§8-15-11. Inspection of warehouses by commissioner and agents.

(a) The Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries and his duly authorized agents or employees shall have full power and authority to inspect public warehouses, to audit the books thereof, to check the articles or goods stored with the records or receipts, and to exercise such other power relative to public warehouses as is necessary to ascertain whether or not the business is conducted in such a manner as to protect the interest of the persons who are storing, or may store, articles in such warehouse.

(b) The inspectors, when instructed by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, shall make sworn reports of their findings, within 10 days after the completion of the work assigned, to the commissioner, who shall hold and keep same in the records of his office. Such reports, when sworn to, shall be public records and shall be prima facie evidence of what they charge.

(c) Such inspections shall be made at least twice between October 1 and September 30 in each fiscal year.

(Ag. Code 1927, §397; Acts 1935, No. 148, p. 192; Acts 1939, No. 443, p. 586; Code 1940, T. 2, §577.)