Fairbanks

This is an action brought to determine a contest arising in the office of the surveyor general of the state of California as to the right of the respondent Fairbanks, or the appellant Lampkin, to purchase state school lands described as follows: The southeast one-fourth and east one-half of southwest one-fourth of section 16, township 11 north, range 15 west, Mount Diablo meridian. The cause was tried and judgment rendered, which decreed that the plaintiff was entitled to purchase from the state of California the east one-half of southeast one-fourth, the southwest one-fourth of southeast one-fourth, and southeast one-fourth of southwest one-fourth of said section, and that a certificate of purchase issue to him for said land, and that neither party was entitled to purchase from the state the northwest one-fourth of southeast one-fourth, and northeast one-fourth of southwest one-fourth of said section. From this judgment Lampkin appeals to this court.

The provisions of the Political Code require that the affidavit of the applicant should state, among other things, the condition of the land as to whether it is or is not suitable for cultivation. In the affidavit accompanying…