Commissioner] may lease public ferries by public auction or private contract

It shall be lawful for the [Commissioner] to lease any public ferry by public auction or private contract, from year to year, or for any longer period not exceeding seven years, on such conditions as the [Commissioner] deems advisable, in which case a contract setting forth the conditions on which the ferry is to be held shall be executed by the contractor or farmer, and security shall be given by him for its due fulfilment, and any pecuniary forfeiture for breach of contract, inserted in the deed of contract or conditions of sale by public auction, as the case may be, may be enforced in the same manner as a demand for the land revenue under the law for the time being in force, so far as applicable.