676

LAWS OF MARYLAND.

the interior; to buy or have condemned so much

land as may be necessary for such, roads, and for

landings, warehouses, elevators or wharves, by

complying with the provisions contained in the

fifth section of this act.

SEC. 8. And whereas it has been represented

to the General Assembly that there are vast bodies

of marsh land bordering on said rivers, frequently

covered by water, injuring the health of the peo-

Preamble,

ple and depreciating the value of the lands of the

entire county, and that a large portion of the same

is what is known as vacant land or land to which

the title of the State has not been extinguished,

and that no proper system of improvement can

be undertaken without the extinguishment of said

title. Therefore be it enacted, that the State of

Maryland doth hereby grant unto said company

all of said marsh or meadow lands which have

heretofore been unpatented and to which the

State has any right, title or claim, upon condition

that the said company shall drain or reclaim the

same within ten years from the completion of the

said canal and river improvements. And when-

Enactment.

ever it can or shall be shown to the register of

the land office by the evidence of two competent

witnesses that the said lands, or any portion of

them, have been drained or reclaimed for cultiva-

tion or better pasturage, it shall be his duty and

he is hereby directed to issue a patent for so much

as shall have thus been shown to have been re-

claimed, shall be exempted from taxation for State

and county taxes for the period of ten years.

SEC. 9. And be it enacted, That the president

and directors of said company, in draining or re-

claiming any swamp, marsh or lowland, that the

said company may own, or acquire any right to

drain or reclaim under this act, or in any wise be

Reclaiming

entitled to, shall have authority to proceed under

lowland, &c.

the provisions of the twenty-second article of the

Code of Public General Laws of the State of

Maryland (sub title " Draining Lands "), as fully

and effectually as any individual owner of swamp

or lowland may or can have. And whenever it

shall become necessary to reclaim any swamp or

low or marsh land subject to overflow by water