ALIEN LAND LEASES ILLEGAL

Attorney-General Gives Opinion -- Must Declare for Citizenship.

OLYMPIA, Saturday, Jan. 6. -- Leases of all kinds of land, except mineral lands, to aliens are prohibited by the 1921 law, unless the alien has in good faith declared his intention of becoming naturalized, Attorney-General L.L. Thompson held Friday in an opinion to C.M. O'Brien, prosecuting attorney of Franklin County. There is no distinction in the law between agricultural lands and lands in cities leased for commercial and residential purposes, the attorney-general stated, except when a treaty gives the alien the right to hold land for certain purposes, in which case the tenure is limited to ten years.

An alien father may purchase land for a native born minor, provided he has no direct or indirect interest in the land or the rents, issues or profits thereof, it was stated.