394 



State lauds in the Adirondack region; that bill failed to become 

 a law. 



Q. What was the reason for that bill ? 



A. Soon after the creation of the commission I Went with one other 

 commissioner, I think both of my colleagues went with me, to Lake 

 George; we made an official tour of Lake George, and the islands, 

 and we found that quite a numbed of the islands were in the posses- 

 sion' of private individuals who held them under permits from the 

 commissioners of the land office; they were called custodians; the 

 practice had sprung up as much as twenty-five or thirty years ago, 

 these people had then obtained from the commissioners of the land 

 office permits to erect houses, cottages, and we discovered about that 

 time, soon after that trip, that the commissioners of the land office had 

 taken action in regard to one of those islands, appointed a cus- 

 todian; we appeared in a body before the commissioners of the 

 land office and. called attention to the act creating' the forest* 

 commission and claimed they had no further jurisdiction over that 

 region; the matter was referred to the Attorney-General; he wrote an 

 opinion against us, held the commissioners of the land office still had 

 jurisdiction over Lake George, notwithstanding the act creating the 

 forest commission; we thought the matter one of great importance 

 and we applied for a reargument and a representation of the case to 

 the Attorney-General and he reversed his opinion, wrote an opinion 

 on the other side in our favor; then we were confronted with this 

 problem, of a large number of people who, under claim of right, had 

 acquired possession of islands in Lake George and of lands in the 

 Adirondacks and had built camps and cottages and we thought that 

 rather than bring a very large number of ejectment suits that it would 

 be better to ask permission of the Legislature to grant leases of small 

 parcels in order that those people might recognize the title of the 

 State and by the payment of a small rent, the matter might be 

 adjusted in that way; the Legislature thought otherwise and refused 

 to pass the bill; I speak of that because our present park bill contains 

 a similar clause; those are all the acts, I think, we have promoted and 

 all that occur to me at the present time. 



Q. Who looks after those matters ? 



A. I want to say in regard to that matter of leasing lands, I think 

 that tenants, heads of families, occupying small holdings became an 

 important police for the preservation of the forest, preventing tres- 

 passing and fires and, I think, on all accounts it would be very desire- 

 able if some such act would pass. 



Chairman Evan. — Do those parties continue to hold the islands in 

 Lake George under the leases they obtained? 



