The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-02-12
'0YSTERMEN VOTE
To CHANGE LINES.
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III GHAN6E LINED
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the expert under whose direction the
survey was made last summer in the
James River by the United states gov
eminent Both we're sharply qpes-
toned Two short speeches were
made by opponents of the bil at the
night session.
DR.. Moore began by saying that his
investigation had been entirely un-
biased, and that he had sought the
truth, with perfect indifference as to
what his party would find. The sur
vey was conducted in such manner
that no member OF the party knew
what the result would be, nor did any
know until the report was published,
excepting himself
Most Ground Barren.
The survey included $4,000 acres. of
which from 10 to rs per cent was alb
solutely barren-no oysters and no
shells, and IL there were ever any oys-
tiers there they were covered up. OF
the remainder of the ground within the
Baylor lines a large part was depleted,
and there was no possibility of any
body getting enough oysters there to
make a living.
The next class of rock he called very
scattered. In day of nine hours the
net haul was about SIPS worth of oys-
ters. from which must be deducted
many expenses. The next grade was
| CLASSIFIED rs scattered. and. from it five
| bushels OF market oysters or eigh,
| bushels OF seeding oysters was secur-
| CO, making the days earnings s2.25
| The remaining class was called dense
| and the Yield here was eight bushels
of marketable and twelve of seed
| oysters.
1t is lmpracticable, said DR.. Moore
10 separate the ground so as to allow
policing and to divide the productive
from the barren bottom. In his opin-
ION, the Byrd bill does not throw
enough ground out of the public
rocks. and was merely compromise
arranged so as TO include as much pro-
ductive and exclude as much barren
rock as possible.
me Taylor survey lines, he contin-
ued are very erratic. and it Is abso-
iutely impossible to determine in many
cases II the man in the boat is inside
or outside OF tho area. From rha
standpoint of the expert he thought
Mr.. Lee was a little too solicitous for
the natural rock, but perhaps for po-
| icing purposes he was right.
Baylor Did not Examine.
| me baylor Survey. he asserted. was
| not an examination of the natural
! rock, and could not be under the law
Inree commissioners from each coun-
ty in the oyster district were the final
! arbiters OF the lines and corners. They
doubtless knew pretty we'll where the
| oysters We're, and went out in a boat
and said wnat they thought the corn
crs ought to be. They hung out flag
and Captain Baylor made his survey
| ors' lines therefrom No examination
was really made OF the rocks The re-
| cent examination was the first real
| one ever made of the oyster grounds
| In the James
Replying to a question. Dr. Moore
| said that his party made soundings at
| 10,44O places, and covered 226 miles.
| speaking again of the Baylor Survey.
he said that he had been told by ma
ch!nlst Who was on a launch at that
time, that in one place wehere a patch
| of rock was wanted to be left out OF
the survey. the engineer was ordered
to run the launch so fast that the
Cp8Il WOULD nol tlfe pOLloNl. Nj
this Was by way of showing the in,
adequacy and superficial characters o,
the Baylor Survey. which, however. DR.
1 moore said was we'll done considering
l ali the circumstances
! Mr. Lee here said parenthetically tina
4 few ii any tongs We're put on the rock
when the Baylor Survey was made
A Result OF Change.
The proposed new lines, resumed DR.
Moore. would exclude 4400 of thu
! 900 acres ofth public beds in War
i wick county. OF this 1900 acres l.
mud and OF no value. The remaining
200 is natural rock of various grades
u Only 100 acres is dense. LA scattering
217 very scattering. and about 100 de-
pleted bed Only the first two named
/ classes Will yield enough oysters &C
make any sort of living for man
The number of bushels of oysters on
the area to be excluded is estimated at
| 10000, while the total number of BUSH
4 lis in the Warwick county beds is esti-
| mated at 100000 of which 100000 is
| available to the longer. the remainder
| being scattered and not worth the eN-
pense of taking up
The land excluded would be worth
| approximately as much per acre, he
said. as the land now outside.
The tonger, nc concluded, would DO
the gainer AT present, with the en-
| croachments of the planters, no gets
very little protection, for policing is
impractlcablc. The Baylor lines he
| characterized MS mere abstraction
They are not there at all In his SUR
vey he got into stakes of planters who
! have encronched on the public beds
/ The Lee plan of straight lines and
/ watch houses would enable the police
to require compliance with the law,
| would throw open the barren rock to
/ the oyster planter, and would convert