(49 



NEW YORK. 



The canal system has a lineal length of 900 

 miles, of which 352 are comprised in the Erie 

 canal. The value of the property transported 

 on all the New York canals since they were 

 opened amounts in the aggregate to $7,000,- 

 000,000. During the year up to December 

 Cth the total amount of grain and flour, 

 reckoning a barrel of flour as equivalent to 

 five bushels of grain, delivered at the luke- 

 ports was, 186,798,828 bushels; at New York, 

 86,581,674 bushels; at the seaboard ports, 

 163,579,511 bushels; the amount delivered at 

 tide-water by the Erie & Chatnplain Canals 

 was 49,264,700 bushels. Among the constitu- 

 tional amendments proposed by the commis- 

 sion, and yet to be acted upon by the 

 people, is one removing the restriction against 

 selling, leasing, or otherwise disposing of the 

 Ohenango Canal, the ChemungCanaL, and those 

 winch connect it with the Erie, and with Oa- 

 ynga Lake, and the Genesee Valley Canal, as 

 these are no longer considered an essential 

 ]>:irt of the system. Another proposed amend- 

 ment provides for funding the canal debt, and 

 that part of the general fund debt charged on 

 the canals. If this amendment is ratilie<l, the 

 Commissioners of the Canal Fund will be 

 authorized to borrow on the credit of the State 

 such sums as may be necessary to pay and 

 cancel the debt now charged on the canals as 

 the same shall full due, by the issue and sale of 

 bonds or certificates of stock having forty 

 years to run from their date, lionrinir interest 

 at the rate of 5 per cent per annum, payable 

 semi-annually, for the payment of the prin- 

 cipal, whereof at maturity a sinking fund ( 

 1 percent, per annum shall bo ostaldi-hed ; 

 and the Canal Board will be directed to fix 

 the toll* of the canals nt rates xnfficiir.'. a* ii'-ar 

 a mar be, to provide only for said sinking 

 fund the interest on the debt so created, and 

 the expense* of collection, superintendence and 

 keeping the canals in repair. 



A prize of $100,000 has been offered by the 

 State for a canal-boat propelled by steam, 

 which should attain a speed of not less than 

 three miles an hour. A trial-trip was made 



during the season from Syracuse to Albany, a 

 distance of 41 miles, for bouts competing Tor 

 the prize. A portion of the way one of the 

 boats made as high as 3J miles an hour, but 

 on the whole, the requirements of the law 

 offering the prize were not attained, and no 

 a \vurd was iiiude. 



The sinking fund set apart and pledged for 

 the payment of the interest and redemption of 

 the principal of the State debt atnonnts nom- 

 inally to $15,594,901.05, but in point of fuel 

 nearly two-thirds of this amount has been used 

 up in defraying the current expenses of the 

 government, in dirert violation of the con- 

 stitution. Up to the 26th of January, 1S74, 

 there had been assessed and should have been 

 paid into the Treasury to the credit of the 

 Bounty Debt Sinking Fund alone the sum of 

 $9,790,072.24. There was in point of fact in- 

 vested at that time to" its credit the sum of 

 $2,772,444.09; of which amount $2,220,200 

 wu-i invested during the year 1X7.'!, leaving a 

 balance to be invested when the same is rc- 

 1 into the Trensury from taxes assessed 

 nnd not yet paid, as of January 1. 1^74, of 

 $7,017,628.15 ; add to this the amount due tho 

 General Fund Debt Sinking Fund already paid 

 into the Treasury, and expended in anticipation 

 of tho taxes, as above stated, $8,988,526.40; 

 making the total amount due to these Sinking 

 Funds, and not yet invested, $11,006,154.55. 



A tax of 3^ mills was authorized in 1S72 to 

 meet the deficiencies of the Treasury. This 

 should produce over $7,000,000, but $4,600,- 

 000 remains uncollected. There is also unpaid 

 of the general tax of the same year $1." 

 000; there has been anticipated in the payment 

 of various appropriations of the tax authorized 

 in 1S73, $1,900,000, and thus the deficiency in 

 the Treasury still to be made good by taxation 

 is $1,500,000. 



On the 6th of May a decision was rendered 

 by tho Court of Appeals, declaring the de- 

 ficiency tax act of 1872 unconstitutional. The 

 court declared : 



No law authorizing a debt to be contracted can 

 take effect until assented to by the people, and but 



