36 Second Annual Report of the 



marked degree of State regulation. On the contrary, with seem- 

 ingly no appreciation of the value or possibilities of this natural 

 resource, the State had for years granted gratuitously to indi- 

 viduals perpetual franchises for shellfish cultivation, and by 

 various enactments had ceded to certain of the Long Island 

 counties thousands of acres of valuable oyster-growing properties. 

 The resulting situation is therefore unique. Although the total 

 acreage under cultivation is approximately 110,000, the State 

 has jurisdiction of less than 35,000, one-half of which is held 

 on lease, paying an annual rental, and the balance under franchise 

 to individuals, contributing merely an annual tax of twenty-five 

 cents per acre. 

 ] Divided Jurisdiction. 



This condition of divided jurisdiction makes effective and con- 

 sistent State supervision most difficult of attainment. This was 

 well illustrated in the fruitless endeavor during the year to secure 

 the passage of a suitable statute for the sanitary inspection and 

 certification of shellfish grounds and their product, a law of the 

 highest importance to public health. The present law relative to 

 sanitary inspection is by express restriction so limited in its 

 application that fully two-thirds of our shellfish lands are exempt 

 from its provisions. While the statute imposes upon this bureau 

 the duty of making these sanitary examinations and issuing the 

 necessary certificate, no provision was made by tax or appropria- 

 tion to render compliance possible. The bill recommended by 

 the Commission provided for a sanitary inspection tax of twenty- 

 five cents per acre for each acre certified. It was estimated that 

 this sum would meet the actual cost of making the examination. 

 This provision does not appear in the law as finally passed. 

 Whether the oyster grower should bear the cost of the inspection, 

 or provision be made for it by appropriation, may properly be 

 within the domain of argument, but there can be no debate on 

 the absolute right of the public to protection against the dangers 

 of sewage-polluted and disease-producing oysters. A majority 

 of intelligent oyster growers recognize the necessity of cultivating 

 and marketing their products under healthy conditions. There 

 are, however, a few to whom profits are vastly more important than 

 any considerations of public health. 



