626 



FARMERS' REGISTER— RAIL ROADS, &c. 



Actual amount of Revenue received in 1833 from 

 all sources. 

 Tolls, S 1,324,421 63 



Vendue duty, 181,014 23 



Salt duty, 227,860 05 



Interest, &c. 141,318 60 



Expenditures. 

 Interest, S 337,794 88 



Repairs, 330,759 44 



Sundries, 50,898 76 



1,814,614 41 



739,433 08 



Nett revenue, $1,135,161 33 



Surplus Funds 

 Interest, !g356,794 88 



Purchase of stock, 



(part payable in 



1845,) 1,566,310 03 



Superintendants, 330,759 44 



$4,930,915 15 



Sundries, 



$2,253,864 35 

 74,454 04 



Balance to be applied (1833) to 

 debt. 



2,328,318 39 



2,602,594 76 



Balance due for canals (1833,) $2,920,064 53 



" If the annual receipts for three years to come 

 should equal the revenue for the year embraced in 

 this report, there will be funds sufficient to pay off 

 the entire debt contracted for the construction of 

 the Erie and Champlain canals, nine years before 

 the latest period fixed by the state for the redemp- 

 tion of the stock. 



"We quote the following paragraphs from the 

 report : 



"Redemption of Canal Stock. 



" From the foregoing statement it will be seen 

 that since the last annual report, the commission- 

 ers have purchased and cancelled $1,478,376 57 

 of the stock issued for the construction of the Erie 

 and Chami)lain canals. 



" The 7th sec. title 2d, of chap. 9th of the 1st 

 part of the Revised Statutes, provides that 'the 

 commissioners of the canai fund shall, from time 

 to time, apply the surplus revenues of the canal 

 fund, after paying tlie interest of the canal debt, to 

 the purchase of canal stock of this stale, if in their 

 opinion such stock can be purchased upon advan- 

 tageous terms ; and the certificates of stock so 

 purchased shall be cancelled. 



" The commissioners have for several years 

 been desirous of applying the surplus funds in 

 their hands to the redemption of the debt, in con - 

 formity with the requirements of the section above 

 quoted. Their views upon this subject have been 

 presented to the legislature from year to year, in 

 their annual reports. 



" The surplus moneys which have been rapidly 

 accumulating since 1826, amounted, on the 30th 

 September, 1832, as stated in the lust annual re- 

 port, to the sum of $3,055,247 65. This great 

 accumulation of funds in the hands of the com- 

 missioners, with the prospect of having this sum 

 increased, by the ordmary receipts, to at least six 



millions of dollars, before any portion of the debt 

 would be payable, has been a source of much soli- 

 citude to the commissioners; and they have been 

 so fully impressed with the importance of availing 

 themselves of the first, and of every opportunity to 

 purchase and cancel the stock, that all the loans and 

 deposites of the surplus moneys have been made 

 with reference to this object. 



" The commissioners were so strongly Impresi- 

 ed with the importance of applying the surplus 

 funds to the payment of the canal debt, that they 

 determined in January last to redeem the stock, 

 whenever it could be obtained on such terms as 

 would render the purchase equal to an investment 

 at an interest of about 3^ percent. 



" This determination of the commissioners was 

 made known to other dealers in stocks ; and letters 

 were also addressed by the comptroller to a num- 

 ber of the stockholders whose residences were 

 known, offering the premiums before staled, as an 

 inducement for them to surrender the stock. 



" On the 1st of August, the stock of 1837, then 

 having about four years to run, the commissioners 

 resolved to reduce the premium one per cent, and 

 from that time, to the 1st of January, 1834, to pay 

 5 per cent, premium, and the current interest upon 

 the 5 per cent, stock, and 8 per cent, and interest 

 upon the 6 per cents.; and the comptroller, on the 

 7th of August, issued a circular, which was sent 

 to all the stockholders whose residences could be 

 ascertained. 



" The efforts of the commissioners to obtain the 

 stock were so successful, that the funds in the ge- 

 neral depositing banks were soon exhausted, and 

 it became necessary to draw ujjon the monies 

 which were on deposite at an interest of 4| per 

 cent. At this rate of interest, upon a calculation 

 merely arithmetical, it would appear less favora- 

 ble to the interests of the stale to purchase the 

 stock at the premiums paid, than to continue the 

 deposites in the banks. But iFie extinguishment 

 of the state debt, always a desirable object, is pe- 

 culiarly important in the case of the canal debt, 

 from its connection, by a constitutional pledge, 

 with the regulation of the tolls and the application 

 of the canal revenues. These, and other conside- 

 rations, to some of which allusion has already been 

 made, far outweigh, in the opinion of the commis- 

 sioners, the apparent loss to the fund of about one 

 per cent, by the purchase, and are decisive in fa- 

 vor of the policy which has been pursued. It is 

 proper also to add, that the premiums paid, have 

 not in general exceeded the market value of the 

 stocks, and the commissioners had no alternative 

 between paying those prices and suffering the 

 funds to accumulate in their hands. 



Loans and Deposites of the Canal Fund Moneys. 



" Since the last annual report, loans have been 

 made from the surplus funds, at 5 per cent, inte- 

 rest, as follows : 



Ogdensburgh Bank at 5 per cent. $30,000 00 

 Bank of Albany, at 5 per cent. 50,000 00 

 Leather Manufacturers' Bank, N. 



Y. at 5 per cent. 50,000 00' 



Union Bank, N. Y. at 5 per cent 50,000 0& 

 Yates County Bank, at 5 per cent. 20,000 00 



Total, 



$200,000 00 



