788 OYSTERS. [ART. 72

1906, ch. 711, sec. 102. 1912, ch. 539, sec. 102.

104. When the period of sixty days shall have elapsed after said
survey shall have been completed, and after the lands beneath the
waters of any area shall have been opened to leasing under section 101
of this article, the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners shall endeavor
to lease the remaining portions of land so open to oyster culture under
the provisions of this sub-title to applicants, who shall be residents of
Maryland, in the order of their applications received and opened by
said commissioners.

1906, ch. 711, sec. 103. 1914, ch. 265, sec. 103.

105. Any person who may desire to plant and cultivate oysters in
the area hereinbefore designated shall file with the Board of Shell Fish
Commissioners an application substantially in the form prescribed in
Section 103 of this article. The applicant, who must be a resident of
the State of Maryland, shall indicate plainly the location of the land
he desires to lease. The application shall be sworn to before a Justice
of the Peace of this State. A fee of five dollars shall be paid by the
applicant to the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners at the time of
filling the application which fee shall be returned to the applicant if his
application shall be for any reason declined. All applications for
leases pending at the time of the passage of this Act, but not then
actually issued and in force, and all applications hereafter made shall
be advertised by said Board once a week for four successive weeks in
a newspaper published in the County in which or nearest to which
the area applied for is located, said advertisement to describe the loca-
tion of the area applied for and to give the name and residence of the
applicant, and the Board shall have no power to issue any lease without
such advertisement. Any three or more residents of this State may
within the period of thirty days after the. last insertion of such adver-
tisement file a protest in writing against such application in the Circuit
Court for the County in which or nearest to which the area applied for
is located, and the Clerk of said Court shall thereupon docket a suit at
law in which the protestants are to be the plaintiffs and the Board of
Shell Fish Commissioners the defendant, and the said case shall there-
after proceed as set forth in Section 96B, with the right of appeal as
provided in said Section; provided, however, that no such protest may
be filed if it shall appear that the character of the area in question has.
been adjudicated in proceedings theretofore taken under the provisions
of Section 96B, or that proceedings under said Section are then pend-
ing. If no protest is filed within the time herein provided, all leases
issued after the passage of this Act, in accordance with its provisions,
shall be binding on the respective parties thereto and conclusive as to
the nature of the area leased, notwithstanding the provisions of Sec-
tions 96A, 96B and 96C of this article.