ALBERT C. RITCHIE, GOVERNOR. 1241

SEC. 5. And be it enacted, That said Board shall report
to the Legislature at its next session, and from that time there-
after as said Board may deem proper, an account of its trans-
actions and its advice and recommendations as required by
Section 1 of the Act of 1896, Chapter 264.

Approved April 26, 1927.

CHAPTER 610.

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact with amendments Section 116
of Article 72 of the Code of Public General Laws of Mary-
land, title "Oysters, " sub-title "Oyster Culture. "

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That Section 116 of Article 72 of the Code of Public Gen-
eral Laws of Maryland, title, "Oysters, " sub-title, '' Oyster Cul-
ture, " be and the same is hereby repealed and re-enacted with
amendments, to read as follows:

SEC. 116. After the survey or resurvey provided for herein
shall have been completed, it shall be the duty of the
Conservation Department to lease, in the name of the
(State of Maryland, tracts or parcels of land beneath the
waters of this State, whether within the limits of the
Counties or elsewhere, in the area to be opened for oyster
culture, according to the provisions of this sub-title; provided,
that no tract so leased, if situated within the territorial limits
of any County in this State, shall contain less than one acre of
land, and if situated in any other place, no tract so leased shall
contain less than five acres. It shall be the duty of said
Department to require that the tracts so leased shall be as nearly
rectangular as is convenient. It shall be the duty of the said
Department to demand from each lessee payment of the
rent each year in advance No person shall be permitted,
by lease, assignment or in any other manner, to acquire a greater
amount of land than thirty acres situated within the territorial
limits of any of the Counties, or five hundred acres in any other
place; provided, however, that an individual may acquire a
tract not exceeding one hundred acres of land beneath the wa-
ters of Tangier Sound. Leases of such lands shall be made only
to residents of Maryland. The term of such leases shall be
twenty years, and the annual rent therefor shall be such
sum as in the judgment of the Conservation Department is
a proper one and commensurate with the value of the land