(96 ) 
At a meeting of the Board of Parks, held on the 2oth inst., a bill 
. W. Gibson, Architect, amounting to $8,675.47 on account of 
services in connection with Botanical Garden buildings in Bronx 
Park, was approved, audited and ordered transmitted to the Finance 
Department for payment. 
Respectfully, Witiiam Leary, 
Secretary. 
It may be of interest to remark that by § 613 of the Act of 
the Legislature of this State, establishing the Greater New 
York, which went into effect on the 1st of January, 1898, it 
is provided that, 
‘‘It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Parks for the 
borough of the Bronx to maintain the New York Botanical Garden 
and the buildings appurtenant thereto, and such other institutions or 
buildings as may be established or erected in any park, square or 
public place in his jurisdiction by authority of the municipal assem- 
The same duty in the same language is imposed upon the 
Commissioner for the Boroughs of Manhattan and Richmond 
as respects the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan 
Museum of Art in Central Park and the Aquarium in Battery 
lace. 
The same section of the Act further provides : 
‘¢ Tt shall be the duty of the several commissioners to provide the 
necessary instruments, furniture and equipments for the several 
buildings and institutions within their respective jurisdictions, and, 
with the authority of the municipal assembly, to develop and im- 
prove the same, and to erect additional buildings; but the mainte- 
nance of all such buildings and institutions shall be subject to the 
provisions of the acts incorporating said institutions, or either of 
them, and the acts amendatory thereof, and to the powers of said 
corporations thereunder, and of the boards by such acts created or 
provided for; and shall also be subject to and in conformity with 
such contracts and agreements as have heretofore been made with 
such institutions respectively, and are in force and effect when 
this act takes effect, or as may be hereafter made by the au- 
thority of the municipal assembly, and no moneys shall be ex- 
pended for such purposes unless an appropriation therefor has 
