112 OYSTERS. [ART. 72.

be given the owner or occupant of any land bordering on the
waters proposed to be located, and if such owner fails to locate
or appropriate to his own use the waters mentioned in said
notice within thirty days after receiving the same, then it shall
be open and free to any one under the provisions of this sec-
tion, giving always the right to the party who shall have given
the first notice; provided, second, that said location shall be
marked by stakes or other designating marks; provided, third,
that said location shall be made by a competent surveyor,
describing the same by metes and bounds, and plat the same,
which plat, with its metes and bounds shall be recorded among
the land records of said county; and provided also, that such
location shall not interfere with or impede the free navigation
of said waters, and that no natural bar or bed of oysters shall
be located or appropriated. The term natural bar or bed
whenever it may appear is to be construed to be shelly bottoms
arid where oysters grow and where persons have resorted to
within the last twelve months prior to the taking up of such
lots; and any person who desires to take up such lot shall file
a petition with the county commissioners of said county, stating
the location of the lot desired to be appropriated, and the
county commissioners of said county shall, in their discre-
tion, appoint a commission of three to determine whether
or not the location so desired to be appropriated is a natural
oyster bar or bed; and at the time of making application
the party desiring to make the location as aforesaid shall
deposit with the said county commissioners the sum of ten
dollars to pay for any expenses incident to the examination
to determine whether or not the location desired is a natural
oyster bar or bed, and the commissioners so appointed shall
receive three dollars per day each for their services, and any
amount of said ten dollars not expended shall be refunded to
the applicant; and when the commission appointed by the said
county commissioners shall have investigated the question as
to whether or not the lot desired to be appropriated and located
is a natural oyster bar or bed, then they shall report the same
to the said county commissioners, and if the same be declared
a natural bar or bed they shall refuse to grant to the applicant
the right to take up the property so desired to be located. But
if after the examination hereinbefore required to be made the
said commission shall decide that the lot sought to be appro-
priated is not a natural oyster bar or bed, and after the same