1874.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 949

Also, the following:
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

Annapolis, March 20th, 1874.
To the House of Delegates :

I herewith respectfully return without my approval, House
Bill No. 89, entitled "An Act for the better protection of
birds in Garrett county."

An examination of this bill satisfies me that I ought not to
permit it to become a law, without attracting attention to
what I consider a serious objection.

Its object ia a laudable one—the protection of game and
insectivorous birds in Garrett county. It provides that any
person killing, taking or destroying any pheasants or part-
ridges in said county, during a certain part of the year, shall
be fined five dollars for each bird so killed, taken or de-
stroyed ; and that any person killing, trapping or destroying
any insectivorous bird at any time, or destroying the eggs or
nests of any bird of a kind named in the bill, shall be fined
two dollars for each offense; and any person refusing to pay
the fine imposed for any violation of the provisions of the bill,
may be imprisoned in the county jail for ten days.

The objection which I make to the bill consists in this:
That the bill provides that these trivial fines shall be collect-
ed by indictment and conviction before the Circuit Court for
Garrett county. Every time a person shall be informed on
for a violation of the bill, it will cost Garrett county, count-
ing the per diem of jurors and all expenses, probably at a
small calculation, one hundred dollars, to enforce a fine of
two or five dollars, as the case may be. The law, if en-
forced, will add largely to the fees of the County Clerk,
Sheriff and State's Attorney, at the expense of the tax-payers
generally.

Another objection to the bill consists in the fact that a
person adjudged guilty of its violation, can only be fined two
or five dollars, as the case may be, for killing any one bird ;
and in case of refusal to pay the fine, can only be imprisoned
for ten days, while a person arrested for alleged violation of
the bill, and who on trial may prove himself entirely inno-
cent, may, for probable cause shown, in default of bail, (the
amount of which is left discretionary with the committing
Justice,) be committed to the county jail to await the action
of the next Grand Jury. As the Circuit Court for Garrett
county holds but two Jury Terms a year, a friendless person
may be thus imprisoned before trial, for nearly six months,
for an alleged offense, for which, if found guilty, he can only
be fined five dollars.