The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-02

Reviewed in the Annual Report of tn,
 Season Good One for Planter and
 Worker--List of Owners of Grounds
 Within the State show Total of 23l
 Owning Over 6O,OoO Acres
 The shell fish commissioners present.
 ed to Governor Lounsbury it's annual
 report for the year ending September
 30, 1899. It has various features of in
 terest
 After calling attention to the finan-
 cial tables appended to the report, the commissioners comment vigorously upon the failure of certain proposed
 legislation. They say: "The law affect ing the appointment and pay of inspec-
 tors, a wise and proper law and in the interests of the state, leave the commis- sioners no option They must ap- point, and upon the receipt of properly attested bills pay the inspectors, and money thus paid lessens by so much the receipts from the oyster and hatch cry industry. The form of the pro- posed law was approved by the attor- ney general and the purpose of it re- ceived a favorable report from the com mittee which had it in hand. Diligent search fails to reveal it In the reported statutes of the session, and notwith- standing it's excellent character and recommendations it appears to have been lost somewhere. The commis- sioners give notice herewith, however, that the bill will reappear at the next session and be once more put upon it's travels.
 For the coming year large propor- tion of the expense of mud dumping will be saved through an arrangement made by Henry c. Rowe, of New Ha- ven, with the government contractors, by which he provides for the placing of the dredged material at New Haven and Bridgeport upon oyster grounds and for the payment of inspection of the contractor.
 Grounds that are uncultivatable at any time may become cultivatable through natural or artificial changes, but it is obviously for the interests of the state that such grounds should be held at merely nominal valuation for taxation till the change has been made. To compel the abandonment of such ground would be a loss to the state ultimately and hardship to pro- gressive oyster planting"
 Under the caption "The Oyster Po- lice' the report says:
 There has been custom more or less prevalent in the past for a man | working under. the Connecticut laws | upon the natural oyster beds of the | state to cross the sound to Long Is- and, make a pretended transfer of his boat for a nominal sum to citizen of New York, and qualifying thus under ne New York law to work upon the natural beds of that state till such .ime as he may see fit to return to the Connecticut natural beds. In such { ,ases the commissioners have decided hat the pretended sale forfeits the Connecticut license and a new license will be necessary to work in these wa CTS"
 From the most authentic sources of information, including both the buy rs' and the sellers estimates. it is afe to say that five hundred and fifty bushels of seed oysters have ,een taken thus far this year from the ,tratford, Bridgeport and Fairfield nat ral beds. Views of the condition of |, he oyster industry vary somewhat, &C., or6iing to the point of view. It is pro- er to say that a reasonable and bus- view of the situation prevails The season has been good one for the lanter as well as for the worker upon he natural beds, and the outlook is re- arded as very favorable for those those long experience and success have iven weight to their opinions. The financial statement of the com- lissioH is as follows:
 Receipts: Taxes collected, $7,455S6; 1 eeds of new oyster grounds, $1, ,133.90 oat licenses, $702.00; recording deeds, 7090O. Advances to shell fish commission: :. Ice expenses, S500.s2; engineers de- ! artment, $25o.O0; special engineering, ,5O.O0; taxes, $33.56; buoying natural ySlcI DttS, Pljo'o'fA; oy Sttl pOiiGts pI,- Il S2; inspecting natural beds, $400; to- Il, $6,542.02; mud dumping, $1,314.61. The record of the oyster shows that : ugust was the date on which the set | as first seen. The lowest temperature the water during the year was sixty Inc degrees; the highest temperature . the water seventy-siX degrees, show g the largest set and the highest tenn srature in eleven years. During 1899 ere were seven original grants from uc le state, covering an acreage of 1,132.9. !, rounds were returned to the state U Iring the year to the number of eight. ,vering an acreage of 4244. The total . lmber of bushels of material planted private oyster grounds during the z .ar was 3,115336. The amount of s ar fish caught during the year aggre- l tied il ,164 bushels During the sea ~ n thirty-five oyster steamers were ed in Connecticut waters. The list u owners of oyster grounds within the ,l isdiction of the state shows total of u |. owning 62,7758 acres. The num- . r of vessels at work upon the Con- cticut natural beds during the year e IS 277. T.,
 
 THE BRETON AND BOER. =;