20 FIRST COUNTY PARK SYSTEM 
kindly advise us by wire and we will respond promptly. A 
message to Frank W. Child, secretary, Orange, will reach 
us directly.” 
This letter was signed by the members of the Newark 
and Orange committees then present at the meeting. 
Under the same date, April 25, 1894, a letter was sent to 
Senator Ketcham from the chairmen of the two committees, 
explaining that “the bill had been prepared by the joint 
committee on public parks of the board of trade of Newark 
and the Oranges ;” that “it is merely the first step designed 
to lead to a general plan which may command public ap- 
proval and accomplish great results with the aid of future 
legislation.” 
“The expenditure,” the letter stated, “is limited to a 
small sum and the commissioners are to act without com- 
pensation. We earnestly hope that the bill may be promptly 
passed, so that the work of the commission may be well 
advanced during the coming summer.” 
“After much discussion and consideration of the sub- 
ject,” continued the letter, “we are convinced that this 
simple, initial step toward a great public improvement will 
command the general approval of the citizens of Essex 
County. It will not be necessary for Hudson County to 
adopt the plan, and, therefore, it should meet with no oppo- 
sition in that quarter.” 
The bill as sent to Senator Ketcham was promptly intro- 
duced by him the following day, April 26, and then made 
its appearance as “Senate Bill No. 205.” It was promptly 
referred to, and soon afterward reported by, the Committee 
on Municipal Corporations, and passed without obstruction 
or hardly a dissenting vote in the Senate. A like result 
followed in the passage of the bill in the Assembly, and on 
the eighth of May, within two weeks after the measure had 
reached the Legislature, it was approved by Governor Werts. 
As a result, the bill, exactly as prepared by the joint com- 
mittee, had in this short time thus become “Chapter CLVI” 
of the Laws of 1894. 
