36 
amination excepting in a single case where the lessee himself 
requested it. The Commission reached this conclusion because 
of the fact that its tests rest entirely upon an actual examina- 
tion of the present-day condition of the bottom and it did not 
believe that the present-day condition of bottom which had 
been under private ownership for a period of years, and con- 
sequently might or might not have been seeded by the lessees, 
would be any evidence as to its condition prior to the time 
the present lessee had applied for it. 
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION 
Certain features of the law seem to the Commission to call 
for modification. The first relates to the rental charged against 
those lessees who took up land prior to April 1, 1913. 
In theory, lessees under the former Act had had time to 
develop their ground and bring it up to a state of productivity 
which justified the higher rental. It was, we believe, this con- 
sideration that led the Legislature to limit the power of the 
Board to leases written after the given date. As a matter 
of fact, however, the restrictions upon the taking of oysters 
from leased ground had rendered operation under the old law 
largely impracticable and in consequence many of the holders 
of leases had simply contented themselves with paying the 
rental and leaving the ground in practically its natural con- 
dition. They felt and still feel that there was grave injustice 
on the part of the State in forcing them to pay a higher rental 
than those who were starting in under more favorable circum- 
stances. To all such applicants the Board has made but one 
reply, namely, that it recognized the logic of the situation and 
would ask the Legislature to grant it power to make such 
adjustments as justice might demand. The Board accordingly 
requests that such authority be granted. 
The Commission calls attention in the second place to the 
fact that under the new Act the authority to accept voluntary 
surrender of leases and to refund the rentals and charges there- 
tofore paid is confined exclusively to those cases where the re- 
examination and re-classification of the leased area as natural 
bar has been made on the initiative of the Commission. The 
