Report of the Board of Shell Fish CominixxioiK.'rs 223 



lands beneath the waters of any area shall have been opened to 

 leasing under Section 99 of this Act, the Board of Shell Fish 

 Commissioners shall endeavor to lease the remaining portions 

 of land so open to oyster culture under the provisions of this 

 Act to applicants who shall be residents of Maryland, in the 

 order of their applications as received and opened by said 

 Commissioners. 



SECTION 103. Any person who may desire to plant and cul- 

 tivate oysters in the area hereinbefore designated shall file with 

 the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners an application substan- 

 tially in the form prescribed in Section 101 of this Act. The 

 applicant shall indicate plainly the location of the land he 

 desires to lease. The application shall be sworn to before a 

 Justice of the Peace of this State. A fee of five dollars shall be 

 paid by the applicant to the Board of Shell Fish Commission- 

 ers at the time of filing the application, which fee shall be 

 returned to the applicant if his application shall be for any 

 reason declined. 



SECTION 104. If such applicant be a resident of the State of 

 Maryland, and if no objections to the issuing of the lease asked 

 for in any such application be filed with the Commissioners 

 within the period of thirty days after such application is made, 

 or as soon as any objection that may have been filed to the 

 granting of such lease will have been finally overruled by said 

 Commissioners, the said Commissioners, upon payment by the 

 applicant of a further fee of two dollars and a half, in addition 

 to the fee of five dollars, which is to accompany his application, 

 shall cause to be entered in a book or books to be known as "The 

 Register of Title to Oyster Lands," the name of the applicant, 

 with concise but clear description of the land applied for. A 

 survey of such land at the expense of the applicant shall be 

 made by the Board before the entry, if, in its opinion, said sur- 

 vey is necessary to an accurate description thereof. The pay- 

 ment of the proper fees due for the application and the record 

 in the register required by this section to be kept, shall consti- 

 tute between the State and the applicant the relation of land- 

 lord and tenant for the term of twenty years, from the record 

 of the lands so applied for as aforesaid, at the annual rentals 

 provided in Section 98 of this Act. 



