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. The first and second sections of this article having been fully complied with, no tolls shall hereafter be imposed on persons or property transported on the canals, but all boats navigating the canals, and the owners and masters thereof, shall be subject to such laws and regulations as have been or may hereafter be enacted concerning the navigation of the canals. The legislature shall annually, by equitable taxes, make provision for the expenses of the superintendence and repairs of the canals. The canal contracted

under the section hereby amerded, which on the first day of October, eighteen hundred and eighty, amounted to eight million nine hundred and eightytwo thousand two hundred dollars shall continue to be known as the canal debt, under article seven, section three of the constitution;" and the sinking fund applicable to the payment thereof, together with the contributions to be made thereto, shall continue to be known as the " canal debt sinking fund," and the principal and interest of said debt shall be met as provided in the fifth section of this article. All contracts for work or materials on any canals shall be made with the person who shall offer to do or provide

* Section 3, as amended by vote of the People, November 7, 1882.

the same at the lowest price with adequate security for their performance. No extra compensation shall be made to any contractor; but if, from any unforeseen cause, the terms of any contract shall prove to be unjust and oppressive, the canal board may, upon the application of the contractor cancel such contract.

The act of July 10, 1851, which provides for the borrowing of money upon canal revenue certificates payable out of the future surplus revenues after the completion of the canals, and for the application of the whole sum to the completion of the canals within three years, is repugnant to this section. Newell v. People, 3 N. Y., 83.

The act of 1851, imposing tolls on freight on railroads, payable to the Canal Commissioners is constitutional; such tolls are not part of the canal revenues. People v. N. Y. C. R. R. Co., 24 N. Y., 485.

The requirement that the contracts are to be let to the lowest bidder is not to be construed literally; the Commissioners have a discretion. People ex rel Frost v. Fay, 3 Lans. 398.

The act authorizing the Canal Board to take proof of the cost of work under contract, and in case it exceeds the contract price to specify the price to be paid, and directing payment accordingly, is unconstitutional. People ex rel. Sherrill v. Canal Board, 4 Lans. 272.

But the Legislature may, during or after the work, increase the prices or allow extra compensation. People ex rel. Williams v. Dayton, 55 N. Y. 367.

SEC. 4. The claims of the State against any incorporated company to pay the interest and redeem the principal of the stock of the State loaned or advanced to such company, shall be fairly enforced, and not released or compromised; and the moneys arising from such claim shall be set apart, and applied as part of the sinking fund provided in the second section of this article. But the time limited for the fulfillment of any condition of any release or compromise heretofore made or provided for, may be extended by law.

*SEC. 5. There shall annually be imposed and levied a tax which shall be sufficient to pay the interest and extinguish the principal of the canal debt mentioned in

* As amended by vote of the People, November 7, 1882.

the third section of this article, as the same shall become due and payable, and the proceeds of such tax shall, in each fiscal year, be appropriated and set apart for the sinking fund constituted for the payment of the principal and the interest of the aforesaid debt. But the legislature may, in its discretion, impose for the fiscal year, beginning on the first day of October, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, a State tax on each dollar of the valuation of the property in this State which may by law then be subject to taxation, sufficient, with the accumulations of the sinking fund applicable thereto, to pay in full both the principal and interest of the canal debt before mentioned, and the proceeds of such tax shall be appropriated and set apart for the sinking fund constituted for the payment of the principal and the interest of said debt. In the event of such action by the legislature, then the legislature shall, under the law directing the assessment and levy of such tax, make such provision for the retirement of the canal debt as it shall deem equitable and just to the creditors of the State.

*SEC. 6. The legislature shall not sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of the Erie canal, the Oswego canal, the Champlain canal, the Cayuga and Seneca canal, or the Black River canal, but they shall remain the property of the state and under its management forever. All funds that may be derived from any lease, sale, or other disposition of any canal shall be applied in payment of the canal debt mentioned in the third section of this article.

*As amended by vote of the People, Nov. 7, 1882.

No prescriptive right to use the waters of the canals can be acquired by any citizen, under this section. Burbank v. Fay, 5 Lans. 397.

SEC. 7. The legislature shall never sell or dispose of the Salt Springs, belonging to this State. The lands contiguous thereto and which may be necessary and convenient for the use of the Salt Springs, may be sold. by authority of law and under the direction of the Commissioners of the Land Office, for the purpose of investing the moneys arising therefrom in other lands alike convenient; but by such sale and purchase the aggregate quantity of these lands shall not be diminished.

SEC. 8. No moneys shall ever be paid out of the Treasury of this State, or any of its funds, or any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law; nor unless such payment be made within two years next after the passage of such appropriation act; and every such law making a new appropriation, or continuing or reviving an appropriation, shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient for such law to refer to any other law to fix such sum.

SEC. 9. The credit of the State shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned to, or in aid of any individual, association or corporation.

SEC. 10. The State may, to meet casual deficits or failures in revenues, or for expenses not provided for, con

tract debts, but such debts, direct and contingent, singly or in the aggregate, shall not, at any time, exceed one million of dollars; and the moneys arising from the loans creating such debts shall be applied to the pur pose for which they were obtained, or to repay the debt so contracted, and to no other purpose whatever.

SEC. 11. In addition to the above limited power to contract debts, the State may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in war; but the money arising from the contracting of such debts shall be applied to the purpose for which it was raised, or to repay such debts, and to no other purpose whatever.

SEC. 12. Except the debts specified in the tenth and eleventh sections of this article, no debts shall be hereafter contracted by or on behalf of this State, unless such debt shall be authorized by a law, for some single work or object, to be distinctly specified therein; and such law shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax to pay, and sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt within eighteen years from the time of the contracting thereof. No such law shall take effect until it shall, at a general election, have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it, at such election. On the final passage of such bill in either house of the Legislature, the question shall be taken by ayes and noes, to be duly entered on the journals thereof, and shall be: "Shall this bill pass, and ought the same to receive the sanction of the people?"