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all circumstances, manifest a firm determination to maintain and preserve for themselves and their posterity, the Constitution which they have adopted for their government, inviolate and sacred.

ALBANY, April 17, 1851.

The Proposed Canal Bill.

AN ACT to provide for the completion of the Erie Canal enlargement, and the Genesee Valley and Black River Canals.

The People of the State of New York, represented in the Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The remainder of the revenue of the State Canals, after defraying the expenses of collection, superintendence and ordinary repairs, and after paying the several amounts provided by the Constitution to be applied to the extinguishment of the canal debt, and the general fund debt, and for the necessary expenses of government, shall be applied in each fiscal year to the completion of the Erie Canal enlargement and the Genesee Valley and Black River Canals, in the manner hereinafter directed, until the said enlargement and the said canals shall be completed.

SECTION 2. The Comptroller shall cause to be prepared certificates, to be denominated "Canal Revenue Certificates," in the manner specified in the second section of chapter three hundred and twenty of the laws of one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, and of the denominations therein specified, except that the same may be in any sums not less than fifty dollars, which shall purport on their face to be issued by virtue of this act, and without any other liability, obligation, or pledge on the part of this State, than such as is contained in this act of the surplus revenues of the canals, and is to be redeemed, and the interest thereon to be satisfied as provided in this act. Such certificates shall be made payable at such time, not exceeding twenty-one years from the time of their issue as the Comptroller shall designate as being the period when, in his judgment, the revenues provided by this act, will be sufficient for their redemption, and the payment of the interest thereon; and they shall bear an interest of not exceeding six per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually, on such days, and at such places as the Comptroller shall direct. All the existing provisions of law in relation to certificates of stock issued by, or under the authority of the commissioners of the canal fund, so far as they are applicable, shall extend and be applied to the said Canal Revenue Certificates, and all the powers and duties of the Commissioners of the Canal Fund in respect to the certificates of stock issued by the State, under their direction shall devolve upon, and be performed by the Comptroller, in relation to the Canal Revenue Certificates authorized by this act. The said certificates shall be in the following form :

CANAL REVENUE CERTIFICATES.

day of dollars, on the

per cent. per anday of

This certificate is issued under the authority of an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, entitled, “ An Act to provide for the completion of the Erie Canal enlargement and the Genesee Valley and Black River Canals," passed the 1851, and entitles or assigns, to receive day of 18; and the interest thereon, at the rate of num, semi-annually, on the day of and the in each year, until the time when the principal sum will be receivable at provided in the said act, without any obligation, liability, or pledge on the part of the State of New York, than such as is contained in the said act. Dated this And they shall be signed by the Comptroller, officially and countersigned by any transfer agent appointed by hlm.

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as

SECTION 3. The surplus revenue specified in the first section of this act, which have, and may accrue in the years 1851, 1852, 1853, and 1854, shall be applied to the completion of the Erie Canal Enlargement, and the Genesee Valley and Black River Canals, until the same shall be completed. After the close of the fiscal year, in 1854, or at such earlier period as the said enlargement and canals shall be declared by the Canal Board to be completed, the whole of the said surplus revenue specified in the first section of this act, as the same shall be ascertained at the end of each fiscal year, shall constitute a separate fund for, and be applied to the payment of interest on the said canal revenue certificates so issued by the Comptroller, as the same shall fall due, and to the redemption of the said certificates as they shall become redeemable, or to the purchase of such certificates as hereinafter provided; and as soon as the amount of such sur

plus shall be ascertained in every fiscal year, the Auditor of the Canal Department shall by his warrant on the Treasury, transfer the same to the credit of the said fund, until a sufficient sum shall have been thus transferred, and safely invested to redeem all the Canal Revenue Certificates, issued under this act, and to pay the interest thereon, such sufficiency and safety to be certified by the Commissioners of the Canal Fund.

SEC. 4. The Comptroller and Treasurer shall keep proper accounts of the said fund, separate and distinct from all other funds, and shall annually report to the Legislature the condition thereof. The Comptroller shall from time to time draw his warrant on the Treasurer, payable out of the said fund only, for the payment of interest on the said canal revenue certificates, as the same shall become due; and also for the redemption of the said certificates, as they shall become redeemable, and for the purchase of such certificate as herein provided, and for the investment of any part of the said fund, and for the payment of the expenses of preparing, issuing and transferring such certificates.

