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FIEST COUNTY PAEK 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 f 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 Assembty, 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 beconie "Chapter CLVI" 

 of the Laws of 1894. 



