1514                             Laws of Maryland                       [Ch. 816

possession of the property so condemned, upon first paying to the
Clerk of the Court the amount of said reward and all costs taxed to
that date, notwithstanding any appeal or further proceedings upon
the part of the defendant. At the time of said payment, however, the
Commission shall give its corporate undertaking to abide by and
fulfill any judgment in such appeal or further proceedings.

177.    Whenever twenty-five property owners, residing in any lo-
cality in St. Mary's County, shall in writing petition the Commission
to have said locality, (the boundaries whereof shall be definitely
stated in said petition) constituted as a new sanitary district, then
if the Commission in its discretion shall deem it expedient to con-
stitute said locality as a sanitary district in accordance with the
prayer of said petition, and if the County Commissioners consent
thereto, the Commission shall cause plats of such locality to be made
under the supervision of its chief engineer, showing the proposed
water, sewerage or drainage systems, one copy of which plat shall
be filed in the office of the Commission, one in the office of the County
Commissioners and one in a plat book indexed "St. Mary's County
Metropolitan Commission", in the office where the land records of
St. Mary's County are kept; and upon the filing of said plat and the
approval of said locality by the County Commissioners of said County
and the Commission, such sanitary district shown on said plat shall
be, and the same is hereby designated and constituted for the purpose
of this sub-title to be a separate sanitary district, and shall be given
by the Commission a distinctive name and shall be subject to all the
provisions of this sub-title, and the filing of said plat shall constitute
legal notice to the public of such action of the Commission, That
for the purpose of providing for the organization and preliminary
expenses of any newly constituted sanitary district, the County Com-
missioners shall furnish the Commission with a sum not exceeding
Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), which shall be repaid out of the
first bond issue of the particular district.

178.   The Commission shall cause surveys, plans, specifications and
estimates to be made for water supply, sewerage and drainage sys-
tems in those portions of St. Mary's County in which the Commission
exercises authority, and shall divide each sanitary district into water,
sewerage and drainage districts in such way as shall, in its judgment,
best serve the needs of the various communities, and shall promote
convenience and economy of installation and operation. Whenever,
and as, such plans are completed, the Commission shall give notice
by publication in one newspaper published within the County, for
three weeks, and by handbills posted and circulated in the localities
where said improvements are contemplated, and shall state in said
notice the probable cost of the contemplated improvements, and shall
further state therein that plans of the improvements may be in-
spected at the Commission's office and that any person interested in
said improvements will be heard by the Commission at a time to be
specified in the notice, but not less than ten days after first publica-
tion thereof. If ten residents and landowners in the sanitary dis-
trict wherein the improvements are contemplated shall thereupon,
and within ten days after the last of said publications of said notice,
file a petition with the Commission protesting against the proposed
improvement, the Commission shall grant them a hearing within ten
days after such petition is filed in the office of the Commission and
after not less than five days notice of the time and place of said