Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 25 



reimbursement for money paid Mr. Joseph E. Smith on this 

 account and, in an opinion of Hon. William Shepard Bryan, 

 Attorney General of Maryland, courteously furnished the Com- 

 mission, at the suggestion of the Counsel for the Board of 

 County Commissioners of Anne Arundel County, who stated 

 that he would recommend to his Board the adoption of such 

 opinion as the Attorney General might render in the matter; 

 the view is held that the County Commissioners, being clothed 

 with the authority to appoint local assistants, were thereby 

 liable for the compensation of their appointees 1 ; although , the 

 inference deducted from the opinion of the learned Attorney 

 General is to the effect that there is nothing compulsory in the 

 law requiring the appointments to be made by the respective 

 Board of County Commissioners. 



The opinion is hazarded, in view of the fact that the Haman 

 Oyster Culture Law contemplates revenue for the State at 

 large, that it would work some injustice to the tidewater coun- 

 ties to place upon them the cost of defraying the per diems of 

 local assistants, and in consequence of this conflict of opinion, 

 the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners has not pressed its 

 claim against the Board of County Commissioners of the 

 counties so far surveyed, although this item of expense, as will 

 fully appear by reference to the financial statement furnished 

 herewith, has been of considerable magnitude. 



ASSISTANCE OP THE CITY AND COUNTY PRESS. 



A chronicle of the assistance rendered the Commission 

 through .the several sources and agencies hereinbefore indicated, 

 would be incomplete, upon a failure of 'the Commission to ac- 

 knowledge, on behalf of the friends of the oyster culture in 

 Maryland, as well as on its own behalf, its indebtedness to the 

 forceful city and county press of Maryland for the uniform 

 courtesy with which the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 

 of Maryland, in its official capacity, has been dealt. 



Without exception the daily press of Baltimore City has 

 been especially active in keeping the subject of Oyster Culture 

 conspicuously before the people and it has been due to the intel- 



