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Ranges are seldom recoverable, and should not be the final resort for 
the determination of property rights. I have found tracts to which” 
the occupant had no legal claim. In some cases the occupant has 
used the same ground for ten years or more. It is very desirable 
that these parties should protect themselves by applying for such 
ground to this Commission and get a title thereto. There is no 
hardship in so doing, for in many cases they never have paid for the © 
ground. Another serious evil is the withholding from record the 
records of grounds which were designated prior to the time of the 
Commission. I would suggest that, if proper so to do, a law be 
passed that after a suitable notice is given all such designations be 
declared of no effect unless they appear of record on or before a certain 
date. The law passed at the last session provides, in substance, that 
if you can discover these people you can cite them before you and 
cause them to show their claims. The difficulty is to discover the 
existence of the claims. It has happened under town management 
that the same ground has been designated twice over, and it would be 
difficult to know that the party showing the claim was the party to 
whom the ground was first designated. 
The practice of dredging upon ground which is not buoyed out is 
not a good one. If there are oysters enough to make it profitable to 
dredge for them, the law should compel each owner to keep buoys 
set on such ground while at work on the same. It will be claimed 
that the buoys run under at certain times of the tide. This is true in 
many cases, but if they are there they will appear now and again. 
Perhaps a cheap buoy can be arranged so as to maintain an erect 
position against a strong tide. 
NATURAL BEDS. 
The ranges which were testified to at various hearings as being the 
limits of the natural beds, have been surveyed and mapped. The 
results have been duly communicated to you and will without doubt 
appear in your report. 
DUMPING GROUNDS OFF NEW HAVEN. 
In accordance with the intent of Chapter CXXVL., Section 1, of 
the Public Acts of 1882, you reserved an area of 1,000 acres as a 
dumping ground for all material taken from New Haven Harbor. 
The northwest corner of this ground is a point which is five statute 
miles magnetic south from the south-west ledge lighthouse. The 
