EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 95 



During the past season two separate investigations of the 

 receipt and issue of supplies were carried on by the accountants 

 employed by the Auditing Committee, for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining if it were necessary or desirable to make any changes in 

 the present methods. These investigations were made at inter- 

 vals of several weeks, and covered not only the receipt and check- 

 ing of supplies for the general maintenance of the park, but 

 also supplies for the Privilege Department, including those for 

 the Rocking Stone and Boat House Restaurants. 



The report of the investigating accountants was very sat- 

 isfactory to those responsible for the handling of supplies. 

 Several suggestions were made as to minor details, all of which 

 that are practical will be put into effect after consultation with 

 the Chairman of the Executive Committee. 



The attention of some members of the Society may have 

 been called to articles printed in one of the local Bronx papers 

 making attacks on the Society for its manner of handling the 

 Park Privileges. While the statements made in these attacks 

 have been so manifestly unfair as to make a reply to them really 

 unnecessary, it may not be out of place to state to the members 

 of the Society that it has been the aim of those in charge of the 

 Privileges to operate them in the best possible manner for the 

 public benefit. Everywhere in this connection we have made it 

 the rule to give service and quality rather than to increase 

 profits at their sacrifice. 



It is well known by the members of the Society, and the 

 public at large, that all the net profits of the privileges are ex- 

 pended directly for the public benefit, in increasing the animal 

 collections of the Park. 



Privilege Building. — Although the contract for this building 

 was given out late in 1912, and the winter following was such as 

 to permit building operations to go on almost continuously, the 

 contractor was extremely slow in bringing the work to a con- 

 clusion. Even at this time there are still some parts of the con- 

 tract uncompleted. The most important of these is the electrical 

 work. In order to get the ice machinery into operation during 

 the season, temporary wiring had to be done by the Department 

 of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity. This gave us the use of 

 that portion of the plant on August 16, after which it was op- 

 erated continuously for the remainder of the season. 



Other branches of the privileges, however, were unable to 

 get any benefit from the building. It is expected that all difRcul- 



