401 



if we could make a sufficiently favorable bargain for the State, to 

 reverse our policy. 



Q. What do you say with reference to the proposition of theEverton 

 Company, as accepted by the commission as to. whether it was bene- 

 ficial to the State ? 



A. I think it was, decidedly. 



Q. Why? 



A. Because the limitation which we imposed upon the acceptance of 

 the proposition we would get 26,000 acres of land to be selected from 

 a body of 36,000 acres, for about 12,000. 



Q. Was that the first body of that size, or large body of land that 

 had been offered in that way ? 

 ' A. It was. 



Q. And that, you deemed wise to exchange ? 



A. Yes. 



Q. Had there been any other large bodies offered except the one 

 offered by Hurd ? 



A. I don't know; I can't say that those intermediate propositions or 

 offers; many of them didn't leave the Comptroller's office; we had no 

 actual knowledge of them; some cases we may have had. 



Q. Those that came to your office, do you know whether or not they 

 conformed to the statute ? 



A. I think they did not in any single instance. 



Q. Do you know Daniel Lynch ? 



A. Yes, sir. 



Q. What connection did he have with the business of the forest 

 commission, and about what time ? 



A. He was appointed in, I think, the latter part of 1888, temporary 

 inspector; he had been in our emply prior to that, as a special agent, 

 at times, and he was then employed by the warden as a temporary 

 inspector, and continued in our employ until, I think, the first of 

 March, 1889. 



Q. How did he come to leave your employ ? 



A. It was reported to us that he was not performing his duties 

 px-operly; we then sent one of our foresters up there, Mr. Klein, who 

 made a report to us; on the strength of that report he was discharged. 



Q. What was the nature of that report generally ? 



A. -It was that trespasses which he should have known of and 

 reported, passed unnoticed by. him; he appeared and read a paper to 

 the commission in which he practically confessed . the truth of the 

 charges; we then continued him for one month. 



Q. Why so? 



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