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penditures upon each park, with the object of such expendi- 

 ture. In addition thereto will be found a statement of the fund 

 for the general maintenance of the parks now under the charge of 

 the Commissioners, which was levied in the tax of the previous 

 year and placed in their hands for that purpose. The amount 

 received on this account, it will be seen, was not sufficient to 

 defray the expenses of the year, and the deficiency must neces- 

 sarily be made up temporarily from the maintenance fund of the 

 year 1870. When the requisition for this fund was made upon 

 the joint Board of Common Council and Supervisors, as author- 

 ized by the law of 1868, it was, of course, in advance of the 

 expenditure, and with an uncertainty as to the particular 

 amount which would be required for the purpose, the Board 

 having up to that time no specific data upon which to base 

 their estimate. But experience has shown that their former 

 estimate of the expense of maintaining the parks was too low, 

 and that for the future the amount which will be required to 

 be raised for maintenance will not be less than the whole sum 

 authorized by law to be expended on this account. 



It will be observed, also, that the fund for the construction 

 of Prospect Park has now reached the limit assigned to it by 

 the law of 1868, and as an application must be made to the 

 Legislature for additional means with which to finish this park, 

 it may not be improper to glance at the history of past legisla- 

 tion, as connected therewith. The law of 1860, which organized 

 the first Board of Commissioners, and gave form and feature to 

 the original park enterprise of our city, directed that no plan 

 for the improvement of the land thereby placed under their 

 •charge should be adopted or undertaken of which the entire 

 expense, when funded, would require for the payment of its 

 annual interest a greater sum than $30,000 per annum. This 

 amount was slightly modified by the amended act of the next 

 year, which limited the cost of improvement to $500,000, and 

 was adapted to the simple and inexpensive style of improve- 

 ment originally suggested for this park. The restriction, of 

 course, applied only to the comparatively small portions of land 

 lying in the vicinity of Flatbush avenue, as contemplated by 

 the act of 1860, and had no reference to the enlarged park 

 which was subsequently placed under the charge of the reor- 

 ganized Board. In their first expenditures of money, the Com- 



