Section 2. Canal appropriations; state debts

Canal appropriations; state debts

After complying with the provisions of the first section of this article there shall he 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.