204 CITY OF BALTIMORE. [ART. 4.

dollars, unless within forty-eight hours after the entry of the
vessel the owner or consignee shall give the bonds or pay the
commutation money aforesaid.

257. All or any of the said penalties and forfeitures, as well .is
the said commutation money, may be sued for in the name of
the mayor and city council of Baltimore before any justice of
the. peace, in the same manner and subject to the same rules
and process and the right of appeal as provided in cases of small
debts.

258. The mayor may .compound for or remit the said penal-
ties and forfeitures, and payments and recoveries, or any of
them, either before or after suing for the same, upon such
terms as the circumstances of the case may in his judgment
require.

259. The mayor and register shall pay over to the trustees
for the poor of Baltimore city semi-annually three-fifths of all
sums of money arising from commutation by owners or con-
signees of vessels as aforesaid, which shall be appropriated by
said trustees to the use of the city of Baltimore for the purpose
of supporting the foreign paupers of the said city, and the re-
maining two-fifths shall be paid to the Hibernian Society of
Baltimore and the German Society of Maryland in the propor-
tions mentioned in the next succeeding section.

260. All money received by the mayor or register for penal-
ties and forfeitures imposed by this law shall by the mayor and
city council be distributed and paid as follows: two-fifths thereof
to the German Society of Maryland and the Hibernian Society
of Baltimore, to be divided' between them as follows: to the
German Society in proportion to the amount received from and
on account of German and Swiss passengers, and to the Hiber-
nian Society in proportion to the amount received from and on
account of Irish passengers: and the remaining three-fifths to
the trustees of the poor for Baltimore city.

261. The register of the city shall be entitled to two per
centum upon the amount of money collected under this law.

262. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to extend to
any ambassadors, ministers, consuls or agents of foreign govern-
ments arriving as passengers in the port of Baltimore.