1656 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 708

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That the State Roads Commission of Maryland is hereby
authorized, after the passage of this Act and not later
than June 1st, 1916, to acquire and take over without cost
to the State of Maryland and maintain as a part of its system
of good roads that part of the highway leading from West
Friendship, in Howard County, to Westminster, in Carroll
County, lying within the corporate limits of the town of Sykes-
ville, in Carroll County.

Approved April 18th, 1916.

CHAPTER 708.

AN ACT to authorize and direct the State Roads Commission
of Maryland in its discretion to establish and operate a ferry
from Claiborne to the City of Annapolis, or at some point
in the vicinity thereof, and to appropriate a sum of money
to pay the expenses thereof, and to carry out the provisions
of this Act.

WHEREAS, the State of Maryland is engaged in the con-
struction and maintenance of a system of improved public
roads through the State of Maryland connecting different sec-
tions thereof; and

WHEREAS, The connection of the Eastern Shore of Mary-
land with Baltimore City has a long and circuitous route and
less convenient to the people of the Peninsula than the im-
proved road to the City of Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, It is desirable to bring the Eastern and Western
Shores into closer connection and to make a short and closer
connection with the City of Baltimore; and

WHEREAS, the Town of Easton in Talbot County is con-
nected by improved State Road with all the important Towns
and County Seats on the Shore, and a road connecting Easton
with Baltimore by way of a ferry from Claiborne to Annapolis
would reduce the distance from Easton to Baltimore for Auto-
mobiles to forty miles, with the addition of a sixteen mile
ferry, if there were a ferry provided to transport passengers
and automobiles across the Bay, making the trip approxi-
mately two and one quarter hours from Easton to Baltimore;
and