Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/569



from on board any boat, scow, or other vessel, or water craft, or placed on either side of the said canal or basins for the purpose of being taken therefrom by any boat, scow, or other vessel, or water craft, wharfage, according to such rates as they, by any by-laws or regulations, may, from time to time, ordain and establish: Provided, That the said rates shall, at not time hereafter, and in no particular, exceed those charged on the same articles by the owners of private wharves in the said city. And it shall and may be lawful for the said mayor, aldermen, and common council, to demand and receive at the most convenient place, or places, for all articles carried along the said canal, tolls not exceeding the following rates, that is to say: for each unloaded boat, scow, or other vessel or water craft, twenty-five cents; for each barrel of flour, beef, or pork, two cents; for each barrel of whisky, brandy, or spirituous liquors, of any description, three cents; for each hogshead or pipe, six cents; and upon all other articles, packages, or commodities, not exceeding six cents for each ton; and after that rate for any article or quantity weighing less than one ton. And said mayor, aldermen, and common council, shall also have the exclusive right to establish a packet boat or boats on the said canal for the conveyance of passengers; and no other boat or boats for that purpose, except such as are established or permitted by them, shall be allowed to convey passengers on the said canal for hire. The tolls hereby granted shall be demandable on any boat, scow, vessel, or other water-craft, on any of the articles aforesaid for a passage through either of the locks, or along any part of the said canal, but the public property of the United States shall be landed, and pass free of wharfage and tolls.

. And be it further enacted, That the said mayor, aldermen, and common council, shall, from time to time, erect and keep in repair, all such bridge or bridges over the said canal, in each and every street crossing the same, as the convenience of the inhabitants of the city may require; which bridges shall be erected at least eight feet above high water, and of not less width than twenty-four feet, and be safe for the passage of footmen, horses, cattle, carriage, and loaded wagons.

. And be it further enacted, That the said mayor, aldermen, and common council, shall, annually, in the month of January, lay before Congress a true statement of the capital invested by them in the purchase, completion, and improvement, of the said canal and works, with the amount of their annual expenditures and receipts, so as to show the clear net profit by them so received on such investment; and if at any time the net profit shall happen to fall short of six per centum on the said capital so invested, it shall be lawful for them to increase the said rates of toll and wharfage in such manner as they may judge sufficient to produce six per centum per annum on the said investment; and should it so happen at any time that the net proceeds aforesaid shall exceed a rate of ten per centum per annum, they shall so reduce the said rates as not to produce a greater net profit than of the said rates of ten per centum. In estimating the amount of capital invested, the proceeds of sale of the real estate hereby granted to the said mayor, aldermen, and common council, to aid them in the execution of the works hereby required, shall not be included, but the amount of sales of the said property, showing what part thereof shall have been sold, and at what price each part of the said property shall have been sold, shall form part of the said annual report.

. And be it further enacted, That the said mayor, aldermen, and common council, shall not begin to collect wharfage or tolls, until the said canal and works shall have been wholly completed according to the provisions of this act, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for the time being, who is hereby authorized and required to give his certificate thereof, whenever, in his opinion, the same