NATIONAL FOREST MANUAL LAWS. 81 



REFORESTATION. 



The appropriation for the year 1911 of $166,640 "For silvicultural 

 and other experiments," etc., is available, in the discretion of the 

 Secretary, for allotment to the various forests, not for experiments and 

 investigations merely but to carry on the work of reforestation. The 

 amounts allotted may be used cumulatively with the amounts author- 

 ized in the appropriations for the various forests by name. (2 Sol. 

 Op., 705.) 



SUPPLIES. 



Supplies ordered under annual contracts for one fiscal year, but not 

 delivered in that year, may be paid for at prices fixed by the contracts 

 out of the appropriations for the succeeding year. (1 Sol. Op., 311.) 



If the need for ordering wire existed in the fiscal year 1910, and the 

 contract in question was properly made under the appropriation^ for 

 that year, the purchase price may be paid from that appropriation, 

 even though the wire was not delivered until the next annual appro- 

 priation has become effective, and it can not be put to physical use 

 until some tune in the next fiscal year. (Same.) 



REFUNDS. 



The refund provision in the agricultural appropriation act of March 

 4, 1907, contemplates cases of sales of National Forest products and 

 does not apply to erroneous or excess collections for trespass on Na- 

 tional Forest lands or to erroneous collections for products of lands not 

 a part of the National Forests. (17 Comp. Dec., 204.) 



No refund can be made, under the act of March 4, 1907, of money 

 paid for timber cut in the construction of an irrigation ditch under 

 permit from the Forest Service, pending approval of maps filed with 

 the Secretary of the Interior, even though the lands affected have been 

 eliminated from the National Forest. (2 Sol. Op., 676.) 



Where a timber sale contract expired by limitation before all the 

 timber paid for was cut, the right to damages, either actual or liqui- 

 dated, became vested in the United States, and could not be waived 

 or released by any officer of the Government. If, in such case, the 

 .contract provided for liquidated damages, or if the United States sus- 

 tained actual damages by reason of the breach, and the amount de- 

 posited did not exceed the sum of the purchase price of the timber cut 

 and removed plus the amount of such damages, then no refund could 

 be made. (Case of Orleans Longacre, Comp. Dec., Dec. 27, 1911.) 



The provision in a timber-sale contract that "all moneys paid or 

 promised under this agreement" shall become the property of the 

 United States "as liquidated damages and not as a penalty," on the 

 failure of the purchaser to fulfill "all and singular" the numerous re- 

 quirements of the contract, some of which are comparatively trivial 

 and if broken can result in little damage, is, in legal substance and 

 effect, a provision for a penalty, and a refund can be made where money 

 has been deposited in excess of the actual damages suffered. (2 Sol. 

 Op., 831.) 



The provision in timber-sale Form 202 that refunds will be made 

 "only at the discretion of the Forester, except when the amount of 

 such deposits is more than the value of the timber on the cutting area 

 covered by /this agreement," does not empower the Forester to make 

 refunds without limitation and without reference to the damages 

 which may accrue to the Government by a breach of the contract. 

 (2 Sol. Op., 831.) t 



Where an applicant for a timber-sale contract deposits money to 

 cover the cost of advertising the sale, and dies before submitting a bid, 

 the deposit may be regarded as made u to secure the purchase price 

 on the sale " of forest products, and may be refunded to his legal repre- 

 sentatives after deducting any expense incurred by the United States 

 in consequence of the application. (Case of C. W. Dutrow, Comp. 

 Dec., Dec. 27, 1911.) 



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