"The undersigned commissioners, appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under a concurrent resolution of the Legislature adopted on the 31st day of March last, 'to investigate the affairs of the canals of the States, and especially the matters embraced in the special message of the Governor, communicated to the Legislature on the 19th day of March, 1875,' have the honor to submit the following report of the progress of their investigations: [3] The previous reports of which this is a synopsis were made to the Legislature. "Your commissioners, assembled at the capitol, qualified and organized on the 12th day of April, 1875. The interval between that time and the opening of the canals, a period of about six weeks, was devoted exclusively to an examination of the most important works in progress, or recently completed in the prism of the canals. When this examination was interrupted by the introduction of water, near the end of May, your commission returned to the capitol and proceeded to supplement and enlarge the area of their information by the examination of witnesses. "In this work they were unexpectedly embarrassed by a decision of one of the judges of this district, at Special Term, denying to them a power, which they supposed to have been conferred upon them by the legislative authorities, to require the production before them of the books and papers of witnesses. They directed an appeal to be taken from this decision, and it was finally reversed at the General Term, but not until late in the month of November, till when your commission was obliged to contend with all the inconveniences resulting from the privation of such a necessary and indispensable prerogative. The opinion of Justice Learned at the Special Term, and that of Justice James at the General Term, are annexed to this report. "On the 31st of July the commission submitted their first annual report to the Governor. It relates to a contract for substituting slope and vertical for bench wall between Port Schuyler and the lower Mohawk aqueduct. This report was followed at intervals by eleven others, entitled, respectively, as follows: "Second report.--H. D. Denison's contract east of the city of Utica. "Third report.--Hulser's bridge contract. "Fourth report.--Willard Johnson's lower side cut lock contract at West Troy. "Fifth report.--Buffalo contracts and legislative awards. "Sixth report.--Champlain enlargement; Bullard's bend contract. "Seventh report.--Buffalo contracts and State officers. "Eighth report.--The Baxter award. "Ninth report.--Contract of E. W. Williams for building vertical wall at Rome. "Tenth report.--Flagler & Reilley's pending contract at Fort Plain. "Eleventh report.--Jordan level contracts. "Twelfth report.--The auditor's traffic in canal certificates. "A copy of these several reports, together with the testimony taken before the commission, covering together 2927 pages, are submitted with this report.