ALBERT C. RITCHIE, GOVERNOR. 427

this section, it shall be the duty of the landlord, before a sale
of such property shall be made under such distraint proceed-
ings (except in cases of personal property in office buildings,
in which cases there shall not be such duty), to ascertain
whether or not any such goods, chattels, or other personal prop-
erty are being purchased by the tenant under a conditional
contract of sale defined in Section 55 of Article 21 of the
Annotated Code of Public General Laws of Maryland (1924),
or mortgaged by the tenant by a purchase money chattel mort-
gage under the terms of Sections 44 to 54, inclusive, of Arti-
cle 21 of the Annotated Code of Public General Laws of Mary-
land (1924), and if it shall be found that any of such property
is being purchased by the tenant under such a conditional
contract of sale or covered by a purchase money chattel mort-
gage executed by said tenant, and if such additional contract of
sale or mortgage shall have been executed and recorded in
accordance with the laws of the State of Maryland governing
the execution and recording of such instruments, the landlord,
except in cases of personal property in office buildings, shall
either release such property from the distraint proceedings or
pay to the vendor named in such conditional contract of sale
or to the mortgagee in such mortgage the balance due under
such conditional contract of sale or mortgage, and said bal-
ance, if paid, by the landlord, shall become a part of the costs
in such distraint proceedings; and be collectible in the same
manner as are the other costs in such proceedings; and pro-
vided further that such vendor or mortgagee shall render,
upon demand by the landlord, a true statement of the balance
due under such conditional contract of sale or mortgage, and
when said balance is paid, shall release unto said landlord such
conditional contract of sale or mortgage.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take
effect June 1, 1929.

Approved April 11, 1929.

CHAPTER 149.

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact with amendments Section
258 of Article 56 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1924
Edition), title "Licenses, " sub-title "Public Freight Motor
Vehicles, " as said section was amended by Chapter 152 of