When it shall be shown to the court of quarter sessions of any county of this state that the debts due by any district or township in said county shall exceed the amount which supervisors or overseers may collect, in any year, by taxation as at present regulated, or when the proper officers refuse to levy a tax for the purposes set forth in the seventh section of the act of the twenty-fifth of February, 1835,¹ it shall and may be lawful for said court, after ascertaining by proper means the amount of indebtedness of any particular district or township, by a writ of mandamus to direct the proper officers, by special taxation, to collect an amount sufficient to pay the same: Provided always, That if the amount of such indebtedness is so large as to render it unadvisable to collect the same in any one year, taking into consideration other necessary taxation, the said court may direct the same to be levied and collected by annual installments or proportions, as may be adjudged reasonable and proper, and may order such special taxes to be levied and collected during such successive years as may be required for payment of the same.