Chapter 182. To authorize the Secretary of the Navy to certify to the Secretary of the interior, for restoration to the public domain, lands in the States of Alabama and Mississippi not needed for naval purposes
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CHAP. 182.— An Act To authorize the Secretary of the Navy to certify to the Secretary of the interior, for restoration to the public domain, lands in the States of Alabama and Mississippi not needed for naval purposes.March 2, 1895. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Public lands.Naval reserves Alabama and Mississippi restored to settlement. That the Secretary of the Navy be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause to be certified to the Secretary of the Interior, for restoration to the public domain, the whole or such portion or portions of the several tracts of land in the States of Alabama and Mississippi heretofore set apart and reserved for naval uses as are no longer required for the purposes for which they were reserved, or for any purposes connected with the naval service; and upon such certification the tracts of land described therein shall be duly restored to and become apart of the public lauds of the United Preferences.States and a preference right of entry for a period of six months from the date of this Act shall be given all bona fide settlers who are qualified to enter under the homestead law and have made improvements and are now residing upon any agricultural lands in said reservations, and for a period of six months from the date of settlement when *Proviso*.Appraisal of value.that shall occur after the date of this Act: *Provided*, That persons who enter under the homestead law shall pay for such lands not less than the value heretofore or hereafter determined by appraisement, nor less than the price of the land at the time of the entry; and such payment may, at the option of the purchaser, be made in five equal installments, at times and at rates of interest to be fixed by the Lands near Biloxi to be entered as town sites.Secretary of the Interior: *Provided*, That so much of the said lands as are situated on Back Bay, near the city of Biloxi, in the State of Mississippi, shall be disposed of under the town-site law and not as agricultural lands.
Approved, March 2, 1895.