JOHN WALTER SMITH, ESQ., GOVERNOR.

be improved, the extent and character of the improvement,
and the probable cost thereof, and the said Commissioners
shall thereupon order the Road Commissioners of the district
or districts and the Baltimore County Roads Engineer to meet
upon the premises and examine the location and purposes set
forth in the petition, and if they shall judge that the public
interest will be promoted thereby they shall report their de-
termination to the County Commissioners, setting forth an
estimate of the money required, and their reasons for such
determination, and if the County Commissioners shall ap-
prove the report of the said Road Commissioners and said
Engineer, they shall direct the expenditure of an amount not
exceeding- five hundred dollars per mile, to be paid out of the
general road and bridge fund, provided the petitioners for
such improvements shall first pay into the treasury of the
county an amount not less than equal that appropriated by
the County Commissioners, all of said money to be expended
under the direction of the Road Commissioners.

1085

Sec. 202. Whenever any owner of property in Baltimore
County shall have opened, laid out or graded any avenue or
road for the public convenience, and is willing to dedicate
the same to public uses, by a good and sufficient deed duly
recorded, the County Commissioners are authorized to accept
the same, if, in their opinion, the same be necessary and con-
venient for public use, and upon such acceptance the said
avenue or road so dedicated shall be kept in good order and
repair by the Road Commissioners of the district in which it
may be situated; provided, however, that previous to such
acceptance said road shall not be less than thirty feet in width,
and duly and properly graded in the judgment of the County
Commissioners.

Authority to
accept roads
from property
owners.

Sec. 203. Whenever any road shall have been in use for
twenty years, though the same may not have been condemned
or granted as a public highway, the County Commissioners, if
they deem public necessity requires the adoption of the same
as such, shall declare the said road to be a public highway,
with full power to re-locate and straighten the same, in their
discretion, and shall publish a notice to that effect once a week
for t wo successive weeks, in one or more newspapers published
in Baltimore County; provided, said road shall not be less
than thirty feet in width, and such road so declared to be a
public highway, shall be kept in good order and repair by the
Road Commissioners of the district in which such road is
situated, or other public roads are.

May declare
road to be a
public high-
way, etc.