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read as follows: The Superior Court of New Haven County, on the 
application of the selectmen of the town of Orange, and the superior 
court of any county, on the application of the oyster-ground committee 
of any town in said county, shall appoint a committee of three disinter- 
ested persons, not residents of the town within the boundaries of which 
any natural oyster, clam, or mussel beds exist, to ascertain, locate, and 
describe, by proper boundaries, all the natural oyster, clam, or mussel 
beds within the boundaries of such town. Said committee so appointed 
shall first give three weeks’ notice, by advertising in a newspaper pub- 
lished in or nearest to said town, of the time and place of their first 
meeting for such purpose; they shall hear parties who appear before 
them, and may take evidence from such other sources as they may in 
their discretion deem proper, and they shall make written designations 
by ranges, bounds, and areas of all the natural oyster, clam, and mussel 
beds within the boundaries of the town they are appointed for, and shall 
make a report of their doings to the Superior Court, which report, when 
made to and accepted by said court, and recorded in the records thereof, 
shall be a final and conclusive determination of the extent, boundaries, 
and location of such natural beds at the date of such report. It shall 
be the duty of the clerk of the court to transmit to the town clerk of 
each of said towns a certified copy of said report so accepted and re- 
corded in relation to the beds of such town, which shall be recorded by 
such town clerk in the book kept by him for the record of applications, 
designations, and conveyance of designated grounds. Such public 
notice of said application to the Superior Court, and of the time and 
place of the return of the same, shall be given by said selectmen or 
oyster-ground committee as any judge of the Superior Court may order. 
It shall be the duty of the selectmen of the town of Orange, and of the 
oyster committees of other towns, upon a written request, signed by 
twenty electors of their respective towns, to make such application to 
to the Superior Court within thirty days after receiving a copy of such 
written request, and said applications shall be privileged, and shall be 
heard and disposed of at the term of said court to which such applica- 
tion is returned in preference to other causes. All expenses properly 
incurred by such selectmen and oyster-ground committees in said appli- 
cations, and the doings thereunder, and the fees of said committees so 
appointed by court, shall be taxed by the clerk of said court and paid upon 
his order by the State. The fees of said committee so appointed by 
court shall not exceed five dollars per day for each member thereof, and 
shall be in full for all services, expenses, and disbursements under said 
appointment, and the comptroller shall keep such expense in an account 
separate from that of the State Shell-Fish Commissioners. Any desig- 
nation of ground for the planting or cultivation of shell-fish within the 
areas so established by such report of said committee shall be void. 
SEC. 2. This act shall take effect from its passage. 
Approved May 1, 1883. 
