government. His compensation shall be fixed by law and paid out of the public treasury.

21. Fees.-No judicial officer, except Justices of the Peace, shall receive to his own use any fees or perquisites of office; nor shall any Judge of the Court of Appeals, Justice of the Supreme Court, or Judge of a Court of Record in the cities of New York, Brooklyn or Buffalo, practise as an attorney or counselor in any Court of Record in this State, or act as referee.

22. Direct review.-The Legislature may authorize the judgments, decrees and decisions of any Court of Record of original civil jurisdiction, established in a city, to be removed for review directly into the Court of Appeals.

23. Publication free.-The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of all statutes, and also for the appointment by the Justices of the Supreme Court designated to hold general terms, of a reporter of the decisions of that court. All laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any person.

(Sections 24 and 25 were temporary provisions.)

26. Special sessions.-Courts of special sessions shall have such jurisdiction of offences of the grade of misdemeanors as may be prescribed by law.

27. Surrogates' courts.-For the relief of Surrogates' Courts, the Legislature may confer upon Conrts of Record, in any county having a population exceeding four hundred thousand, the powers and jurisdictions of Surrogates, with authority to try issues of fact by jury in probate causes.

28. Additional Justices.-The Legislature at the first session thereof after the adoption of this amendment,

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shall provide for organizing the supreme court not more than five general terms thereof; and for the election at the general election next after the adoption of this amendment, by the electors of the judicial districts mentioned in this section, respectively, of not more than two justices of the supreme court in addition to the justices of that court now in office in the first, fifth, seventh and eighth, and not more than one justice of that court in the second, third, fourth and sixth judicial districts. The justices so elected shall be invested with their offices on the first Monday of June next after their election.

ARTICLE VII.-State Debts.

1. Canal debt.-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, in each year, commencing on the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and 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.

2. General fund debt.-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 moneys 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.

3. The canals.—The first and second sections of this article having been fully complied with, no tolls shall hereafter be imposed on persons or property transported

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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 debt contracted under the section hereby amended, which on the first day of October, eighteen hundred and eighty, amounted to eight million nine hundred and eighty-two 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 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 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.

4. State loans.-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 fulfilment of any condition of any release or compromise heretofore made or provided for, may be extended by law.

5. Taxation.-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 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 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 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.

6. Canals. 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