects, and for other purposes. (Act October 5, 1914, ch, 316, 38 Stat. 727)

[Sec. 1. Lands in reclamation projects reserved for country parks, public playgrounds, and community centers.]-That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to withdraw from other disposition and reserve for country parks, public playgrounds, and community centers for the use of the residents upon the lands such tracts as he may deem advisable not exceeding twenty acres in any one township in each reclamation project or the several units of such reclamation projects undertaken under the act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, known as the reclamation act. (38 Stat. 727.)

NOTES

Cross reference.-See note under section 1, act of April 16, 1906 (34 Stat. 116). The act of July 3, 1926, (44 Stat. 890), extends the application of this act. Sec. 2. [Free water supply-Reservations to be used in perpetuity.]That subject to the provisions hereinafter contained every such tract of land so set apart shall be supplied with water from the Government irrigation system, the ccst thereof to be charged to the remaining lands of the project as a part of the construction charge of such project, and shall be maintained and used in perpetuity by the people upon said reclaimed lands for a pleasure park, public playground, and community center. (38 Stat. 727.)

Sec. 3. [Contracts with irrigation organizations to maintain lands so reserved for purposes prescribed-Reversion.]-That for the purpose of carrying out and effecting the objects of this act the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to enter into a contract with the organization formed by the owners of the lands irrigated within said project or project unit pursuant to section six of the act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, stipulating and providing that the organization will maintain and use such of the lands so reserved for the purposes prescribed in this act as such organization may desire, and that upon failure to so maintain and use such lands, or in the event that same shall be permitted to be used or occupied for other purposes than those stipulated in this act, the control of the lands shall revert to the United States. (38 Stat. 728.)

NOTES

Regulations.-For instructions and form of community center water-service contract see C. L. 515, August 19, 1915.

Sec. 4. [Disposal of lands not taken within 10 years-Proceeds covered into reclamation fund.]-That any of such lands not contracted for in accordance with the provisions of section three of this act within ten

years from the time water is available for the same, or sooner, if the Secretary of the Interior may deem it desirable, shall be disposed of in accordance with the public-land laws applicable thereto, and the proceeds from the disposition of lands reverting to the United States under the provisions of this act, and from sales of water rights, shall be covered into the reclamation fund and placed to the credit of the project wherein the lands are situate. (38 Stat. 728.)

28038-27-10

SPECIAL PROVISIONS OF SUNDRY CIVIL APPROPRIATION ACT FOR 1916

[Extracts from] An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, and for other purposes. (Act March 3, 1915, ch. 75, 38 Stat. 822)

* *

*

[Purchase of passenger-carrying vehicles-Compromise of damages by Secretary.]-(Appropriations are made from the reclamation fund for) * purchase, maintenance, and operation of horsedrawn or motor-propelled passenger-carrying vehicles; payment of damages caused to the owners of lands or private property of any kind by reason of the operations of the United States, its officers or employees, in the survey, construction, operation, or maintenance of irrigation works, and which may be compromised by agreement between the claimant and the Secretary of the Interior. (38 Stat. 859.)

NOTES

Provisions similar to the above are now carried regularly in the sundry civil appropriation bills.

The above language, in reference to damages, viz, "payment of damages caused to the owners of lands or private property of any kind by reason of the operations of the United States, its officers or employees, in the survey, construction, operation, or maintenance of irrigation works, and which may be compromised by agreement between the claimant and the Secretary of the Interior," occurs in various appropriation acts subsequent to March 3, 1915, as follows: Act July 1, 1916 (39 Stat. 304); act June 12, 1917 (40 Stat. 147); act July 1, 1918 (40 Stat. 673); act of July 19, 1919 (41 Stat. 200); act June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 913); act March 4, 1921 (41 Stat. 1402); act May 24, 1922 (42 Stat. 584); act January 24, 1923 (42 Stat. 1206); act June 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 416); act March 3, 1925 (43 Stat. 1166); act May 10, 1926 (44 Stat. 453); except that in the last-named act (act of May 10, 1926, 44 Stat. 453), the word other" is inserted between the words "or" and "private," making the first part of the clause read: "payment of damages caused to the owners of lands or other private property of any kind," etc. See also appropriation act of January 12, 1927, Pub. No. 541.

Liquidation of damages by executive officer.-Where damage to lands arises in connection with construction, operation, or maintenance of a reclamation project and is caused neither by negligence nor by accident, the Secretary of the Interior now and always has had under section 10 of the reclamation act the power to liquidate the damages, as declared by Congress in this appropriation act. The latter act is a legislative construction of the reclamation act. The damages in question must be due to acts by direction of competent authority. (In re Scott, Shoshone project, Comp. Dec., June 15, 1915.) Reclamation Service (Bureau of Reclamation) was given authority to approve compromise agreements for damages by departmental decision July 29, 1915.

