THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 133 
the commissioners, who then gave all parties interested ten 
days’ notice of a hearing in the matter. If the objections were 
sustained nothing further was done, but if not the grant was 
made as before. 
By section 5, the commissioners are required to have all de- 
signations mapped and surveyed, and the grantee 1s required 
to have the ground at once plainly marked out by “stakes, 
buoys, ranges or monuments.” The same section provides 
that if the grantee does not use and occupy the grounds for 
the cultivation of oysters within five years, the commissioners 
shall apply to the Superior Court to appoint a committee to 
examine and report, and if said committee after twelve days’ 
notice to petitioners and respondents, on a hearing of the case, 
finds that the grounds have not been used in good faith for the 
purpose of cultivating or planting shell-fish, the court may or- 
der that said grounds revert to the State, and that all stakes, 
and buoys marking the same be removed, the costs in said pe- 
tition to be paid at the discretion of the court. On the other 
hand, section 6 provides that if after occupancy and cultivation 
of any gounds designated, it shall appear that said grounds are 
not suited for the planting or cultivation of oysters, the grantee, 
upon receiving a certificate to that effect from the commission- 
ers, may surrender to the State the same or any part thereof, not 
less than one-hundred acres, and receive one dollar for each 
acre from the treasurer. 
Section 8 provides that all designations and transfers of oyster, 
clam or mussel grounds within the waters of Long Isiand Sound 
heretofore made (except designations made of natural oyster, 
clam, or mussel beds) are hereby validated and confirmed. It is 
under the authority of this section that so many designations 
were made by town committees between April 14th and May 
1st, 1881. 
Section to provides that if the commissioners unintentionally 
designate a natural clam or oyster bed, they shall apply to the 
Superior Court of the county having jurisdiction over said 
grounds to appoint a committee of investigation, and if said 
committee find that any natural oyster bed has been so desig- 
nated, the court may order said grounds to revert to the State, 