SEC 5. The Comptroller shall, from time to time, invest any part of the said fund, which may not be required for immediate application, to the interest or principal sum of the said Canal Revenue Certificates, in any stocks for the payment of which the faith of this state is or may be pledged; or in the manner provided by law, for the investment of the capital of the common school fund; and he may, from time to time, purchase any canal revenue certificates issued under this act, on such terms as the Commissioners of the Canal Fund shall judge to be most advantageous to the fund hereby created; and he shall in like manner invest any income or interest arising from any investment so made by him.

SEC. 6. The Canal Revenue Certificates issued according to the provisions of this act, shall be received from any person or association of persons, formed for the purpose of banking, and intending to conduct banking operations under the laws of this state, for circulating notes to be delivered to such person or association, in the same manner, upon the same terms, and to the same extent as now provided by law, in respect to the public stocks issued by this state, and the said certificates may also be received from any insurance company organized in any other state, in compliance with any law requiring the deposit of certificates of stock as security for the performance of the undertakings of such company.

SEC. 7. The Comptroller shall sell canal revenue certificates issued as herein provided, to the amount of three millions of dollars, within one year after the passage of this act, and within the second year after the passage of this act, to the further amount of three millions of dollars; and within three years after the passage of this act, to such further amount, not exceeding three millions of dollars, as shall be certified by the Canal Board to be necessary for the final completion of the Erie Canal Enlargement and the Genesee Valley and Black River Canals, if such sales can be made for the full amount of the principal sum for which the said certificates shall be issued respectively. The same notice of all such sales shall be given by the Comptroller, as is now prescribed by law, in relation to notices of loans to be made by the Commissioners of the Canal Fund. SEC. 8. The avails of all sales of the said certificates, together with all premiums received thereon, shall be immediately paid into the Treasury of the State, and the same, together with all interest that shall accrue on the deposit of such avails, shall be applied exclusively to the Erie Canal Enlargement and the Genesee Valley and Black River Canals, in the same manner as is or may be provided by law, in respect to the canal revenues, and to the payment of interest on the certificates aforesaid, as herein provided; and the sum of three million five hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of such avails, premiums and interest, and the surplus revenues of the State canals, as hereinbefore provided, on the warrant of the Auditor of the Canal Department, during the next year after the passage of this act; and the like sum of three million five hundred thousand dollars, as hereby appropriated, to be paid out of such avails, premiums, interest and surplus revenue and on the like warrant, during the second year next after the passage of this act, to be applied to the completion of the said enlargement and canals, and to be paid as the same may be required from time to time.

SEC. 9. The sum of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for the payment of the first year's interest on the Canal Revenue Certificates issued under this act, and the sum of three hundred and sixty thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for the payment of the second year's interest on the said certificates, to be paid by the Treasurer on the warrant of the Auditor of the Canal Department, out of the avails of the said certificates authorized by the act, and the premiums received thereon, and the interest that shall accrue on the deposit of such avails.

SEC. 10 If, at any time after the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, the Legislature shall direct the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or any part thereof out of the surplus revenues of the canals, to be applied to the necessary expenses of the government, as authorized by the third section of the seventh article of the Constitution, the sum so directed to be applied, shall from thenceforth cease to constitute any part of the fund hereby created for the payment of the interest and redemption of the principal of the Canal Revenue Certificates issued under this act, and such amount shall not be transferred to the credit of the said fund, so long as such direction shall continue.

SEC. 11. In each year after the present one, the Canal Board shall regulate and arrange the tolls on the canals of the state, in reference to the amount of articles transported thereon during the preceding year, so that the same amount of articles transported in the suceeeding year shall produce a sum sufficient to pay the expenses of collection, superintendence and ordinary repairs of the canals, and to satisfy the specific appropriations in the Constitution, for the payment of the canal debt, and the general fund debt, and for the necessary expenses of government, and also to produce a surplus of at least eight hundred thousand dollars in each year, until the completion of the Erie Canal Enlargement, and when the same shall be completed, sufficient to produce a surplus of least one million of dollars in each year, until a sufficient sum for the redemption of the Canal Revenue Certificates, authorized by this act, shall have been collected, and safely invested, to be certified by the Commissioners of the Canal Fund, as hereinbefore provided.

