under the act of June 17, 1902 (Thirty-second Statutes at Large, page 388), or any act amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, is unable to pay any construction or operation and maintenance charge due excepting operation and maintenance charges for drainage on the Boise, Idaho, project, for the year 1922, or prior thereto, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized in his discretion to add such accrued and unpaid charges to the construction charge of the land of such water user or applicant, and to distribute such accumulated charges equally over each of the subsequent years, beginning with the year 1924, at such rate per year as will complete the payment during the remaining years of the twenty-year period of pay ment of the original construction charge: Provided, That upon such adjustment being made, any penalties or interest which may have accrued in connection with such unpaid construction and operation and maintenance charges shall be canceled, and in lieu thereof the amount so due, and the payment of which is hereby extended, shall draw interest at the rate of 6 per centum per annum, paid annually from the time said amount became due to date of payment: Provided further, That the applicant for the extension shall first show to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior detailed statement of his assets and liabilities and actual inability to make payment at the time of the application and an apparent ability to meet the deferred charges in 1924 and subsequent years: And provided further, That in case the principal and interest herein provided for are not paid in the manner and at the time provided by this act, any penalty now provided by law shall attach from the date the charge was originally due: And provided further, That similar relief in whole or in part may be extended by the Secretary of the Interior to a legally organized group of water users of a project, upon presentation of a sufficient number of individual showings made in accordance with the foregoing proviso to satisfy the Secretary of the Interior that such extension is necessary. (42 Stat. 1325.) SUIT RESPECTING KLAMATH PROJECT LAND AUTHORIZED An act authorizing the State of California to bring suit against the United States to determine title to certain lands in Siskiyou County, Calif. (Act March 3, 1923, ch. 220, 42 Stat. 1438) [Suit to determine title to lands in Siskiyou County, California-Secretary made a party-Defense by Attorney General.]-That consent is hereby given that a suit or suits may be instituted by or in behalf of the State of California in the Supreme Court of the United States to determine the right, title, and interest of such State to certain lands in Siskiyou County, California, alleged to have been ceded by such State to the United States by act of the Legislature of the State of California entitled "An act authorizing the United States. Government to lower the water levels of any or all of the following lakes: Lower or Little Klamath Lake, Tule or Rhett Lake, Goose Lake, and Clear Lake, situated in Siskiyou and Modoc Counties, and to use any part or all of the beds of said lakes for the storage of water in connection with the irrigation and reclamation operations conducted by the Reclamation Service of the United States; also ceding to the United States all the right, title, interest, or claim of the State of California to any lands uncovered by the lowering of the water levels of any or all of said lakes not already disposed of by the State," approved February 3, 1905, and in any such suit the right, title, and interest of such State and of the United States may be fully tested and determined if the Secretary of the Interior is made a party to such suit. Upon the request of such Secretary the Attorney General of the United States is authorized and directed to defend the right, title, and interest of the United States to such land or any part thereof. (42 Stat. 1438.) COLUMBIA RIVER INVESTIGATIONS [Extract from] An act making appropriations to supply deficiencies in certain appropria tions for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1923, and prior fiscal years, to provide supple mental appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1924, and for other purposes. (Act March 4, 1923, ch. 292, 42 Stat. 1527) [Columbia River-Investigation of irrigation problems on.]—That the following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to supply deficiencies in certain appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1923, and prior fiscal years, to provide supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1924, and for other purposes, namely: For investigations of the feasibility of irrigation by gravity or pumping, water sources, water storage, and related problems on the Columbia River and its tributaries, and for cooperative and miscellaneous investigations of the feasibility of reclamation projects, including personal services in the District of Columbia and elsewhere; purchase, repair, maintenance, hire, and operation of motor-propelled or horse-drawn passenger-carrying vehicles; and for all other expenses; reimbursable in the case of any project if and when adopted for construction by the United States or other agency; to remain available until December 31, 1924, as follows: Columbia Basin proj ect, $100,000; Umatilla Rapids project, $50,000; cooperative and miscellaneous investigations of reclamation projects, $125,000; in all, $275,000. (42 Stat. 1540.) Cross reference.