344 LAWS OF MARYLAND [CH. 183

202. (Fish Ladders. ) Every owner of a dam or dams
upon any of the non-tidal waters of this State is hereby,
required to make and keep in repair, or cause to be made
and kept in repair, and placed upon said dam or dams at
least one fish ladder of such a character as to enable fish
to have a free course up and down said waters at all times.
But in lieu of requiring the erection of such fish ladder or
ladders pursuant to the above provisions and in lieu of
requiring the construction and maintenance of fish ways
or fish ladders pursuant to the provisions contained in any
charter heretofore granted to any corporation by any spe-
cial or general laws of this State, and in lieu of all and
singular the liability imposed thereby or consequent there-
from, in or upon any dam where the same is not deemed
by the Game and Inland Fish Commission to be practical
or advisable for the ascending or descending of fish, or to
permit the passage of fish from the waters below to the
waters above any such dam, the same Game and Inland
Fish Commission is empowered to enter into an agree-
ment with the owner, lessee, or operator of such dam to
pay to the said Commission annually, or at other stated
periods a sum of money which shall be not less than four
and one-half percentum (4½%) per annum upon the
estimated cost of the erection of such fish ladder or lad-
ders, except in such cases where the amount so calculated
would be equal to or exceed the sum of Four Thousand
Dollars ($4, 000) per annum, then the annual payment
shall in all such cases be Four Thousand Dollars ($4, 000)
per annum to be expended by the said Commission for the
purpose of stocking with fish the waters of the pool above
and of the stream below said dam and the acquisition of
the necessary facilities therefor. Provided, however,
nothing contained in this section or in Section 242 of this
Article, shall apply to any dam or dams constructed by
Federal, State, or County funds or by funds of any public
sanitary district created by an act of the General Assembly
of Maryland to provide a public water supply, if said dam
is not built for commercial purposes. Provided further,
however, that one-half (½) of any such monies received
on behalf of the Conowingo Dam across the Susquehanna
River shall be credited to the State Game Protection Fund,
the balance to be expended as heretofore in this section
provided. On and after June 1, 1953, nothing in this sec-
tion shall repeal Section 242 of this Article, except where
dam or dams are built on non-tidal waters, and any fines
for violation of Section 242 of this Article imposed by any
Court of Justice or any settlement arrived at between the
owner of said dam or dams which are erected on non-tidal