SEC. 12. The Canal Commissioners shall, upon such terms, and in such manner as the Canal Board shall direct and approve, contract for the completion of the enlargement of the Erie Canal, and the Genesee Valley and Black River Canals, first having public notice in the manner now required by law; but such contracts shall be awarded to such parties being of sufficient responsibility as shall agree to execute their work, so as to insure the completion of the Genesee Valley and Black River Canals, and the completion of the Erie Canal Enlargement by the opening of navigation in the spring of one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, on terms which shall, in the judgment of the Canal Board, be most safe and advantageous to the state. Such contracts shall contain a stipulation expressly limiting the liability of the state to the payment thereon, only of such surplus revenues as shall be constitutionally applicable to the completion of the said canals, and of the moneys realized from the sale of the certificates authorized by this act; and the Canal Board may authorize the payment for any portion of the work performed under said contracts, by delivering to the contractors, with their assent, the certificates authorized by this act, at not less than the par value thereof; provided, however, that the contracts for the completion of the whole of the work upon such canals, according to the plans and specifications adopted by the Canal Board, shall not exceed to the amount of ten per cent., the sum of ten millions five hundred and eight thousand one hundred and forty-one dollars, being the amount of the estimate for completing such canals, except for structures or work not included in the specifications and estimates, as contained in the report of the State Engineer and Surveyor, for the year one thous sand eight hundred and fifty-one, exclusive of land damages.

SEC. 13. This act shall take effect immediately.

The Financial Article of the Constitution

SEC. 1. After paying the expenses of collection, superintendence and ordinary repairs, there shall be appropriated and set apart in each fiscal year, out of the revenues of the State canals, commencing on the first day of June, one thousand eignt hundred and forty-six, the sum of one million and three hundred thousand dollars, until the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and from that time the sum of one million and seven hundred thousand dollars in each fiscal year, as a sinking fund, to pay the interest and redeem the principal of that part of the State debt called the canal debt, as it existed at the time first aforesaid, and including three hundred thousand dollars then to be borrowed, until the same shall be wholly paid; and the principal and income of the said sinking fund shall be sacredly applied to that purpose.

SEC. 2. After complying with the provisions of the first section of this article, there shall be appropriated and set apart out of the surplus revenues of the State Canals, in each fiscal year, commencing on the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, until the time when a sufficient sum shall have been appropriated and set apart, under the said first section, to pay the interest and extinguish the entire principal of the canal debt; and after that period, then the sum of one million and five hundred thousand dollars in each fiscal year, as a sinking fund, to pay the interest and redeem the principal of that part of the State debt called the General Fund debt, including the debt for loans of the State credit to railroad companies which have failed to pay the interest thereon, and also the contingent debt on State stocks loaned to incorporated companies which have hitherto paid the interest thereon, whenever and as far as any part thereof may become a charge on the Treasury or General Fund, until the same shall be wholly paid; and the principal and income of the said last mentioned sinking fund shall be sacredly applied to the purpose aforesaid; and if the payment of any part of the monies to the said sinking fund shall at any time be deferred, by reason of the priority recognized in the first section of this article, the sum so deferred, with quarterly interest thereon, at the then current rate, shall be paid to the last mentioned sinking fund, as soon as it can be done consistently with the just rights of the creditors holding said canal debt.

SEC. 3. After paying the said expenses of superintendence and repairs of the canals, and the sums apropriated by the first and second sections of this article, there shall be paid out of the surplus revenues of the canals, to the Treasury of the State, on or before the thirtieth day of September, in each year, for the use and benefit of the General Fund, such sum, not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars, as may be required to defray the necessary expenses of the State: and the remainder of the revenues of the said canals shall, in each fiscal year, be applied, in such manner as the Legislature shall direct, to the completion of the Erie Canal enlargement, and the Genesee Valley and Black River canals, until the said canals shall be completed.

If at any time after the period of eight years from the adoption of this Constitution, the revenues of the State, unappropriated by this article, shall not be sufficient to defray the necessary expenses of the government, without continuing or laying a direct tax, the Legislature may, at its discretion, supply the deficiency, in whole or in part, from the surplus revenues of the canals, after complying with the provisions of the first two sections of this article, for paying the interest and extinguishing the principal of the Canal and General Fund debt; but the sum thus appropriated from the surplus revenues of the canals shall not exceed annually three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, including the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, provided for by this section for the expenses of the government, until the General Fund debt shall be extinguished, or until the Erie Canal enlargement and Genesee Valley and Black River Canals shall be completed, and after that debt shall be paid, or the said canals shall be completed, then the sum of six hundred and seventy-two thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, may be annually appropriated to defray the expenses of the gov

ernment.