[CHAPTER 485-1ST SESSION] (H. R. 4961] AN ACT To amend section 9 (b) of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as amended by section 14 of the Act of August 31, 1935. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 9 (b) of the original Tennessee Valley Authority Act, as amended by section 14 of the Act of August 31, 1935 (49 Stat. 1080), be, and the same is hereby, further amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to relieve the Treasurer or other accountable officers or employees of the Corporation from compliance with the provisions of existing law requiring the rendition of accounts for adjustment and settlement pursuant to section 236, Revised Statutes, as amended by section 305 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (42 Stat. 24), and accounts for all receipts and disbursements by or for the Corporation shall be rendered accordingly: Provided, That, subject only to the provisions of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, as amended, the Corporation is authorized to make such expenditures and to enter into such contracts, agreements, and arrangements, upon such terms and conditions and in such manner as it may deem necessary, including the final settlement of all claims and litigation by or against the Corporation; and, notwithstanding the provisions of any other law governing the expenditure of public funds, the General Accounting Office, in the settlement of the accounts of the Treasurer or other accountable officer or employee of the Corporation, shall not disallow credit for, nor withhold funds because of, any expenditure which the Board shall determine to have been necessary to carry out the provisions of said Act. "The Corporation shall determine its own system of administrative accounts and the forms and contents of its contracts and other business documents except as otherwise provided in the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, as amended." Approved, November 21, 1941. [PUBLIC LAW 490-77TH CONGRESS] [CHAPTER 166-2D SESSION] [H. R. 6446] AN ACT To provide for continuing payment of pay and allowances of personnel of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, including the retired and Reserve components thereof; the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Public Health Service, and civilian employees of the executive departments, independent establishments, and agencies, during periods of absence from post of duty, and for other purposes. SEC. 17. The existing project for the Great Lakes and connecting channels is modified to provide for a new lock about eight hundred feet long, eighty feet wide, and thirty feet deep, at Saint Marys Falls Canal, Michigan, together with suitable approaches thereto, said lock to replace the present Weitzel lock and approaches, all in accordance with the recommendations contained in House Document Numbered 218, Seventy-seventh Congress, first session. This improvement is hereby adopted and authorized and shall be prosecuted in the interest of national defense under the direction of the Secretary of War and supervision of the Chief of Engineers, subject to the conditions set forth in said document. Approved, March 7, 1942. [PUBLIO LAW 527-77TH CONGRESS] AN ACT Making appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1943, for civil functions administered by the War Department, and for other purposes. Office of the Chief of Engineers to carry out the purposes of this appropriation, and for preliminary examinations and surveys of and contingencies in connection with flood-control projects authorized by law, $128,961,700, no part of which shall be available for construction work upon the Table Rock and Bull Shoals Reservoirs projects in the White River Basin. Approved, April 28, 1942. (141) [CHAPTER 14—1ST SESSION] (H. R. 839] AN ACT To amend the Act approved May 27, 1937 (ch. 269, 50 Stat. 208), by providing substitute and additional authority for the prevention of speculation in lands of the Columbia Basin project, and substitute and additional authority related to the settlement and development of the project, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act of May 27, 1937 (ch. 269, 50 Stat. 208), is hereby amended to read as follows: "SECTION 1. In addition to the primary purposes for which the Grand Coulee Dam project (hereafter to be known as the Columbia Basin project and herein called the 'project') was authorized under the provisions of the Act of August 30, 1935 (49 Stat. 1028), the project is hereby authorized and reauthorized as a project subject to the Reclamation Project Act of 1939; and the provisions of each of those two Acts together with the provisions of this Act shall govern the repayment of expenditures and the construction, operation, and maintenance of the works constructed as a part of the project. "SEC. 2. (a) No part of the funds heretofore or hereafter appropriated or allotted for project construction or for the reclamation of land within the project shall be expended in the construction of any irrigation features of the project, exclusive of Grand Coulee Dam and appurtenant works now under construction and of the pumping plant and equalizing reservoir and dams, until the requirements of the following subdivisions (i) and (ii) of this subsection (a) have been met: "(i) All lands within the project shall have been impartially appraised by the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter called the 'Secretary') and evaluated at the date of appraisal without reference to or increment on account of the construction of the project. Reappraisals may be made at any time by the Secretary, and will be made upon the request of the landowner concerned accompanied by an advance to the United States of $15 for each quarter section or fraction thereof involved, on account of expense thereof. In such reappraisals the Secretary shall take into account, in addition to the value found in the first appraisal, improvements made after said appraisal, such irrigation construction charges on the land as have been paid, and other items of value that are proper, other than increments on account of the construction of the project. The term 'appraised value' as used in this Act shall mean appraised values determined as provided in this subsection. "(ii) Contracts shall have been made with irrigation, reclamation, or conservancy districts organized under State law embracing the lands within the project providing for payment thereby of that part of the cost of construction of the project determined by the Secre tary to be the part thereof to be repaid by irrigation. Each such contract shall conform to the requirements of this Act, shall require repayment within the maximum period permitted under the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto (hereinafter called the Federal reclamation laws), and provide that payments shall be enforceable by all means and remedies provided in said laws. "(b) (i) The lands within the project shall be developed in irrigation blocks, as that term is defined in the Reclamation Project Act of 1939. The Secretary shall segregate the lands in each irrigation block into farm units of sufficient acreage for the support of an average-sized family at a suitable living level, having in mind the character of soil, topography, location with respect to the irrigation system, and such other relevant factors as, in his judgment, enter into the determination of the area and boundaries thereof; and shall establish the units as hereafter provided. No farm unit shall contain more than one hundred and sixty or less than ten acres of irrigable land, except that any nominal quarter section comprising more than one hundred and sixty acres of irrigable land may be included in one farm unit, and except that lands owned by the United States may be established into units of lesser size for part-time farming purposes. "(ii) Prior to the initial delivery of water to an irrigation block, the Secretary shall prepare a plat of all the farm units in the irrigation block and shall publish a notice of the intention to establish such farm unit plat in six weekly issues of a newspaper of general circulation in the county or counties in which any part of the irrigation block is located. From the date of first publication, a copy of the plat shall be available in the county auditor's office of each of said counties for public inspection during the business hours of the office. Any interested landowner shall have the right to file written objections to the plat with the county auditor of the county in which his lands are situated before the close of the period of publication. After expiration of the period of publication the Secretary shall consider and determine all such objections, draw the plat in final form and file it for record in said county auditors' offices. With the consent of the owners of all farm units affected, the Secretary may revise the plat or any part thereof from time to time, and place the revisions of record with the original plat. "(iii) Water shall not be delivered from, through, or by means of the project works to or for lands not conforming in area and boundaries to the farm units covering the lands involved, nor to or for more than one farm unit held by any one landowner, except that as to lands held by the one having equitable or legal title on May 27, 1937, or the heir or devisee of such owner, delivery may be made to or for a total irrigable area not exceeding the maximum provided in this section. The limitations of this subdivision shall not apply to lands owned by the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, corporate or otherwise. (iv) Lands within the project in excess of one farm unit held by any one landowner shall, except as otherwise provided in this Act, be deemed excess land: Provided, That if excess land is acquired by foreclosure or other process of law, by conveyance in satisfaction |