every person to whom money has been paid and the purpose for which it was paid.

The whole number of vessels, steam and sail, that have passed through the Canal from and including the third day of May last, up to and including the 25th day of November, inst., is 527, (not including government vessels from which no tolls are collected). The aggregate tonnage of these vessels is 276,639 tons, which, at six cents per ton, would amount to $16,598 34. The balance received, $73 82, was from small boats without any particular tonnage.

By the following table, showing the receipts, the expenses, the average expenses for two years, the amount deposited, &c., for each year since the opening of the Canal, you will see that the receipts for this year are one-third less than they were last, yet while nearly the same amount has been expended upon the embankment, the expenses are over one-third less than they were last year. And if you add to the expenses of the Superintendent last year the expenses of the former Board of Contol, and add the expenses of the Board of Control this year to my expenses, you will see that the net gain to the fund this year, with receipts from all sources of $16,672 16, is $123 95 more than it was last year with receipts from all sources of $25,582 80.

The present Board of Control are entitled to much credit for the economical manner in which they have looked after the affairs of the Canal.

The annexed table, marked- A, will show a comparative statement of receipts, expenses, average expenses for two years, amount deposited, amount expended on embankment, amount in office in the autumn and spring, amount delivered to successor, the name of cach Superintendent, and the expenses of each and every Board of Control since the Canal was opened.

Perhaps an explanation is necessary in regard to receipts and expenses, under Superintendent S. P. Mead. In his annual report for 1860, he sets down his receipts from all sources, at $25,461 98, up to the 1st of December of that year; but after

that time he received $117 82 in tolls, which was not included in the above amount. He reports his expenses for the year as follows:

These amounts should be, and are in my table, set down as espenses, for he not only expended the above named sums, (excepting the $32 97 delivered to me,) but contracted a debt of $62 00 besides, which I have paid by order of the Board of Control, and should therefore be deducted from my estimated expenses, because it is included. That I may be understood correctly, I will make another statement of his last year's

Making his expenses,...

Less amount paid over to me,...

Which would leave as expenses for year,..... $9.736 70

It will be seen that the expenses of each Superintendent are greater the second year. This is partly in consequence of the painting of locks, gates, snubbing posts, and houses every two years, and the second year of each term. But in my case the expenses will probably be no more next than they have been this year, for the reason that I have purchased the paint and oil, which are included in this year's expenses. I purchased them this fall, because the painting has to be done before the

opening of navigation, at a time when the materials for painting would cost far more here than in Detroit, where I obtained them.

With great care and labor I have made the following table, in order to show a comparative statement for the past season, by the month, showing the number and tonnage of each class of vessels, separately; also one marked table "B," showing the number of tons of copper, iron, coal, flour, &c., that have passed through the Canal. I have given the number of each class of vessels, for the month, for the purpose of informing you, and through you, the people of the State, which class runs most regularly and pays the most tolls, and furnish facts that seem to favor the giving of steam vessels, that run in this trade and no other, the preference as to passage through the Canal.

You will see by this table that the number of propellers and side-wheel steamers are about the same every month, from the opening of navigation in the spring, until October, near the close, and that the sail vessels only run on this route in June, July and August, at a time when they cannot get freight any. where clse. Of the 232 sail vessels, with a tonnage of 69,720 tons, and paying tolls to the amount of $4,183 20, two hundred passed in the months of June, July, and August; while the steamers, numbering 295, with a tonnage of 206,913 tons, and paying tolls to the amount of $12,414 78, are very nearly equally distributed through the months of May, June, July, August, September and October. While you receive from 232 sail vessels $4,183 20, you receive from 295 steam vessels the sum of $12,414 78. I am satisfied that it costs just as much, if not more, to lock the above number of sail vessels,

that it does the above number of steamers. I, of course, include damage to lock gates, piers, embankments, and time of locking. Now, if the steamers should all pass, or try to, in the months of June, July and August, the capacity of the Ca nal would not be sufficient.

The time is not far distant when a policy will have to be inaugurated that will secure a regular line of vessels that will run on this route and no other from the opening of navigation till the close. I will mention another reason why steam vessels should have the preference as to passage through the Canaly Almost every sail vessel carries one-quarter more burden than her enrolled tonnage, while the steam vessels, on account of the space occupied by their machinery and coal, never carry to exceed one-half of their enrolled tonnage, except the propellers, which carry usually within one-quarter of their enrolled tonnage. The steamer North Star, for instance, is enrolled at 1,106 tons, and pays tolls to the amount of $66 36 every time she passes through the Canal, and never carries over 500 tons of freight. The "Star" is not an exception. The rule holds good in the case of all side wheel steamers. The steamers carry passengers and the mail, and run on this line and no other, with or without freight. The reason why steam vessels are easier and more quickly locked, is this, they can handle themselves in the locks. When the gates are opened, they pass on; but the sail vessels very often have to be drawn from one lock to the other by hand. Also in passing in and out of the Canal they have to be managed and controlled by hand, and consequently collisions are frequent and unavoidable with the gates, canal walls and piers.

It may be interesting to you and the people of the State, to know where these vessels are owned, and thus determine who pays the tolls-the expenses of the Canal.

The sail vessels, with one or two exceptions, are owned by parties out of the State, if I am to judge by their place of enrollment. Two of the propellers, the Iron City and Northern Light, are owned or enrolled at Cleveland, Ohio. Also the

side-wheel steamer North Star. The balance, the steamers City of Cleveland. Illinois, Cleveland, Planet, Michigan, and the Sea Bird, and propellers Globe, Mineral Rock, and General Taylor, are owned in this State.

The tonnage of vessels supposed to be owned in this State, is 149,855 tons, and have paid tolls to the amount of $8,991 30. Tonnage, supposed to be owned out of the State, from the place of enrollment, 126,778 tons, paying tolls to the amount of $7,606 58

It would appear that the tonnage, and therefore the tolls, are about equally divided between the people of this State and the people of other States. The difference, however, of 23,077 tons, and tolls of $1,384 62 is in favor of Michigan.

It will no longer be claimed that Michigan pays but a frac tion of the tolls, and therefore should not have the legal right to control and manage the Canal according to the best interests of all concerned.

In compliance with your suggestion, I expended considerable money and labor last Spring in removing timbers, loose stones, and dirt from the Canal and locks, repairing the gates and valves, and in consequence of this, there have been no delays in the passage of vessels through the Canal from the opening to the close of navigation.

The lock hands have been employed on the embankment the whole season when not engaged in locking. We have added six thousand square yards of stone and earth to the embankment and have laid a slope wall on the south bank from the lower lock to nearly opposite the tower on the upper lock, and covered the entire surface, which is seventy-five feet wide, with surface earth, and set out a large number of trees. I have also laid in this embankment, from six to twelve feet below the surface, a water conductor, by means of which the houses are supplied with water. We have also crected a temporary fountain just west of the lower house. This expense could and would have been dispensed with this year, but it is an improvement that is not only economically beneficial, but very orna