844 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



should not be interfered with. But stakes of the descrip- 

 tion required did interfere, to some extent, with navigation 

 by small boats, and their maintenance was in some locali- 

 ties a source of complaint. 



Reviewing the several provisions of the statutes, it 

 will be seen that the clerk of the court might or might not 

 grant a license at his discretion ; that he who obtained the 

 license for 10 acres might take more than that amount, 

 and that there was no method of detecting his appropria- 

 tion of extra ground, unless the County Commissioners 

 should choose to exercise their powers and cause a survey 

 to be made ; that those who had honestly taken up nothing 

 more than the law allowed were constantly in danger of 

 losing the fruits of their labour through inaccurate surveys, 

 or through the presence in the area of something or some 

 spot which some person might choose to consider a natural 

 bed, and which, for all the owner knew, might be one 

 within the meaning of the law. 



Supposing that the cultivator observed the law and 

 managed to preserve his property, he was confronted on 

 his death-bed with more or less inability to dispose of the 

 ground. The license was good in him and his assigns, 

 but if his children were already in possession of lots they 

 could not maintain their title to any additional areas they 

 might inherit ; nor could neighbours or others purchase 

 if they happened to have attempted oyster cultivation, and 

 as already explained, the lots were too small to induce 

 cultivation by any but those living conveniently near them. 

 Thus, through the provisions of an act intended to foster 

 the growth of shell-fish, and at the same time prevent a 

 monopoly of the ground, the growth of the industry was 

 checked, its profits rendered hazardous, and a most rigid 

 monopoly vested in a few people living near the water fronts. 



