[H.R. 6228]

AN ACT

To provide for the appointment of a commission to establish the boundary line between the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in order to determine the boundary line between the District of Columbia and the State of Virginia, and to provide for settlement of claims to property along or affected by said boundary line, the President of the United States is hereby requested to designate and appoint one commissioner, who is hereby directed, authorized, and empowered to act in conjunction with a like commissioner to be appointed pursuant to an act of the Legislature of Virginia. The said two commissioners so appointed and a third person to be selected by them are hereby constituted a commission for the purpose of surveying and ascertaining the boundary line between the District of Columbia and the State of Virginia, and are hereby directed, authorized, and empowered to survey and fix said boundary line and to mark the said line when so determined by suitable monuments, acting within the limits of their authority and guided by the provisions herein set forth. The said commissioners so selected shall serve until the completion of their report or not later than March 1, 1935.

SEC. 2. In determining the location of said boundary said commissioners shall take into consideration, amongst other things, the several decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in relation thereto, the findings and reports of the Maryland and Virginia Boundary Commission of 1877, the compact of 1785 between the State of Maryland and the Commonwealth of Virginia, the claims of ownership of the United States and all private persons and corporations along the Virginia shore line, and the equitable and prescriptive rights, if any, of the United States and private claimants growing out of long, continued, and uninterrupted possession, and shall mark such line as they may recommend as the boundary line and shall report their findings and recommendations to Congress and to the Legislature of Virginia for action to finally ratify and establish said boundary line.

SEC. 3. To provide for the settlement of titles to the property adjoining or affected by the determination of said boundary line, the said commissioners are further authorized and instructed to investigate all questions of title as between the United States and private citizens over such lands, all questions of equitable and prescriptive rights arising from long and continued possession and occupancy either on the part of the United States or private citizens, and all improvements of said lands either by the United States or private citizens made in good faith and upon belief of good title, and said commissioners shall report their findings and recommendations in this respect for the equitable settlement of all such disputed titles,

including proposed payments to and from the United States, and such other recommendations as in their opinion may promote a just and reasonable settlement of the title to said property. Nothing contained in said recommendation with respect to title shall be binding upon either the United States or private claimants.

SEC. 4. Said commissioners shall receive compensation for such days as they may actually work at the rate of $15 per day, plus travel and subsistence expenses, and shall have authority to employ such assistants at such rates of pay as they may deem appropriate without regard for the Classification Act of 1923. The said commissioners may call upon all officers and agencies of the Federal Government and the District of Columbia for information and advice, and said officers are hereby authorized and directed to supply such information on request. Said commission shall make such surveys, hold such hearings, and conduct such other investigations as it may deem necessary and advisable to carry out the purposes of this Act.

SEC. 5. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act and the payment of salaries and compensation herein provided for, the sum of $10,000, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby authorized to be appropriated from any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Approved, March 21, 1934.

[H. J. Res. 134]

JOINT RESOLUTION

To continue the commission for determining the boundary line between the District of Columbia and the State of Virginia for not to exceed nine additional months, and to authorize not to exceed $10,000 additional funds for its expenses.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the commission to determine the boundary line between the District of Columbia and the State of Virginia created under the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the appointment of a commission to establish the boundary line between the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia ", approved March 21, 1934 (48 Stat. 453), as constituted on the date of enactment of this resolution, shall continue to function under such Act until the completion of its report, but not after December 1, 1935.

SEC. 2. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of such Act and the payment of salaries and compensation under such Act, the sum of $10,000 is hereby authorized to be appropriated in addition to any sums authorized prior to the date of enactment of this resolution. Approved, March 21, 1935.

(324)

[S. 3353]

AN ACT

Providing for the exchange of certain park lands at and near Western Avenue and West Beach Drive for other lands more suitable to the development of Rock Creek Park and the street system of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in order to extend Beach Parkway northward to Western Avenue as provided for by the plans of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission for the park system of the District of Columbia and to preserve the flow of water in Rock Creek Park and to extend West Beach Drive to connect Beach Drive and Rock Creek Park with Western Avenue, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to convey by and on behalf of the United States of America to the owners of parcel 78/5, or to such party or parties as said owner or owners shall designate, the title of the United States in and to a piece of land containing approximately fifty-five thousand square feet at and near the intersection of Western Avenue and West Beach Drive as proposed in accordance with the plan of the permanent system of highways of the District of Columbia, being a part of reservation 339: Provided, That the owners of said parcel 78/5 shall furnish the United States of America with a good and sufficient title in fee simple, free of all encumbrances, to that piece of land lying along and east of the center line of West Beach Drive as proposed in accordance with the plan of the permanent system of highways of the District of Columbia, and extending east to the creek immediately north of the present north line of United States reservation 432 and extending north to United States reservation 339 and containing approximately fifty-eight thousand five hundred square feet: Provided further, That the owners of parcel 78/5 dedicate to the District of Columbia for street purposes the west half, forty-five feet in width, of West Beach Drive as proposed in accordance with the plan of the permanent system of highways of the District of Columbia, along their property immediately north of the north line of reservation 432.

SEC. 2. The dedication and transfers provided for in section 1 are designated approximately upon plat file numbered 3.9-97 in the files of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission. The dedication and conveyances shall be by proper deed and other instruments containing full legal description by exact survey of the land exchanged and dedicated as provided for by law.

SEC. 3. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as curtailing the power of the Secretary of the Interior to sell the remainder of parcel 4 as provided for in Public Law Numbered 299, Seventy-second Congress, and should the exchange and dedication as provided for in section 1 fail to become effective the Secretary of the Interior is still authorized to sell the entire area of parcel 4 as provided for in that Act.

Approved, August 27, 1935.

[S. 4105]

AN ACT

Authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain lands to the MarylandNational Capital Park and Planning Commission, of Maryland, for park, parkway, and playground purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of Agriculture be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to convey, by a good and sufficient deed to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, a public agency created by the General Assembly of Maryland, chapter 448 of laws of the 1927 session of said Assembly, all of that piece or parcel of land situate, lying, and being in Montgomery County, in the State of Maryland, being a part of the area comprising the Bethesda Experimental Station of the Bureau of Animal Industry, designated and described as the east eighteen acres. This land is to be used exclusively for public park, parkway, or playground purposes; and if the said Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission fails to use such lands for the purposes herein provided, or at any time discontinue the use of such lands for the purposes herein provided, or attempts to alienate such lands, title thereto shall revert to the United States of America. The control and supervision of this land shall remain in the Secretary of Agriculture until such time, after approval of this Act, as will enable the Department of Agriculture to complete the transfer of the animal experimental station now located on the lands heretofore described to the new site at Beltsville, and to complete the emergency research studies now being conducted. The Secretary of Agriculture is further authorized, in his discretion to issue to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission a revocable permit for the remaining thirty-two acres of the Bethesda Experimental Station of the Bureau of Animal Industry. The plans for development of these lands for park, parkway, or playground purposes shall be approved by the National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

Approved, June 25, 1936.