The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-12-16

an nfferrooi, session. the Senate ,Ba y,
WV "a nteccdent nnd dispensed WIN we
y nftsrnoor, session for the dny only,
B NJ yI,tiIs Al, 4lAtENDMENTs.
VI AZ five minutes OF noon. Mr. &Wath''.s'
\, advocate OF the Jordan bill, was recoh.
\ niscd ana moved that the rules % s ,.s.
~ handed ii, order TINT amendments 70 t l''1e
4 MEASURE might be proposed. Thereup,otn
several verbal amendments periectlns tne
8nbreseology Of tho Bill were adopted VIII
out division !.
5I Mr. walker, Of Northumberland t t,o.s
" ihe floor Mt noon to advocate tho adopl,o,l
az The report or the COMMITTEES or f ,s.
AMI, "a me and tho defeat OF tho Jord'ln-
Il. Ard syell bill. He regretted eSceedlnsM
4 t.,at the General Assembly had seen . ~ ~
" AZ iris stnEe Of a&egislative session -
take tlp a measure Of such grave nli ,',,..
K tancc Is the entire State, ana cspc ',,,
ID large proportion Of It's citiSc,,s ~.
( ,yae lacking for the proper coslderas u.
4 ~ thn measure as II deserved. me
sneak e,. then briefly traced the dovelop'
mont Of oyster legislation In TINS sta.'
fron, 1871 down to the present. Ho eSplalh
a Inc unsatisfactory legislation wilcn
Z ,ef, 10 the courts to decide upon prepon'3
rernnce Of testimony what torr1tory WIS
ma what was not natural oyster rock
AFrre,,t mass of conflicting Testimony wus
offered whenever any one applied lor
the lease Of planting ground. ms W. W..
y satisfactory state Of affairs gave 'is'
10 the demand for complete n'iu "I
curatc delinention of the natural J.. oss.e'
N rock. and shoals OF the State Inc re-
.norse a. that demand was action by the
4 r;cneral Assembly, which has come TO oe
&known as the Baylor geodetic survey.
.Iefinfur what is and what Is not nalura'
rocls In making that survey 1t was rccoH'
aE n,zed that what Is or what Is not natur'l'
oyster rock Is matter OF local hno"
ledro or information. No engineer or shcll
y fIsh commissioner could say what was
y natural oyster rock. That was matter
"a be asccrt aimed by local inquiry ;Ho
Investigation.
q nfr WallAr went somewhat into oe'
tail In showing how the Baylor survey
was made and the dclineation OF the
natural oyster rock, ana nov enc 49,
" formation thus CLEANED was filed IN Inc
.everaI county Courts and made concl'i'
& sive evidence In any dispute as TO Will
IS natural oyster rock, and should not
b. leased out. The Northumberland SEN
r ator then quoted some figures as
10 the estimated barren area Will
=, ana without the said survey, There
we're he said, about $4,000 acres Of barren
area outside the survey, but oil TINS WIS
not available for planting purposes some
OF It being In the deep waters OF tn'
Il Chesapeake deep water, planting haa oeen
III successfully tried In some other otutes
but the experiment In such planning nay
lust begun. Up to this time only anout
b 5000 acres OF barren oyster 'u'1uS 49, 49,
been leased
PROLONGED EFFORT.
Not = session OF the General Assembly.
~. toS pip1t ton years..
2 had been held at which there were nol
hills offered asking that certain ground
x he rcsuryeyed, or that alleged barren
ercn within the limits Of the Baylor sur
yey be leased for planting purp0ss. Iherc
was plerty of barren rock OUTSIDE the
survey then, ana there Is now, but these
\ nianters applying for the lease Of GROUND
within the survey did not really wish bar
rem rock on which they must go TO the eS.
pense of depositing shells, but they Wlsheu
to lease natural rock on which they coulu
take oysters without the labor ana en-
,nense of Smelling and planting oysters. = ne
s3speaker added significantly that IN ms
npinion the present determined movements
re- break the survey was eHplainodable III
the same way. The planters who were
clamorin,s for the passage OF the pending
bill In the speakers opinion, did not wahs
ba rren area. for there WIGS plenty OF thar
outside the survey but they did want tie
natural oyster rock whcreon they might
harvest without planting
III Mr. Walker recalled the fact that even
after the Baylor survey and the surveys
supplementary thereto, the expenses OF
maintaining the oyster navy ana e1 pro
tecting the oyster beds had more tha1l
offset the revenue from the lease OF
planting grounds. Then DR.. Lie Cato de-
sod fha r. tiOn OF the
state Board of Fisheries, with power tc
# enforce the oyster laws OF the State rs
a result of this plan the oyster interests
of the State began to return net reve'
nue. TO the Commonwealth, and ever since
that. the annual revenue to the state har
averaged $4,000. and this year IT Woult
reach SO, COS.
with this epitoine Of oyster legislation
for the past apzen yaars the speaker
took un and dissected carefully and Grill
cglly the report Of tho special joint com.
r1ittee which recommendsa me ac.ol'
embodied in the pending bill. with keen
Is catire he analysed and antagonlzed the
claims set forth in the report of the spe-
clal Joint committee. Ele held UP to ridi-
Guile the assertion OF the committee that
they had carefully examined all the
o25, COO acres embraced In the baylor
eurvey and vcntured the assertion thai
no two mem G,eTE OF tnc CotIiNtiheee VII "
beat could examine an acre OF oyster
rock in a month. Mr. Walker put inc
situation concsely In this form II
takes 600 expert tongers and $500 dredg'
ers eight months to examine one-fourtf
y of tn, oo500o acres In the survey. yet the
FL Legislative Joint committee claims to have
examined all these a25,noo acres In sew
enty.seven days. On the other hand
there were, according to the authorities
100000 acres outside the boundaries O.
the Baylor survey, Of which but 5000
acres had been leased. leaving $4,000
acres yet open to lease, 1t costs abou
$1,000 per acre. Mr., Walker, with search
Ing satire. dssccted the report Of thu
special Joint committee and refuted tn
conclusions reached
Directing his attention to the plan
y proposed by the bill for leasing out tn
barren area within the survey and tn
power lodged In the special Joint com
y mlttee, Mr.. Walker showed the utter I'm
practicability OF the pan, as he con
ce!ved IT, and the Injustice OF permittn
the lease to planters OF large areas o
- short notes, when the present law'
require thirty days posted notice 0
5e4' ti0r, Tor lease. He EXPRESSED In