Supreme Court, be hereafter filled by appointment?" If a majority of the votes upon the question shall be in the affirmative, the said officers shall not thereafter be elective, but, as vacancies occur, they shall be filled by appointment by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; or if the Senate be not in session, by the Governor; but in such case he shall nominate to the Senate when next convened, and such appointment by the Governor alone shall expire at the end of that session. Second, "Shall the offices of the judges mentioned in sections twelve and fifteen of article six of the Constitution, be hereafter filled by appointment?" If a majority of the votes upon the question shall be in the affirmative, the said officers shall not thereafter be elective, but, as vacancies occur, they shall be filled in the manner in this section above provided.

Sec. 18. The electors of the several towns shall, at their annual town meeting, and in such manner as the Legislature may direct, elect justices of the peace, whose term of office shall be four years. In case of an election to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of a full term, they shall hold for the residue of the unexpired term. Their number and classification may be regulated by law. Justices of the peace, and judges or justices of inferior courts not of record and their clerks, may be removed, after due notice and an opportunity of being heard by such courts as may be prescribed by law, for causes to be assigned in the order of removal. Justices of the peace and District Court jus tices shall be elected in the different cities of this State, in such manner, and with such powers, and for such terms, respectively, as shall be' prescribed by law; all other judicial officers in cities, whose election or appointment is not otherwise provided for in this article, shall be chosen by the electors of cities, or appointed by some local authorities thereof.

Sec. 19. Inferior local courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction may be established by the Legislature; and except as herein otherwise provided, all judicial officers shall be elected or appointed at such times, and in such manner, as the Legislature may direct. Sec. 20. Clerks of the several counties shall be clerks of the Supreme Court, with such powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law. The clerk of the Court of Appeals shall keep his office at the seat of government. His compensation shall he fixed by law and paid out of the public treasury.

Sec. 21. 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, practice as an attorney or counselor in any court of record in this State, or act as referee.

Sec. 22. 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.

Sec. 23. The Legislature shall provide for the speedy publi cation 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.

Sec. 24. The first election of judges of the Court of Appeals, and of the three additional judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the city and county of New York shall take place on such day, between the first Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday in June next after the adoption of this article, as may be provided by law. The Court of Appeals, the Commissioners of Appeals, and the additional judges of the said Court of Common Pleas, shall respectively enter upon their duties on the first Monday of July thereafter.

Sec. 25. Surrogates, justices of the peace and local judicial officers provided for in section sixteen, in office when this article shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until the expiration of their terms.

Sec. 26. Courts of Special Sessions shall have such jurisdiction of offenses of the grade of misdemeanors as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 27. For the relief of Surrogates' Courts, the Legislature may confer upon courts of record, in any county having a popu lation exceeding four hundred thousand, the powers and jurisdic tion of surrogates, with authority to try issues of fact by jury in probate causes.

Sec. 28. The Court of Appeals may order any of the causes, not exceeding five hundred in number, pending in that court at the time of the adoption of this provision, to be heard and deter

mined by the Commissioners of Appeals, and the Legislature may extend the term of service of the Commissioners of Appeals, not exceeding two years..

*Sec. 28. The Legislature, at the first session thereof after the adoption of this amendment, shall provide for organizing in 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.

Section 1. 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 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.

Sec. 2. After complying with the provisions of the first séc tion 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 * So in the original.

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.

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 navi gating 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 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 canal 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.

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 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 Legis lature 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 the State which may by law then be subject to taxation, suffi cient 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.

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.

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 direc tion of the Commissioners of the Land Office, for the purpose of