FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 469 



The next application, made pursuant to Chapter 220, asked for the cancellation of 

 the State's title to Lot 63, Jerseyfield Patent, Town of Stratford, Fulton County, N. Y. 

 In this case the applicant claimed that in certain years, which were included in the tax 

 sale, the land was assessed both as resident and non-resident; that it was doubly 

 assessed, and that the resident tax was paid. The application was granted, and this 

 lot, containing 583 acres, was dropped from the list of lands in the Forest Preserve. 



The next hearing, held pursuant to Chapter 927, involved the State's title to a 

 tract of primitive forest on Lot 8, Range 6, Great Tract, Dartmouth Patent, Town of 

 Thurman, Warren County, N. Y. The applicant asked for a cancellation of the tax 

 sale on the ground that this lot belonged to the Adirondack Railway Company and 

 was exempt from taxation until 1883. On the part of the State, contention was made 

 that the period of exemption had expired before the levying of the tax. The 

 application, however, was granted, and the 234 acres were withdrawn from the Forest 

 Preserve. 



These proceedings, made possible only through special legislation, resulted in a 

 decrease in area of the Preserve amounting to 1,255 acres. It should be stated, 

 however, that the taxes were illegally levied and that the subsequent tax sale was 

 invalid. The owners of these lands did not intend at any time to default their taxes, 

 and in one case actually paid them. 



It should also be borne in mind that there is a wide difference between cancella- 

 tions granted under such conditions and the cancellations formerly granted for trivial 

 or purely technical reasons — cases where the owners intentionally defaulted their taxes 

 and abandoned their lands. 



