172                              Laws of Maryland                       [Ch. 149

day at the Court House in Chestertown, to offer said property for
sale to the highest bidder for cash, which list and notice shall be
published at least once in each of three consecutive weeks prior to the
first Tuesday in April, in one or more newspapers published in Kent
County; and upon the first Tuesday in April of each year the County
Treasurer shall proceed to sell under the terms of said notice, all
property upon which taxes, interest, costs, expenses and fees are in
arrears and shall continue such sale from day to day on each secular
day, legal holidays excepted, from ten o'clock A. M. to three o'clock
P. M. until all said property shall be offered and disposed of; and
if the Treasurer shall fail to advertise all real estate on which taxes
are delinquent he shall be guilty of malfeasance in office and subject
to removal by the County Commissioners as hereinafter provided.
The purchasers of property at such sale shall be entitled to imme-
diate possession of the property so sold and to the rents accruing
therefrom from the day of sale (subject, nevertheless, to an account-
ing therefor upon redemption of the property), and to insure and
judiciously preserve said property but said purchasers shall commit
no acts of waste to said property] and thereafter the Treasurer shall
proceed to sell the property as provided in said sub-title "Tax Sales".

[156E. Within ten days after the advertisements have been pub-
lished, as provided for in Section 156D the Treasurer of Kent County
shall certify to the County Commissioners of Kent County, under
oath, that he has published or caused to be published, the names of
all delinquent taxpayers and advertised for sale all real estate of
delinquent taxpayers.]

[156F. The said County Treasurer shall within thirty days after
the close of such sales report the same to the Circuit Court for Kent
County in Equity, setting forth in a brief and concise manner his
proceedings in the premises showing to whom and at what price
such several parcels were respectively sold, the amount of taxes and
interest accrued the pro-rata cost of advertising such sale, the County
Treasurer's fees and all other charges, costs, fees and expenses inci-
dent to said sale and the surplus fund in each instance with which
report he shall file a certified copy of the printed notice of sale, and
he shall not be required to file with said report any copy or certified
copy of the list or published list of delinquents or other notices, but
the affidavit of the said County Treasurer as to the due publication
of the list of delinquents and the mailing and/or delivery of notices
to the delinquents shall be sufficient and prima facie as to the per-
formance thereof, which said affidavit shall be appended to said
report. The said Court shall examine the said proceedings, and, if
the said proceedings appear to be regular and the provisions of law
in relation thereto have been substantially complied with, shall enter
in one order nisi, similar to and published in the same manner as in
the case of judicial sales by trustees, warning all persons interested
in the property sold to appear on or before the day designated in
such order to show cause why the same should not be finally ratified
and confirmed on a day to be designated in said order, which shall
not be less than thirty nor more than sixty days from the date of the
order. The purchaser at any such sale shall be deemed to be a party
in interest in the same manner as a purchaser at an ordinary judicial
sale. Such Order Nisi shall be published in such manner as the Court
shall direct but not less than once a week for four successive weeks.
After hearing exceptions, if any, the Court in its discretion shall in