TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 61 



May 232,337 195,859 



June 246,307 263,912 



July 269,273 246,944 



August 174,949 250,050 



September 191,134 216,267 



October 108,970 131,467 



November 85,099 108,421 



December 70,394 29,337 



1,770,437 1,898,424 



SKATING ON BRONX LAKE. 



In the winter of 1918, a resident of the Bronx elected him- 

 self the champion of the interests of the skaters of the Bronx, 

 and various demands were made upon the Zoological Park and 

 the President of the Borough of the Bronx. The Zoological 

 Park force was called upon to exert itself during the winter 

 season to do whatever might be necessary to provide and main- 

 tain a free skating rink on Bronx Lake, near the Boathouse. 

 It was kindly proposed that we should keep the ice clear of snow, 

 and when it became rough, flood it with water in order to make 

 smooth ice for skating. We were also expected to take precau- 

 tions against accidents and assume the whole burden of prevent- 

 ing injudicious persons from breaking through the ice and 

 drowning themselves. 



Presently it was represented to the public that the Zoological 

 Society was "preventing" skaters from enjoying themselves on 

 the ice of Bronx Lake, and this quickly developed into an attack 

 on the existence of the Boathouse and the lunchroom that is lo- 

 cated therein. A demand was made that the Bronx River be 

 entirely taken out of the jurisdiction of the Zoological Society. 

 A petition of some sort, the precise contents of which are yet 

 unknown to the Zoological Society, was circulated, and numerous 

 signatures were obtained. The representation was made to the 

 Borough President, when the petition was presented, that it con- 

 tained "10,000 names"; whereas an actual count of the names 

 on the petition by a reporter of the North Side News revealed 

 only about 782 names ! 



At a hearing given by Borough President Bruckner, the 

 Zoological Society stated the fact that at no time since the open- 

 ing of the Park in 1899 has the Zoological Park administration 



