34 
law as to meeting the expense of the advertisement, but as 
the charges which may be made against the applicant are 
specifically set forth, the Commission was compelled to meet 
the advertising charge at its own expense. Moreover, the 
law provides that if the Commission is unable to execute the 
lease the application fee paid by the applicant shall be re- 
funded. Still further, the applicant is not made a party to 
the legal proceedings under which a protest is adjudicated. 
The result of any applications for ground, later uetermined 
to be natural bottom, is then as follows: The applicant sends 
in an application with a fee of five dollars. After the ad- 
vertisement is inserted at the expense of the State, legal pro- 
ceedings are instituted, the bottom determined to be natural 
bar, the costs assessed against the Commission and the ap- 
plication fee thereupon refunded to the applicant. Every un- 
successful application thus means an expense to the State of 
from $20 to $25. 
RECLASSIFICATION BY THE CouRTS 
No special comment seems necessary upon this in addition 
to the statement hereafter made as to subsequent proceedings 
under this section. 
OPERATION OF THE COMMISSION UNDER THE SHEPHERD BILL 
After the passage of the Shepherd Bill and the adjournment 
of the Legislature the Commission was forced to make several 
decisions as to the plan to be followed by it, in view of the 
fact that the law left rather wide discretion in the hands of 
the Commission. ‘The first point that arose was with regard 
to the advertisement of pending applications. Strictly con- 
strued, the law would have demanded the advertising of all 
pending applications. The Commission knew, however, that 
in a number of cases the applicants did not desire to continue 
to follow up the application. In some cases they were con- 
vinced that the ground applied for would be successfully pro- 
tested. In other cases the uncertainty as to the future atti- 
tude of the State on the whole question of oyster culture and 
the failure of the State to furnish adequate protection to exist- 
