ELIHU E. JACKSON, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

tricts, such change may be made, and the gov-
ernor is hereby authorized to make such publica-
tion of said change as he may deem necessary.
SEC. 5. And be it enacted, That the general

809

duties of said shipping commissioners shall be :
First. To superintend the engagement and dis-
charge of all persons engaged or employed in
vessels or boats of ten tons, or over, used for the
catching of oysters in the waters of this state in
the manner hereinafter prescribed. Becond. \

To make and certify under his hand
and seal in triplicate all contracts of engagement
as hereinbefore provided on blanks, to be furn-

Superintend.

ished by him gratuitously, which said contracts
shall contain the name of the vessel and the
number of her state oyster license, if she has one;
the names of the owners and master ; the names,
places of birth, ages and residences of the vari-
ous members of the crew, with the amount of
wages to be paid to each respectively, and
the date of employment of each man, the expi-
ration of the period of such employment and-
the place where such employment is to termi-
nate, the amount of advances, if any, made at
the time of such contract, and whether in money
or articles furnished, and the respective prices of
such articles ; one of said triplicate contracts
shall be entered in a book, to be kept by said
commissioner in his office expressly for said
purpose, and shall be delivered at the termina-
tion of his office to his successor, and said book
shall be open for inspection at all times. One of
said triplicate contracts shall be delivered by
the commissioner to the captain of the boat or
vessel, and the third of said triplicate contracts
shall be sent by the com.missio.ner by the first
mail to the office of the bureau of labor and
statistics in Baltimore, to be preserved in his
office.
Third. The crew or any member of the same

Contracts to
contain, etc.

of any such boat or vessel shall be discharged
and paid off before the commissioner of the dis-
trict named as the place of such discharge in the
contract, and if such place shall be before a com-
missioner other than the one before whom such
member was engaged, then it shall be the duty
of the commissioner before whom the discharge

Hear com-
plaints, etc.