The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-18

ahS NiOidlion OI In1S clause, anC said
 grand jury shall indict should the evi- ceIce justify it.
 Sec 8. Be 1t further enacted, that the
 standard measure for oysters is hereby established, which said measure shall con | sist Of tub or other round vessel of the
 following dimensions to-wit: It shall measure II inches in diameter inside of the bottom and 211a inches in diameter inside at the top, and 14 inches inside from bottom to top, or a box containing the equivalent number of cubic inches, or a box 20X20x12.61 inches Two of these measures filled to the top shall make one barrel, and all oysters bought and sold | in this state in the shell shall be meas ured in a measure of these dimensions,
 or measure holding fraction multi pie thereof, and 1t shall be unlawful for 1 any person to have in his possession any measure for oysters in the shell which
 shall differ inside from the measure herein provided for, demand or re- quire a greater or less measure in buying or selling; and no vessel or measure shall be used in buying or selling oysters until 1t has been measured and stamped by the I oyster inspector It shall be the duty of the oyster inspector to measure such measures and to visit for that purpose each place where oysters are bought and 1 sold, and he shall keep book in which shall be recorded the dimensions of all measures so measured
 Sec. g. Be it further enacted, that the
 secretary of state shall be allowed the | sum of s1 for each lease issued under the provisions of this act to be paid out of the funds collected hereunder.
 Sec. 10. Be it further enacted, that the l violation of any section of this law shall 1 constitute a misdemeaner punishable by a fine or not over $500, to which may be added imprisonment for not more than six months. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. This act shall De literally construed and should any sec tion thereof be unconstitutional, 1t shall not affect the remainder of said act. | Sec. IL Be it further enacted, that the acts of April IS, 1911, and August 2, | l909 providing for the creation of the | Alabama oyster commission be and the same are hereby repealed
 l Sec 12. Be 1t further enacted, that 1t | shall be the duty of the solicitor of Mo- bile county to institute in the name of | the state of Alabama any necessary pro | ceedings, to collect any sums due said commission, and out of the amounts so collected or realized from any property | belonging to the commission any debts l due by said commission shall be paid should the amount be sufficient for that purpose.
 
 funds collected from any source under the provisions of this act shall De paid | into the treasury and kept as separate | fund to be known as the oyster fund, out | of which shall be paid the expenses pro- vided for under the terms of this act. | Sec. IA. Be it further enacted. that when an oyster canning factory or factories l shall be in operation in Alabama pay | ing not less than 40 cents per barrel for oysters delivered at the factory, or fac | tories, no oysters in the shell shall be | shipped out of the state except in bar rels; unless such factory or factories shall fail to take same within four hours after they are offered.
 | Sec. 15. Be it further enacted that | it shall be unlawful to remove oys- | ters from the public reefs for planting purposes except during the month of | September and from March 15 to May | .5, or to buy or to Sell oysters not properly culled.
 | Sec. 16 Be it further enacted, that all parties catching or freighting oys- 1 ters from the public reefs or private bedding grounds of this state shall | pay an annual license for such privi- lege as follows: On all vessels of five tons or more, S1 per net ton. Sec. IT. Be it further enacted that | the secretary of state shall be author ized to expend such moneys as he may | deem advisable out of the oyster fund | for the necessary expenses under this act and for the conservation and ben eft of the oyster beds and industry. | Sec IS. Be it further enacted, that no captain or person in charge of any vessel shall have oysters in his or her possession. or offer for sale, in this state, oysters taken from the public
 oyster reefs or private bedding | grounds which contain more than z per cent of shells and small oysters, and in order that the inspector may arr | rive at the percentage of unculled oys- | ters he shall cause to be culled &C., cording to law, every tenth barrel in the cargo. if he deems 1t necessary: 1 if the cargo upon this basis of per- centage. proves unculled, in violation | of law, the inspector shall condemn | said cargo, cause the same to be re- ! culled and the young oysters and dead shells to be taken to some place des- | ignated by the inspector and shall pro- ceed against said offender as the law directs for such offenses.
 | Sec. 19 Be it further enacted. that all oysters taken from the public reefs | of the waters of this state shall be culled upon their natural beds or bars | as taken and all young oysters meas- rring less than two and onc-half | inches from hinge to mouth and not less than two inches wide; and all dead
 
 bar from which taken and it shall be | unlawful for any person to remove from public reefs or beds, where taken, any oysters without immediately culI- ing the same and returning all dead shells and young oysters to the same reefs from which taken, or other puh- If reef. Provided, nothing herein shall prohibit the removing of seed oysters from the public reefs without requir- ing the same to be culled. But all seed oysters so removed shall be replanted. Sec. 20. Be 1t further enacted, that a natural oyster reef is hereby declared | and defined as not less than one acre in continuous area of any bottoms of any bay. sound. bayou, creek, inlet, or any other body of salt or brackish water on which oysters grow naturally or have grown naturally in quantity sufficient to | warrant fishing for them with hand tNngs as means of livelihood within period of five years next preceding the time at which said matter may be presented for consideration and determination by tue inspectors. The inspector shall be- in all | cases, the judge as to the facts in the declaring or determining what is a natu- ral bed or reef. Should any leased rpa- rian bottoms be subsequently determined | to be natural oyster reefs. said lease or leases shall be cancelled by the in spector, and from the ruling of the in- spector so cancelling such lease or af- fecting the riparian rights, any person aggrieved may prosecute an appeal to the circuit court or court of like Jurisdiction of the county in which the alleged nat ural reef is situated
 | Sec. 21. Be it further enacted, that one fourth of the shells of all oysters taken I from the public reefs of this state and