ART. 25] DRAINING LANDS. 277

Draining Lands.

1904, art. 25, sec. 49. 1888. art. 25, sec. 48. 1860, art, 28, sec. 77. 1858, ch. 271,

sec. 7. 1912, ch. 64.

50. The managers for the time being shall annually thereafter in
the same manner call a meeting for the same purpose on the first Sat-
urday in March, but if the managers for the time being shall have
failed heretofore to call such a meeting or shall hereafter fail to call
such a meeting, then the County Commissioners are hereby authorized
and directed to appoint such managers and treasurer upon proof that
no such meeting has been called by the managers for the time being.

56.*

1912, ch. 656, sec. 1.

81A. The Board of County Commissioners of any county in the
State of Maryland shall have jurisdiction, power and authority to estab-
lish a levee or drainage district or districts in their county, and to
locate and establish levees, .drains or canals, and cause to be constructed,
straightened, widened or deepened any ditch, drain or water course,
and to build levees or embankments and erect tide water gates and
pumping plants for the purpose of draining and reclaiming wet, swamp
or overflowed lands; and it is hereby declared that the drainage of
swamps and the drainage of the surface water from agricultural lands
and the reclamation of tidal marshes shall be considered a public bene-
fit and conducive to the public health, convenience, utility and welfare.

1912, ch. 656, sec. 2.

81B. Whenever a petition signed by a majority of the resident
landowners in a proposed drainage district or by the owners of three-
fifths of all the land which will be affected by or assessed for the ex-
pense of the proposed improvements shall be filed in the office of the
clerk of the Board of County Commissioners of any county in which a
part of said lands are located, setting forth that any specific body or
district of land in the county and adjoining counties, described in such
a way as to convey an intelligent idea as to the location of such land,
is subject to overflow or too wet for cultivation, and the public benefit
or utility or the public health, convenience or welfare will be promoted
by draining, ditching or leveeing the same, or by changing or improv-
ing the natural water courses, and setting forth therein, as far as prac-
ticable, the starting point, route and terminus and lateral branches,
if necessary, of the proposed improvement, and there is filed therewith
a bond for the amount of fifty dollars per mile for such mile of the
ditch or proposed improvement, signed by two or more sureties or by
some lawful and authorized surety company, to be approved by the
Board of County Commissioners and conditioned for payment of. all

*This section was repealed as to tax ditches and drains situated wholly within
Somerset County by the act of 1912, chapter 802.