842 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



hope from such a state of things than agriculture had from 

 the kitchen garden. 



3. The provision allowing each person but one bed 

 was unjust. Circumstances or location enabled one man 

 to take his full 10 acres in a lot, and another but 2 acres ; 

 but the law allowed but one lot, which should not exceed 

 10 acres, and thus some men obtained more than others. 



4. The provision protecting the natural beds was right 

 and proper, but worked disadvantageously on account of 

 the use of a general instead of a specific description of the 

 areas it was desired to protect. As explained in the first 

 pages of this report, there is a great difference of opinion 

 as to what constitutes a natural oyster-bed, and so long as 

 no legal and exact definition existed to govern those 

 desirous of establishing artificial beds, more or less inse- 

 curity was felt. 



5. The provision, granting to the Clerk of the Superior 

 Court discretionary power to issue licenses, had no founda- 

 tion in justice. It opened the door to favouritism and 

 partiality, and it is particularly to the credit of the clerks 

 of the courts of the several seaboard counties that they 

 did not take advantage of the provision to forward ends 

 other than those of a public nature. 



6. The provision giving the County Commissioners 

 discretionary power to make surveys was also a disadvan- 

 tage. Unless the Commissioners chose to act, there was 

 no means of determining whether the law had been com- 

 plied with or not. 



7. The absence of a requirement that lots should be 

 surveyed and located with reference to some well-defined 

 and permanent landmark before the issuance of the license, 

 was apt to cause confusion of titles and needless litigation. 

 Many clerks required surveys to accompany the application 



