BALTIMORE COUNTY. 753

avenue or alley they want condemned, opened, graded and constructed,
but no application shall be entertained by the County Commissioners for
the opening, grading and construction of any street, avenue or alley for
a less distance than one square; and when the application is presented the
County Commissioners shall appoint one examiner or three examiners in
the manner hereinafter provided for, whose duty it shall be to condemn,
open, grade and construct such street, avenue or alley, or part thereof,
in accordance with said application and the provisions of this subtitle
of this Article; and before any examiner or examiners shall proceed to
act in the premises, he or they shall take an oath or affirmation before
some justice of the peace of the State, in and for Baltimore County, that
he or they will well and truly assess the damages and benefits happening,
arising or issuing from the condemnation, opening, grading and construc-
tion of said street, avenue or alley, or such portion thereof as may bo
applied for, and will in all respects act without prejudice or partiality in
said matter; after taking such oath or affirmation, the examiner or exam-
iners shall give at least ten days' notice by publication in one or more
newspapers published in Baltimore County and one newspaper of general
circulation published in Baltimore City that such application has been
made, and, after giving such notice, the examiner or examiners shall cause
to be made an explanatory plat of said street, avenue or alley, or part
thereof, and of the property bounding and fronting on the same and of
the property adjacent thereto if it should be deemed advisable by said
examiner or examiners to do so; and all lands for which damages have
been awarded or to which benefits have been assessed and any house or
improvement of any kind on the bed of the same, which it shall be neces-
sary to remove, in whole or in part, shall be shown on said plat; and if
grades have not been established on said street, avenue or alley, or portion
thereof applied for, the examiner or examiners shall have grades estab-
lished in the manner provided for by Section 589; the examiner or
examiners shall then proceed to value such damages as may happen to
arise from the condemnation and opening of said street, avenue or alley,
or portion thereof, and to make an estimate of the probable cost of open-
ing, grading and construction of the same and of the probable cost and
expenses of the proceedings in the matter, including the per diem of the
examiner or the examiners, and shall assess the gross amount of such
damages, the probable cost of the opening, grading and construction and
the probable amount of cost and expenses of the proceedings in the mat-
ter, including the per diem of the examiner or examiners, in such pro-
portions as may be fair and equitable, as benefits, upon all the lands in
said county which shall, in the opinion of the examiner or examiners, be
benefited by the condemnation, opening, grading and construction of said
street, avenue or alley, or any part thereof; and as soon as the explanatory
plat and necessary profiles of grades are made and the examiner or exam-
iners shall have completed the valuation of damages and estimated the
probable cost of opening, grading and construction and of the proceedings
in the matter and of the amount that will be required to be assessed as