(a) Whenever property within this Commonwealth is transferred from a decedent, who was a nonresident of the Commonwealth at the time of death, the Department of Revenue, whenever occasion may require, on the application of any interested party, or upon its own motion, shall appoint an appraiser to appraise the value of such property if subject to transfer inheritance tax. Every such appraiser shall forthwith give notice by mail, to such persons as the Department of Revenue shall direct, of the time and place when and where he will appraise such property. He shall, at such time and place, make a fair conscionable appraisement of said property, and assess and fix the cash value of all annuities on life-estates growing out of said estates, upon which annuities and life-estates the tax imposed by this act shall be immediately payable out of the estate, and he shall make report thereof and of such value in writing to the Department of Revenue, which report shall be filed in the office of the department, and the department shall immediately give notice thereof by mail to all parties known by it to be interested therein;

(b) Whenever the interests of the Commonwealth may require, the Department of Revenue is authorized to appoint such additional appraisers, or employ such investigators or experts, as it may deem best, to make appraisements of or investigations in regard to the property of any nonresident decedent subject to transfer inheritance tax. The compensation of all such persons so employed by the department shall be fixed by the Secretary of Revenue, with the approval of the Governor, as in other cases;

(c) Repealed by 1961, June 15, P.L. 373, No. 207, § 1201(8), effective for the estates of decedents dying on or after Jan. 1, 1962.

(d) The Department of Revenue shall enter in a public record the returns made by all appraisers appointed by it to appraise the property of nonresident decedents within this Commonwealth subject to transfer inheritance taxes, opening an account in favor of the Commonwealth against each such decedent's estate. The Department of Revenue may give certificates of payment of said tax, from said record, and, upon payment thereof, shall give a receipt therefor to the party paying the same.