54 FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



There should be deducted from this amount one-half of last item, or 

 $4,206.26, charged to towns and to be rebated to State, leaving the State's 

 total expense to November 5th, including cost of telephone lines, observa- 

 tion stations, tools, etc., which are permanent and which will not have to 

 be again provided for, $35,969.15. All told, a fine result justifying the plan 

 and the judgment of the conference of December 29, 1908. In addition, 

 every fire superintendent and patrolman has assisted in enforcing the top- 

 lopping law and the forest, fish and game laws generally, bringing about a 

 much better condition in the " forest preserve counties." 



The foregoing results seem to justify the law, and it is believed when 

 the whole system is tied together with observation stations and telephone 

 lines, the force well drilled and equipped, and town supervisors are 

 thoroughly awakened to their own responsibilities and duties, our forests 

 will be much safer than heretofore. 



Several important legal actions relating to land titles, long pending, 

 all of which were inherited by the present administration and which have 

 been in process of trial and retrial for many years have been disposed of. 

 Notable among them was the Golden action, which affected 35,000 acres 

 of the finest timber land owned by the State. Finally it was settled, 

 clearing up the title to all that land, and making the State's title forever 

 secure. The action of the Saranac Land and Timber Company against 

 the State, defended by the Attorney-General's department, pending twelve 

 or fifteen years, several times tried, once in the United States Supreme 

 Court and finally decided against the State, in the Court of Appeals, on a 

 new point not at first considered, is now pending in the Supreme Court on 

 a new trial granted to the State as a matter of right on the application of 

 the present Attorney-General. This is an important action involving the 

 title to several thousand acres of land on the middle and lower Saranac 

 lakes. Whether originally this case was properly handled and defended 

 or not, whether or not the plaintiff should have had a new trial when the 

 case came back from the United States Supreme Court, is not for us to 

 suggest. Now at least it is in good hands — that of the present able 

 Attornev-General — where it will be cared for and defended and the States' 

 interests fully protected. Many other actions have been disposed of, all of 

 which will be set forth in the annual report of Mr. John K. Ward, chief 



