Show I TITLES BADLY TANGLED grants of Lands in Porto Rico Are in a Muddle ARCHIVES ARE IN DISORDER tty Recprdc of Cases Have Never JBeen Closed and oro jJIbzed With Those Disposed Rearrangement and Classification arc Necessary I I L Prior to Investigation Commis sloiier of tho Interior for Island f Submits His ReportCrying Need j of the Island is Good Roads I II I f Washington Nov 25The Comnils nfoncr of the Interior for Porto Rico William II Elliott In his annual rc I pjort to the Secretary of the Interior says that the most expert manipulation manipula-tion ns well as detective Ingenuity will lo needed to untangle the mass of cross I I Cities duplication and lapping of grants I and concessions and unauthorized oc I qupation of public lands that have grown with the centuries of rule In the Sntqrcst of the favored few The I aichives of the Island were found in n disordered condition I t Many records of I fijr > nr vnr have been closed and are mixed with those disposed of Rearrangement Rear-rangement and classification are necessary neces-sary prior to Investigation During the early history of Porto liioo Governors and CaptainsGeneral held or assumed the right to make grants of land Grantees appropriated land In excess of their original boundaries boun-daries and their successors claim ownership own-ership Many grants were abandoned In numerous Instances Intruders took possession Prior to American occupation i occupa-tion the Spanish Government ordered I a careful listing of real I property In i each municipality but either because of the expense or for political reasons I failed to do the work This listing leI le-I cording to the Commissioner must be accomplished before tho numerous I questions of ownership can be definitely definite-ly I The first great crying need of Porto JllcJo the report says Is good roads I Al the time of the American occupation I there was only one really good road I that from Ponce to San Juan and most ot the Island remains without other means of reaching a market or com inunlcallon between towns other than over dilapidated anil l dangerous trails often impassable 01 days as all tho streams there arc torrential The productiveness of the soil Is so great and the necessaries of existence ro Inexpensive that the people can and do live and multiply In the mountain districts but remain forever poor and Ignorant Permanent roads it is stated Would work out the sadlyneeded reforms re-forms in education The Commissioner proposes to suggest to the Legislature that a loon be floated large enough to build the rdlds at once I The report of the president of the Board of Health of Porto Rico says Ihe number oTf lepers In the island probably does not exceed ibo and it is confidently believed that the disease ran be totally exterminated in a few years by careful segregation of every rOfje aslt is discovered |