OYSTERS 2681

be so construed as to prevent the citizens of Queen Anne's and Kent
Counties from using the waters of Chester River in common, or the citizens
of Dorchester and Wicomico Counties from using the waters of Nanticoke
River in common, or the citizens of Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties
from using the waters of the Wye River and the mouth thereof in common,
or the citizens of Dorchester and Talbot Counties and bona fide residents
of the Fourth Election District of Caroline County who shall have resided
in said district not less than one year next preceding from using the waters
of the Choptank River in common; provided, however, that the County
Commissioners shall be authorized to give special permission to any woman
who has no visible means of support to take and catch oysters without
license. Provided, that the open season for the taking or catching of
oysters in the Tred Avon River and the tributaries in Talbot County shall
be from the first day of September to the fifteenth day of April, each year,
both dates inclusive.¹

The oyster beds of Chesapeake bay are property of the state, and legislature may
make all reasonable regulations concerning same. State v. Applegarth, 81 Md. 299;
Hess v. Muir, 65 Md. 606 (separate opinion).

The act of 1894, ch. 380, is not unconstitutional as embracing a subject distinct from
its title. State v. Applegarth, 81 Md. 303.

This section referred to in deciding that sec. 9 applies only to oysters taken from
the waters of this state. Tyler v. State, 93 Md. 313.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 2. 1912, sec. 2. 1904, sec. 2. 1894, ch. 380, sec. 2. 1890, ch. 380.
1910, ch. 413, sec. 2 (p. 206). 1927, ch. 127, sec. 2. 1939, ch. 746.

2. Each and every license issued in conformity to the provision of
Section 1 of this Article shall state the name, color, age and residence of
the person to whom the license is to be granted; the number thereof, and
the county in which the same is to be used, and every applicant for such
license shall pay to the clerks of the circuit court when such license may
be granted, and before the issuing and delivery of the same, three dollars
and fifty cents, the clerk to receive twenty-five cents for each and every
such license as a fee for issuing the same, including administering the
oath when required. One-third of the amount received for such license
shall be paid by the clerk to the school commissioners for the use of the
public schools in the respective counties where such licenses are issued,
and of this amount the portion received from white tongers to go to the
white schools, and the portion received from the colored tongers to go to
the colored schools, and the remaining two-thirds to be paid over by the
clerk to the Comptroller of the State Treasury, to be credited to the oyster
fund; and two-thirds of the amount received from any tonging license
in any county in this State shall be paid by the clerk of the circuit court
of the county when received to the comptroller of the treasury to be
credited to the oyster fund, any provisions of any public local law or public
general law to the contrary notwithstanding.

This section referred to in construing secs. 34 and 35. Smith v. School Commis-
sioners, 81 Md. 517.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 3. 1912, sec. 3. 1904, sec. 3. 1894, ch. 380, sec. 3.

3. Every applicant for license as aforesaid shall be required to make
oath or affirmation before the clerk authorized to issue the same, or some
justice of the peace, on whose certificate of the taking of such oath or
affirmation the clerk shall issue said license; that the facts set forth therein

¹ Sec. 2 of ch. 515 of acts of 1933 repealed all laws inconsistent therewith to extent
of such inconsistency.