If there shall be in the Irrigation Fund an insufficient amount to pay for principal, interest, or other charges payable out of the said fund, or if the said fund shall at any time become temporarily exhausted, then the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico may, in anticipation of the collection of assessments from either the temporary or the permanent irrigation district, or in anticipation of the sale of bonds provided for herein, pay such charges out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, charging the same to the Irrigation Fund, and reimbursing said fund when there are sufficient funds therefor, together with interest at four percent (4%) per annum.
When the condition of the general funds of the Treasury does not permit these advances, the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico shall be empowered, with the approval of the Governor of Puerto Rico, to obtain loans from the banks for a sum not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), at the lowest rate of interest obtainable, which shall in no case exceed six percent (6%) per annum, such loans, together with interest thereon at the rate at which the loans were secured, to be repaid from the Irrigation Fund of the South Coast, as soon as there may be a sufficient amount available for that purpose in said fund.
History —Aug. 8, 1913, No. 128, p. 54, § 31; Apr. 24, 1929, No. 35, p. 212.