adopt such measures for the assessing, levying, and collecting the sum or sums of money, either by sale of the said lands or otherwise, as they shall deem meet, and the said assessment shall be made on said lands, according to the benefit which they shall be considered by the said commissioners, as deriving from the making of the said canals respectively: Provided, That such rules, regulations and measures, shall before they are carried into effect, be sanctioned and approved by the chancellor and judges of the supreme court, or a majority of them: And provided further, That if any company or individual subject for such tax, shall subscribe any money or other property towards the completion of the said canals, the amount of such donation or voluntary subscription, shall, if the same is less than the amount of the tax, be deducted therefrom, and if more, he or they shall be entirely discharged from the said tax.
And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of May next, the aforesaid tax upon steamboat passengers, shall be demanded, taken and received, by each
