18 REPORT OF THE 



range of service which our necessities and circumstances de- 

 mand of it. With this small force we are required to provide 

 police surveillance night and day for Prospect Park and Wash- 

 ington Park — these two being most important and exacting in 

 their requirements Carroll Park, Tompkins Park, the City 

 Park, the Parade Ground, the Parkway, and Conej Island, the 

 use of the latter three being very great throughout the summer. 



During the year the death of Mr. John H. Prentice, Park 



Commissioner, occurred. His period of service extended many 

 years. Your acquaintance and that of the community with his 

 career as a public spirited and high minded citizen renders any 

 eulogy upon him at this time unnecessary. 



An act of the Legislature was passed in the month of May, 

 1881, fixing and limiting the appropriations to be expended for 

 maintenance upon the parks of this city, &c, to the sum of 

 one hundred and ten thousand dollars. In so far as this pro- 

 vision for the maintenance of the public parks determines the 

 amount which the Commissioners may expend each year, with- 

 out further effort on their part, it is satisfactory. It, should at 

 the same time be borne in mind that the amount itself is based 

 upon the minimum requirements of the works in the charge of 

 the Commissioners, and confines the expenditures to such work 

 only as the absolute necessities growing out of the current uses 

 of the Park demand. For any other work not contemplated in 

 the act means would have to be specially provided, as no 

 authorization of new work was provided for in its passage. 



By the same act (chapter 335, Laws of 1881), annual appro- 

 priations as follows were also established: For maintenance 

 Eastern Parkway, $5,000 ; for maintenance Ocean Parkway, 

 $12,500; for maintenance and repairs Bedford avenue, sf>, <)()(). 



The extent and variety of the responsibility of the Park Com- 

 missioners they have endeavored to discharge to the satisfac- 

 tion of the public. Every possible use of the parks, consistent 

 with the rules prepared for their preservation as public pleas- 

 ure grounds has been extended to all classes of people. The 





