JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY AND FINANCE.

NEW YORK STATE FINANCES, AND CORPORATIONS.

WE place on record such portions of the new Constitution of the State of New York, adopted by the Convention, which closed its session at Albany on the 9th of October, 1846, as have a bearing upon the public debt of the State, the liabilities of stockholders, corporations, &c. The new Constitution it is well known has received the sanction of a very large majority of the people of the State of New York, and the articles (7) on Finance, and (8) on Corporations, are considered of sufficient importance to republish in the pages of a commercial and financial work, for present and future reference.

ARTICLE VII.-FINANCE.

Sec. 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, commencing on the 1st day of June, 1846, the sum of one million and three hundred thousand dollars, until the 1st day of June, 1855, 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. 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 1st day of June, 1846, 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 the 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 puid; 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 said 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. After paying the said expenses of superintendence and repairs of the canals, and the sum appropriated by the first and second sections of this article, there shall be paid out of the surplus revenues of the canals, to the treasurer of the state, on or before the 30th day of September, in each year, for the use and benefit of the general fund, such sum, not exceeding $200,000, as may be required to defray the necessary expenses of the state; and the remainder of the revenues of the said canals shall, in each fiscal year, be applied, in such manner as the legislature shall direct, to the completion of the Erie canal enlargement, and the Genesee Valley and Black River canals, until the said canals shall be completed. If at any time after the period of eight years from the adoption of this constitution, the revenues of the state, unappropriated by this article, shall not be sufficient to defray the necessary expenses of the government, without continuing or laying a direct tax, the legislature may, at its discretion, supply the deficiency in whole or in part from the surplus revenues of the canals, after complying with the provisions of the first two sections of this article, for paying the interest and extinguishing the principal of the canal and general fund debt; but the sum thus appropriated from the surplus revenues of the canals shall not exceed annually $359,000, including the sum of $200,000, provided for by this section for the expenses of the government, until the general fund debt shall be extinguished, or until the Erie canal enlargement and Genesee Valley and Black River canals shall be completed; and after that debt shall be paid, or the said canals shall be completed, then the sum of $672,500, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, may be annually appropriated to defray the expenses of the government.

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 claims 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. If the sinking funds, or either of them provided in this article, shall prove insufficient to enable the state, on the credit of such fund, to procure the means to satisfy the claims of the creditors of the state, as they become payable, the legislature shall, by equitable taxes, so increase the revenues of the said funds as to make them, respectively, sufficient perfectly to preserve the public faith. Every contribution or advance to the canals, or their debt, from any source, other than the direct revenues, shall, with quarterly interest, at the rates then current, be repaid into the treasury, for the use of the state, out of the canal revenues, as soon as it can be done consistently with the just rights of the creditors holding the said canal debt.

6. The legislature shall not sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of any of the canals of the state; but they shall remain the property of the state, and under its management, forever. 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 direction of the commissioners of the land office, for the purpose of investing the moneys arising therefrom in other lands alike convenient; but by such sale and purchase the aggregate quantity of these lands shall not be diminished. +

8. No moneys shall ever be paid out of the treasury of this state, or any of its funds, or any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law; nor unless such payment be made within two years next after the passage of such appropriation act; and every such law making a new appropriation, or continuing or reviving an appropriation, shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient for such law to refer to any other law to fix such sum.

9. The credit of the state shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned to, or in aid of any individual, association or corporation.

10. The state may, to meet casual deficits or failures in revenues, or for expenses not provided for, contract debts; but such debts, direct and contingent, singly, or in the aggregate, shall not, at any time, exceed one million of dollars; and the moneys arising from the loans creating such debts, shall be applied to the purpose for which they were obtained, or to repay the debt so contracted, and to no other purpose whatever.

11. In addition to the above limited power to contract debts, the state may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the state in war; but the money arising from the contracting of such debts shall be applied to the purpose for which it was raised, or to repay such debts, and to no other purpose whatever.

12. Except the debts specified in the tenth and eleventh sections of this article, no debt shall hereafter be contracted by or on behalf of this state, unless such debt shall be authorized by a law for some single work or object, to be distinctly specified therein, and such law shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax to pay, and sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt within eighteen years from the time of the contracting thereof.

No such law shall take effect until it shall, at a general election, have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it, at such clection.

On the final passage of such bill in either House of the legislature, the question shall be taken by ayes and noes, to be duly entered on the journals thereof, and shall be: "Shall this bill pass, and ought the same to receive the sanction of the people?"

The legislature may at any time, after the approval of such law by the people, if no debt shall have been contracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the same; and may at any time, by law, forbid the contracting of any further debt or liability under such law; but the tax imposed by such act, in proportion to the debt and liability which may have been contracted in pursuance of such law, shall remain in force and be irrepealable, and be annually collected until the proceeds thereof shall have made the provision herein before specified, to pay and discharge the interest and principal of such debt and liability.

The money arising from any loan or stock creating such debt or liability, shall be applied to the work or object specified in the act authorizing such debt or liability, or for the re-payment of such debt or liability, and for no other purpose whatever.