The fact that the negligence of an officer, agent, or employee of the Government contributed to the injury of the property does not invalidate a claim for damages provided such negligence relates to the performance of the duty of the officer, agent, or employee, as distinguished from an act of wantonness or carelessness committed in a purely personal capacity. (21 Comp. Dec. 255.) The Government is not liable for damages to private property caused by the prosecution of public work, as, for example, blasting for excavation purposes conducted in a lawful and proper manner, and a Government officer can not create a legal liability on the part of the Government by promising that the Government will pay for such damages so incurred. (23 Comp. Dec. 615.) Diversion by the United States Reclamation Service (Bureau of Reclamation) of the waters of a lake, thereby depriving meadowland of its moisture derived

from subirrigation, even though the land was not contiguous to the meander line of the lake, constitutes a valid claim for damages within the contemplation of the above act, which authorizes payment of damages caused by reason of the operations of the United States in the survey, construction, operation, or maintenance of irrigation works. (George W. Myers and Lillie A. Myers, 49

L. D. 106.)

Where meadowland is damaged by the diversion of the waters of a lake, the landowner is not entitled to general damages to his remaining lands as incidental to the damage to the former, if the latter were not directly benefited by those waters prior to their diversion. (Idem.)

A State statute prescribing the period of time within which action may be initiated in its courts, has no application with reference to a claim asserted against the United States pursuant to a Federal statute, where the remedy is not sought in a tribunal of that State. (Idem.)

A horse leased by the Reclamation Service (Bureau of Reclamation) from R. R. Vannoy on the Yuma project, while being used with ordinary care, became frightened at the odor, noise, and paraphernalia of a trapper who was passing by, and as a result ran away and was injured in a barbed-wire fence. The comptroller held in this case (Comp. Gen. Dec. March 15, 1922) that the proximate cause of this damage was not the "operations of the United States," but circumstances entirely foreign to and in no way connected with such operations, and that therefore there was no liability on the part of the Government under the appropriation act of June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 913), or independently thereof. (Reclamation Record for April, 1922, p. 78.)

A contract of employment was entered into by the Bureau of Reclamation and C. E. Stone for the hire of a teamster and two horses for use in cutting hay on the Grand Valley project. The team belonged to Miss Anna Ott, who also owned a mower loaned to and used by Stone. The mower driven by Stone clogged and when the team was set to back the mower a clip came off the neck yoke. One of the horses was injured so badly that it died. The Comptroller General found that the injury to the horse was caused by the use of the mower by the United States with knowledge of its defects in connection with the survey, construction, operation, and maintenance of the irrigation project. Claim was accordingly allowed. (Comp. Gen. Dec. (A14693), July 29, 1926, citing 4 Comp. Gen. 713 post.)

Damages caused to the owners of lands or private property of any kind by reason of irrigation operations, etc., are authorized to be compromised by agreement between the claimant and the Secretary of the Interior and paid from the reclamation fund, and no payments of damages as a result of compromise agreements may be made prior to approval of the Secretary of the Interior. (4 Comp. Gen. 713.)

Comptroller General's decision of June 15, 1926 (A-6633) authorizes the designation of the Commissioner or the Acting Commissioner of Reclamation to compromise damage claims involving $1,000 or less.

The act of June 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 416), in no way suspends or supersedes the jurisdiction of the General Accounting Office to settle and adjust claims for damages as provided by section 236, Revised Statutes, as amended by section 305 of act of June 10, 1921 (42 Stat. 24.) (4 Comp. Gen. 713.)

Claims for payment of damages under act of June 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 416), involving doubtful questions of law and fact should not be paid by disbursing officers but forwarded to the General Accounting Office for direct settlement. (Idem.)

A claim for damages in the nature of reimbursement of the cost of necessary repairs to a tugboat leased to the United States under a contract providing for return to the owner in good condition, "with allowance for usual wear and depreciation," must be determined under the specific provisions of the contract. Such a provision in the contract does not of itself render the United States an insurer of the property or in any way enlarge its common-law liability as a bailee to exercise ordinary diligence in the care of the property, and where it appears from the evidence submitted that the injury did not result from the failure of the United States or its employees to exercise that degree of care required of a bailee, there is no authority for payment of a claim for damages. (5 Comp. Gen. 557.)

The following circular letters refer to compromise of damages: No. 627, January 19, 1917; No. 836, July 28, 1919; No. 885, May 5, 1920 (printed at 47 L. D. 392); No. 1147, August 8, 1922; No. 1150, August 23, 1922; No. 1379, March 19, 1925, transmitting decision of Comptroller General (A–6633,