Chap. 494.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 3271 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, relating to abandoned oyster planting grounds. [S B 318]

Approved March 26, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
thirty-two hundred and seventy-one of the Code of. Virginia be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 3271. Each inspector of oysters shall, on the first day of
May each year, make out a full list of the parcels of oyster-planting
ground rented out in his district, on which the rent has not been paid,
giving names of renters, number of acres, and location of same. This
list shall be posted at the courthouse of the county or city and at three
public places in his district for sixty days, calling on said parties to
come forward and pay rent and assert their claims, if they have any,
and after the expiration of sixty days the inspector shall then report
to the clerk of the circuit court of his county all plats on said list not
claimed, and the clerk shall endorse on said unclaimed plats “‘aban-
doned” and the same may be rented as any other planting ground. A
duplicate of the list furnished the clerk of the circuit court shall be
forwarded by the inspectors to the office of the commission of fisheries.

An assignee of any plat of oyster planting ground, rent of which 1s
paid to the following September of any year, may abandon his or
their holdings at any time without being liable for the payment of
rent for the following year, provided they notify the inspector in writ-
ing of their intentions before September first, which said notice shall
immediately be forwarded by the inspector to the office of the com-
mission of fisheries.

The commissioner of fisheries shall, on the first day of August each
year make out a full list, for each of the tidewater counties of the par-
cel of oyster planting grounds abandoned in that county as provided
in paragraph two above and certify said list to the clerk of said county,
and the clerk shall endorse on said plats “abandoned” and the same
may be rented as any other planting grounds.