Chapter 361.
425 words·~2 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-20/chapter-361-982953·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 361.— An act to appoint a commission to ascertain the cost of removing the Naval Observatory June 20, 1878. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That the President be, and he isNaval Observatory.Commission to select site. hereby, directed to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a commission consisting of three persons, one of whom shall be a Real Admiral of the Navy, one of whom shall be a Colonel of Engineers, and one shall be chosen from civil life, whose duty it shall be to select a site, within the District of Columbia, for the United States Naval Observatory, such site to possess relatively the advantages of healthfulness, clearness of atmosphere, convenience of access from the City of Washington, and such other advantages as may be found expedient, and to report fully thereon including estimates of the totalReport. expense of said site and the removal of the Observatory, to the next session of Congress: *Provided, however,* That no member of said commission*Proviso*. shall be, directly or indirectly, interested, for himself, or for any other person, in any property to be selected as a site for said Observatory.
Sec. 2 Said commission shall invite sealed proposals or offers of saleProposals for sale of site. from the owners of land deemed fit for such a site, containing such provisions as they may deem sufficient to bind such owners to convey such land to the United States in case the same shall hereafter be selected and determined on as the site of said Observatory; which proposals shall be opened by the full commission publicly, and in the presence of persons interested who may choose to attend, on a day to be fixed for that purpose, after due notice to all parties interested; and no proposal received after such formal opening shall be opened or considered.
Sec. 3. Said commission shall also consider and report upon the proprietySale of present site, etc. and expediency of disposing of the old observatory grounds and buildings, the best and most advantageous method of selling the same, and the probable sum which may be realized therefore. Sec. 4 Said commissioners may if they deem it necessary in orderExamination of sites not offered. to secure the best site for said observatory examine any premises within said District not offered for sale as before provided which may seem eligible, and may report their estimate of the cash market value of the same Approved, June 20, 1878.