24 



18G6, which extended the Park area to very nearly its pres- 

 ent dimensions — 228 acres having been added — a new and 

 entirely different style of improvement was adopted, requir- 

 ing the expenditure of more money. The former restriction 

 was accordingly removed and the Commissioners were au- 

 thorized to expend such reasonable amounts for improve- 

 ment as should be found necessary, and the City authorities 

 were directed to issue bonds and furnish means upon the 

 requisition of this Board, in the same manner as they had 

 been directed to do under the former Act. This arrange- 

 ment continued until 1868, when the improvement fund 

 was limited to three millions of dollars, including the bonds 

 which had been previously issued. 



This limit, as we have said, has now been reached ; but 

 a very considerable portion of the Park, including the 

 fifty acres recently annexed, yet remains to be improved, 

 and the Commissioners will be obliged to suspend further 

 operations until the Legislature shall have provided means 

 for its completion. As to the exact amount which will yet 

 be required for this purpose, the Commissioners can make 

 no very definite statement. A fine work of ait, such as the 

 regulation and embellishment of a Park of this description, 

 cannot properly be executed by contract, but in the judg- 

 ment of the Commissioners the amount required will not 

 exceed two millions of dollars. 



Before closing their report it may not be uninteresting to 

 the taxpayers of our City for the Commissioners to state the 

 extent of the burden which Park enterprise now imposes 

 upon our City. The amount awarded for land first pur- 

 chased for Prospect Park, on the loth of June, 1864, in- 



