1598 OYSTERS. [ART. 72

the location of same by a plat, or as near as may be with reasonable
certainty by such land marks as will locate and designate the beds
alleged to have been omitted or included, a judge of the circuit court
for the said county, after due notice given to the board of shell fish
commissioners, shall proceed to hear testimony and decide the case, as
provided in the succeeding section, but this section shall not apply where
the ground claimed by the petitioners has been legally taken up prior
to April 2, 1906.

1906. ch. 711, sec. 92.

94. Upon hearing a case presented by petition under the preceding
section, the judge shall determine the question whether the ground
referred to in said petition is a natural bed or barren bottom, and his
finding on said question shall be final, and shall be entered upon the
records of the board of shell fish commissioners in their office in the
city of Annapolis, and properly marked on the copies of the plats as
hereinbefore required.

1906, ch. 711, sec. 93.

95. Such amended survey shall be filed in the offices of the clerks
of the circuit court for the counties in which the original surveys here-
inbefore provided are required to be filed, and when so filed shall be con-
clusive evidence in all the courts of this State as to whether the area
embraced therein is or is not a natural oyster bed, bar or rock.

1906, ch. 711, sec. 94.

96. Whenever a petition is filed in the circuit court for any county,
as authorized in section 93 of this article, the parties so petitioning shall
deposit twenty-five dollars, to be returned to the petitioners if the judge
shall determine in favor of the petitioners; but if the judge shall deter-
mine adversely to the petitioners, then said sum to be applied, so far
as necessary, to the payment of costs incurred in the proceedings under
said petition, and the balance to be returned to said petitioners.

1906, ch. 711, sec. 95.

97. The said board shall be authorized to call to their assistance the
county surveyor of any county whenever in their judgment his assist-
ance is necessary, and shall pay him for his services such compensation
as is authorized by law for his services in other proceedings.

1906. ch. 711, sec. 96.

98. The board of shell commissioners shall cause an accurate sur-
vey of and delineation upon the maps and charts aforesaid of all bottoms
of the tributaries of the Chesapeake bay where grass grows and it is
profitable to scrape for soft shell or shedder crabs, and shall have such
bottoms properly designated by permanent objects on the shore, as pro-
vided hereinbefore for natural oyster beds, bars and rocks, which said
crabbing sections shall be exempt from leasing for oyster culture.