No such law shall be submitted to be voted on, within three months after its passage, or

at any general election, when any other law or any bill or any amendment to the constitution, shall be submitted to be voted for or against.

13. Every law which imposes, continues or revives a tax, shall distinctly state the tax, and the object to which it is to be applied, and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object.

14. On the final passage in either House of the legislature, of every act which imposes, continues or revives a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or makes, continues or revives any appropriation of public or trust-money or property, or releases, discharges or commutes any claim or demand of the state, the question shall be taken by ayes and noes, which shall be duly entered on the journals, and three-fifths of all the members elected to either House, shall, in all such cases, be necessary to constitute a quorum therein.

ARTICLE VIII.-CORPORATIONS.

Sec. 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws; but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where, in the judgment of the legislature, the objects of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws. All general laws and special acts passed pursuant to this section, may be altered from time to time, or repealed. 2. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators and other means as may be prescribed by law.

3. The term corporations, as used in this article, shall be construed to include all associations and joint-stock companies having any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. And all corporations shall have the right to sue, and shall be subject to be sued, in all courts, in like cases as natural persons.

4. The legislature shall have no power to pass any act granting any special charter for banking purposes; but corporations or associations may be formed for such purposes under general laws.

5. The legislature shall have no power to pass any law sanctioning in any manner, directly or indirectly, the suspension of specie payments by any person, association or corporation issuing bank-notes of any description.

6. The legislature shall provide by law for the registry of all bills or notes, issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require ample security for the redemption of the same in specie.

7. The stockholders in every corporation and joint-stock association for banking purposes, issuing bank-notes or any kind of paper credits to circulate as money, after the 1st day of January, 1850, shall be individually responsible to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in any such corporation or association, for all its debts and lia. bilities of every kind, contracted after the said 1 day of January, 1850.

8. In case of insolvency of any bank or banking association, the bill-holders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment, over all other creditors of such bank or association.

9. It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide for the organization of cities and incorporated villages, and especially to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts and loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses in assessments and in contracting debt by such municipal corporations.

PRICES OF STOCKS AT PHILADELPHIA, IN 1836 AND 1846. The Philadelphia Ledger publishes the following comparative table, showing the prices of stocks in that city ten years ago, and at the present time. We frequently hear of the mutability of human affairs, and we place this table on record as an illustration of the "mutability" of commercial matters :—

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

THE PROCESS OF UNDERWRITING IN GREAT BRITAIN.

We give below some interesting particulars of the process of underwriting in the United Kingdom, derived from a late number of the "Liverpool Albion.”

"To render the process of underwriting (in England) as intelligible as possible, we may suppose a case for the purpose of illustration. Suppose a vessel of the class A 1, registered for seven or ten years, be valued at £20,000 or £30,000, a policy is effected upon her, and the owners or their brokers go among their friends at Lloyd's, and see at what rate she can be insured. If the voyage be a distant one, or the season of the year be considered dangerous, the rate will most materially vary. Thus, at one time, a premium of £1 18. or £2 28. per cent might be taken, and at another time the underwriter would perhaps not be inclined to do business under £3 38. or £4 48. per cent, it not only depending on the class of the ship, but the cargo she is likely to carry, and the port for which she is bound. These are all considerations which the underwriter most carefully weighs in his mind before he takes any part or risk in an adventure of the sort. On a vessel of £20,000 or £30,000 value, the policy of insurance might be divided among a dozen of underwriters, including some at Liverpool and Glasgow; and it very often happens that the Liverpool and Glasgow people will insure their ships at London, and vice versa. This will account for the statement occasionally to be seen in the papers that "notwithstanding the vessel was a London trader, the greater part of the loss will fall upon the underwriters of Liverpool and Glasgow." When a vessel continues absent after the expected date of arrival, and no news has been received of her, the premium of insurance will advance considerably, and then the business resolves itself into a mere speculative transaction.

"Some of the members of the room snap at this business, but it does not often prove profitable. The ill-fated President was "done" at a very high premium in the room, and up to the latest moment of hope persons were found willing enough" to take a few thousand pounds of her at a long price." When bad weather has occurred, either on the coast or abroad, the underwriters at Lloyd's make the most anxious investigation of the books and the lists received, to trace, by every possible means, the result of their risks. The remark of " a good book," or "a bad book," among the subscribers, is a sure index to the prospects of the day,-the one being indicative of premiums to be received, the other of losses to be paid. The life of the underwriter (like the stock speculator) is one of vast anxiety; the events of the day often raising his expectations to the highest, or depressing them to the lowest pitch; and years are often spent in the hoped-for acquisition of that which he never obtains. Among the old stagers of the room, there is often strong antipathy expressed against the insurance of certain ships, but we never recollect it being followed out to such an extent as in the case of one vessel. She was a steady trader, named after one of the most venerable members of the room, and it was a most curious coincidence that he invariably refused to "write her" for "a single line." Often he was joked upon the subject, and pressed "to do a little" on his namesake, but he as frequently declined, shaking his head in a doubtful manner. One morning, the subscribers were reading the "double lines," or the losses, and among them was this identical ship, which had gone to pieces, and become a total wreck."

