FISH AND FISHERIES. 465

granted to any corporation by any special or general laws of this State,
and in lieu of all and singular the liability imposed thereby or consequent
therefrom, in or upon any dam where the same is not deemed by the Con-
servation Commission of Maryland to be practical or advisable for the
ascending or descending of fish, or to permit the passage of fish from the
waters below to the waters above any such dams, the said Conservation
Commission is empowered to enter into an agreement with the owner,
lessee or operator of such dam to pay to the Conservation Department of
Maryland annually, or at other stated periods a sum of money which shall
be not less than four and one-half per centum (4 1/2%) per annum upon
the estimated cost of the erection of such fish ladder or ladders, except in
such cases where the amount so calculated would be equal to or exceed the
sum of four thousand dollars ($4, 000) per annum, then the annual pay-
ment shall in all such cases be four thousand dollars ($4, 000) per annum to
be expended by the said Department for the purpose of stocking with food
fish the waters of the pool above and of the stream below said dam, and for
the purpose of propagating, rearing and distributing the fish actually
placed in said waters, and the acquisition of the necessary facilities there-
for. Any money received by the Conservation Department pursuant to
such an agreement shall be paid into the Conservation Fund and is hereby
specifically appropriated to be expended by the Conservation Commission
for the purposes above named.

1929, ch. 471, sec. 14.

14. Pollution Prohibited—Penalty. Whenever any watercourse, well,
spring, open ditch, gutter, cesspool, sewer, private or public drain, privy-
pit, pig pen, or other place, or any accumulation or deposit of waste or
other offensive or noxious matters discharged from any house, building,
trade establishment or manufacturing place, or any waste from any vessel,
shall become or dangerously threaten to become deleterious to or destruc-
tive of fish or shellfish life, or the propagation, cultivation or conservation
thereof, or to their safety as human food, or in any manner a menace to
said fish or shellfish whether private or public property, in any waters of
the State, the Conservation Commission of Maryland shall forthwith
investigate the matter, and if it be so found shall serve a notice in writing
on the person, firm or corporation, by whose act, default or sufferance such
condition may arise or continue, requiring the abatement of the same with-
in a time to be fixed by the Commission and to be specified in the notice,
under a penalty imposed by a Court of not less than one hundred dollars,
nor more than three hundred dollars, or imprisonment for not less than
one year nor more than three years, or be both fined and imprisoned, in the
discretion of the Court. It shall be construed as a separate and distinct
offense for each day the nuisance is permitted to continue after the expira-
tion of the time limit set forth in the notice for the abatement of such nui-
sance, provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to
alter, change, modify or restrict the jurisdiction of the State Board of