106 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 



same. The only provision, therefore, made in the law by which the 

 Commission may enforce the payment of rent is that contained in 

 Section 98, which reads as follows : 



"If any part of the rent reserved under such leases shall remain 

 unpaid for more thdn six months, after the same becomes due, such 

 lease or leases shall be declared void, and the land shall revert to the 

 State, and may be leased again in accordance with the provisions of 

 this Act. * * *" 



A very considerable number of lots are now held and used for 

 oyster planting purposes by planters who pay no lent to the State. 

 Some of these lots have been surveyed, records have been made of 

 the surveys, and leases have been issued to the holders, but others 

 are being held and used without any formality having been entered 

 into between the holders and the State. The opposition to oyster 

 culture is not sufficiently strong in certain communities to compel 

 planters to secure the protection of the State by complying with the 

 provisions of the law. 



The State, having expended a considerable sum in perfecting the 

 conditions under which oyster culture may be successfully carried 

 on, should now take the necessary steps to prohibit the use of ground 

 for oyster culture by persons who do not hold leases to the ground 

 or who are delinquent in the payment of rent, and the Commission 

 recommends that the following be added as a section of the law 

 under which all of the provisions of Section 98 may be enforced. 



"It shall be unlawful for any person other than a lessee under this 

 Act, or for any lessee under this Act, while he shall be in default in 

 payment of rent, to appropriate to himself for any purpose, any of 

 the barren bottoms under the waters of this State, which are, by the 

 provisions of this Act, subject to lease, or to use such barren bot- 

 toms in any way for the purpose of bedding, planting or cultivating 

 oysters; and any person violating any of the provisions of this sec- 

 tion shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon indictment 

 and conviction in any circuit court for any county in this State, or 

 in the Criminal Court of Baltimore, before which such case is tried, 

 shall be fined the sum of fifty dollars for each violation thereof. 

 Each day during which, or in which any of the acts prohibited by 

 this section may be performed, shall constitute a separate violation 

 of its provisions. It shall be the duty of the State's Attorney of the 

 countv having jurisdiction, at the request of the Board of Shell 