EMIGRATION FROM GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

The total number of emigrants in 1845, was 93,501; in 1844, it was 70,686. The emigration of 1845 exceeded that of 1844, by 22,815. The amount of emigration in 1845 exceeded the amount in any one year since 1825, (inclusive,) except 1832 (103,140 emigrants;) 1840 (90,743 ;) 1841 (118,592;) and 1842 (128,344.) In 1843, the yearly total sunk from the last mentioned enormous sum to 57,212, but has since been steadily increasing again. The increase in 1845 over 1844, is principally in the emigrants to the United States and the British North American colonies. To the former there emigrated, in 1841, 43,660 persons; in 1845, 58,538 persons; the emigrants to the latter amounted in 1844, to 22,926; in 1845, to 31,803. The emigration to the Australian colonies decreased; in 1844, it was 2,229; in 1845, only 830. To the Cape of Good Hope there is an increase from 161 in 1844, to 496 in 1845. Emigration from the United Kingdom to the West Indies has also increased, from 596 in 1844, to 854 in 1845. Of these emigrants, only 5,604 were cabin passengers.

COMMERCE AND THE OPIUM TRADE AT HONG KONG.

George Davidson, the author of "Trade and Travel in the East," spent twelve months in Hong Kong, and thus speaks of its advantages as a place of trade. The morality of his remarks as to the opium trade, are rather questionable:

"A decisive proof of the eligibility of Hong Kong as a place of trade, and of its importance in the eyes of the Chinese themselves, is afforded by the immense sums paid by some of them for ground on which to build Hongs, where they can deposit their goods with safety, beyond the reach of their grasping mandarins. This advantage to a Chinaman is something so new, and so far beyond anything he ever dreamed of enjoying, that I conceive the benefits likely to accrue from it to Hong Kong to be incalculable.

"Goods stored in Canton or Macao, the property of a Chinaman, were never safe in the event of their owner getting into trouble with the Chinese authorities; and, if the property of foreigners, they could not be insured against fire, the risk arising from the universal carelessness of the Chinese, and the consequent very frequent occurrence of extensive conflagrations, being considered too great by the underwriters. Both these difficulties are completely obviated in Hong Kong, and every substantially built house and warehouse, together with the property in them, were insured against fire, previously to my quitting the island. One Chinaman had in March last, completed buildings for the storage of property collected from the different ports on the coast, on which upwards of $40,000 had been laid out, and what is more, they were already well filled.

"As a convenient and safe depot for opium, (a trade, in my opinion, quite as legitimate and honorable as that in brandy, gin, and other spirits,) Hong Kong is admirably situated. The purchaser from the western ports as well as from the northeastern, finds the distance he has to travel moderate, and, on his arrival, has no one to dread, no mandarin daring to show his face on shore. The ships that bring the drug from India here find a safe and commodious harbor, where they can unload their cargoes in open day, without hindrance or molestation, and where they are not driven to the necessity of carrying on their operations in the dark. Were the opium trade actually one of mere smuggling, I would be as ready as any one to condemn it, and to raise my voice against those concerned in it ; but when one considers that not a hundredth part of the quantity sold annually is really smuggled that ninety-nine chests out of every hundred pay a heavy duty (miscalled a bribe,)—that the Chinese government derives from it, indirectly, but not the less certainly, a very considerable revenue-and finally, that large quantities of it are known to be consumed within the walls of the imperial palace at Pekin, I confess I see no reason for the clamorous indignation with which the traffic has of late been assailed by European moralists."

IMPORT OF CURED PROVISIONS INTO ENGLAND.

Mr. Grogan (Dublin) has obtained a Parliamentary return showing the quantities of cured provisions imported into the United Kingdom from foreign countries for the half year ended the 5th of January, 1846. It appears that the total import of salted beef was 38,201 cwt.; of salted pork, 15,709 cwt.; of hams, 3,006 cwt.; and of bacon, 38 cwt. The largest import was from the United States of America-31,000 cwt. of salted beef, and 5,720 cwt. of salted pork, in the half year. The quantities retained for home consumption, were 1,106 cwt. of salted beef, on which a duty of £300 was paid; 266 cwt. of salted pork, the duty on which was £102; 1,134 cwt. of hams, on which the duty was £761; and 39 cwt. of bacon, at £8 duty. The quantities re-exported from the United Kingdoms as merchandise, were-salted beef, 2,486 cwt.; of salted pork, 2,265 cwt. ; and of hams, 468 cwt. The quantities taken for ships were respectively 47,724, 13,246, and No bacon was taken for ship stores.

951 cwt.

DUTIES ON BOOKS AND ENGRAVINGS IN ENGLAND.

Power is given to Her Majesty, by act of Parliament passed on the 18th ult., to reduce the duties on books, prints, and drawings published in, and imported from, any foreign country. On works originally produced in the United Kingdom, and republished in the country of export, the duty may be reduced by order in council to £2 10s. the cwt.'; on the works not originally produced, to 15s. the cwt.; and on prints and drawings (plain or colored,) to d. each, or 1d. the dozen, bound or sewn.