54. SHELL-FISH COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. [Jan., 
of many obvious changes of ownership since the designa- 
tions were recorded. 
If order and system are to be established where disorder 
and confusion now exist, power should be vested in the 
commissioners or in some other tribunal, to investigate 
and determine all questions pertaining to oyster grounds 
within the commissioners’ jurisdiction ; and to this end 
authority should be given to summon parties and witnesses 
to be examined on oath touching any inquiry that may 
be deemed necessary; any decision made to be subject to 
review by the Superior Court. Unless some such method 
is adopted, the duties imposed upon the commissioners by 
the second section of the act of 1881 cannot be satisfac- 
torily discharged. 
The subject of “a plan of equitable taxation” has receiy- 
ed the attention which its importance demanded. The 
views of many, parties who were personally interested in 
the oyster industry and of many disinterested persons, 
have been asked and carefully considered. Opinions vary 
widely. The Oyster Growers’ Association, comprising most 
of the prominent men engaged in deep-water cultivation, 
have presented a paper to the commissioners, in which it 
is claimed: that no tax should be laid for the present on 
the State grounds; or if any tax is laid it should be merely 
nominal ; that the oyster industry of Connecticut is in ad- 
vance of that of any other State; that instead of importing 
oysters as they were ten years ago, they are now exporting 
them to New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Cali- 
fornia, and Europe; that these favorable results are due, 
first, to the energy and ability of the oyster growers exer- 
cised in laborious and expensive experiments; and sec- 
ondly, to the wise policy of the State in thus far omitting 
to tax the industry; that they do not ask the State to 
expend money annually to raise oysters for them to catch, 
as in the case of floating fish, although the industry is 
comparatively in its infancy; that it is a serious question 
whether the State should not offer bounties rather than 
impose taxes; that any tax that would retard the develop- 
ment of the business might deprive the State of large 
