In pursuing his investigations, the Commissioner has power to sum-
mons witnesses and to examine them on their oath when necessary.
The Commissioner has visitorial powers over every institution to which
prisoners, whether adult or minors, are committed that receive aid
from the State, city or private sources.

COMMISSIONER OF THE LAND OFFICE...Annapolis.
(All Terms Expire 1924.)

Name. Postoffice.

Commissioner:
James S. Shepherd..................................................Cambridge

Chief Clerk:
Arthur Trader ...........................................................................................Annapolis

Assistant Clerks:

Richard Duvall ...................................................................................St. Margarets
Edward Phelps ...............................................................................................Annapolis

Index Clerks:

Dr. F. F. Hicks...................................................................................Cambridge
John P. Stafford...........................................................................................Easton
Frank S. Revell........„„„„...„.„..„„„„„„„„„....„„„........„................................. Glenburnie

Stenographer:
Malcom W. Warring.................................................................................... Annapolis

The Commissioner of the Land Office is appointed by the Governor,
with the consent of the Senate, to hold office during the term of the
Governor, The Commissioner appoints all officers in his office. (Con-
stitution, Art. 7, Sec. 4.)

The Land Office is the State Record Office, pertaining to boundaries
of land, and is the means by which discovered vacant land is passed
by the State to the individual, and covers the period from the earliest
to the present date. The Commissioner sits as a judge in contested
disputes over vacant land, and there is a right of appeal direct to the
Court of Appeals over his decision.

The duties of the Land Office, in regard to its clerical force, is to
keep the indexing, answer the various questions that are daily brought
to it by the mail, wait on the visiting public, and record the patentB
and certificates that are returned on the different kinds of warrants
executed by the county surveyors throughout the State.

Questions relating to military service during the War of the Amer-
ican Revolution,

Questions relating to wills, administration proceedings, inventories,
accounts and balances from the earliest to 1777.

Questions relating to confiscated British property.

Questions relating to Provincial Court, General Court, Court of
Chancery, debt books, rent rolls, insolvent proceedings, and extract of
deeds from the whole State.