If any vessel be found abandoned in a canal, or any cargo or goods carried in a Government vessel on a canal, or stored on or in lands or warehouses occupied for the purposes of a canal, be left unclaimed for a period of two months, the Divisional Canal-officer may take possession of the same.
The officer so taking possession may publish a notice that, if such vessel and its contents, or such cargo or goods, are not claimed previously to a day to be named in the notice, not sooner than thirty days from the date of such notice, he will sell the same; and, if such vessel, contents, cargo or goods be not so claimed, he may, at any time after the day named in the notice, proceed to sell the same.
Disposal of proceeds of sale.--The said vessel and its contents, and the said cargo or goods if unsold, or, if a sale has taken place, the proceeds of the sale, after paying all tools, charges and expenses incurred by the Divisional Canal-officer on account of the taking possession and sale, shall be made over to the owner of the same, when his ownership is established to the satisfaction of the Divisional Canalofficer.
If the Divisional Canal-officer is doubtful to whom such property or proceeds should be made over, he may direct the property to be sold as aforesaid, and the proceeds to be paid into the district treasury, there to be held until the right thereto be decided by a Court of competent jurisdiction.