-See act of February 21, 1923 (42 Stat. 1281). An act to authorize the deferring of payments of reclamation charges. (Act May 9, 1924, ch. 150, 43 Stat. 116) [Sec. 1. Extension of time for payment of accrued charges, rentals, and penalties Interest on extensions.]-That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and empowered, in his discretion, to defer the dates of payments of any charges, rentals, and penalties which have accrued prior to the 2d day of March, 1924, under the act of June 17, 1902 (Thirty-second Statutes at Large, page 388), and amendatory and supplemental acts, or prior to that date as against water users on any irrigation project being constructed or operated and maintained under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, as may, in his judgment, be necessary in or concerning any irrigation project now existing under said act: Provided, That no payment shall be deferred under this section in any particular case beyond March 1, 1927: Provided, That upon such adjustment being made, any penalties or interest which may have accrued in connection with such unpaid construction and operation and maintenance charges shall be canceled, and in lieu thereof the amount so due, and the payment of which is hereby extended, shall draw interest at the rate of 5 per centum per annum, paid annually from the time said amount became due to date of payment: And provided further, That in case the principal and interest herein provided for are not paid in the manner and at the time provided by this section, any penalty now provided by law shall thereupon attach from the date of such default. (43 Stat. 116.) NOTES Only Secretary of Interior can give relief to delinquent settler.-Relief under the act of May 9, 1924 to a settler on a Government project from a delinquent maintenance charge must come from the Secretary of the Interior, to whose discretion its administration is committed. (Mower v. Bond (1925), 8 Fed. (2d), 518.) Regulations. See departmental regulations of June 2, 1924, printed at 50 L. D., 542, in the New Reclamation Era for June, 1924, page 85, and in C. L. 1302, June 2, 1924. C. L. 1363, Feb. 9, 1925, supplements C. L. 1302. C. L. 1430, July 10, 1925, and C. L. 1489, December 5, 1925, request statistics covering relief granted under sections 1 and 2 of this act. Sec. 2. [Addition of accrued charges to construction charges.]—That where an individual water user, or individual applicant for a water right under a Federal irrigation project constructed or being constructed under the act of June 17, 1902 (Thirty-second Statutes at Large, page 388), or any act amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, makes application prior to January 1, 1925, alleging that he will be unable to make the payments as required in section 1 hereof, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized in his discretion Popularly known as the Phipps Act, being so named for Senator L. C. Phipps, of Colorado. prior to March 1, 1925, to add such accrued and unpaid charges to the construction charge of the land of such water user or applicant, and to distribute such accumulated charges equally over each of the subsequent years, beginning with the year 1925, or, in the discretion of the Secretary, distribute a total of one-fourth over the first half of the remaining years of the twenty-year period beginning with the year 1925, and three-fourths over the second half of such period, so as to complete the payment during the remaining years of the twentyyear period of payment of the original construction charge: Provided, That upon such adjustment being made, any penalties or interest which may have accrued in connection with such unpaid construction and operation and maintenance charges shall be canceled, and in lieu thereof the amount so due, and the payment of which is hereby extended shall draw interest at the rate of 5 per centum per annum, paid annually from the time said amount became due to date of payment: Provided further, That the applicant for the extension shall first show to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior detailed statement of his assets and liabilities and probable inability to make payment at the time required in section 1: And provided further, That in case the principal and interest herein provided for are not paid in the manner and at the time provided by this act, any penalty now provided by law shall thereupon attach from the date of such default: And provided further, That similar relief in whole or in part may be extended by the Secretary of the Interior to a legally organized group of water users of a project, upon presentation of a sufficient number of individual showings made in accordance with the foregoing proviso to satisfy the Secretary of the Interior that such extension is necessary. (43 Stat. 116.) NOTES Circular letters.-C. L. 1338, December 4, 1924, departmental regulations under this section. C. L. 1363, February 9, 1925, supplements C. L. 1338. C. L. 1430, July 10, 1925, and C. L. 1489, December 5, 1925, request statistics covering relief granted under sections 1 and 2 of this act. |