FRANK BROWN, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

521

and the several deputy commanders of sloops and vessels shall
be required to visit the tributaries and streams of their respec-
tive districts at least once in two weeks between the first day
of May and the first day of October, and at any other time
when notified by citizens or others of violations, and they shall
arrest and bring to trial all persons found violating any sec-
tion of this article and cause them to be tried and punished as
provided by law.

To enforce
laws relat-
ing to fish.

45. The commander of said force shall have the control
and direction of said force, under the supervision of the Board
of Public Works, with power to direct their movements, and
shall have an office, to which place all complaints and applica-
tions for assistance shall be addressed; and it shall be his duty
to keep an itemized account of all expenses and disbursements
of said force, and report monthly to the Board of Public
Works; and the commander shall be permitted to have one
clerk and the compensation of said clerk shall not exceed seven
hundred dollars for acting as clerk to the commander.

Commander
to have con-
trol of force.

46. The owner of any land bordering on any of the
navigable waters of this State, the lines of which extend into
and are covered by said waters, shall have the exclusive
privilege of using the same for protecting, sowing, bedding or
depositing oysters or other shell fish within the lines of his
own land; and any owner of land lying and bordering upon
any of the waters of this State, shall have power to locate and
appropriate in any of the waters adjoining his lauds one lot of
five acres for the purpose of protecting", preserving, depositing,
bedding or sowing oysters, or other shell fish; and any male or
female citizen of full age, of the county wherein he or she
resides, shall have power to locate and appropriate, and hold
one lot of five acres, and no more, in any waters in this State

Private
oyster
planting.

not located or appropriated; provided, thirty days' notice in
writing shall be given the owner or occupant of land border-
ing on said waters proposed to be located, that the owner or
occupant may have priority of claim; and if such owner or
occupant shall fail to locate or appropriate the water mentioned
in said notice within thirty days after receiving the same, then
it shall be open and free to any one, under the provisions of

Notice to
owner.

this section; provided also, that the said location or appropria-
tion shall be described by stakes, bushes and with the name of
the owner on a board fastened to a pole or stake on or within
the appropriated oyster land, or by the proper and visible
metes and bounds, which description shall be reduced to writing

Bed to be
marked oft.