PLAX FOE ESSEX COUXTY PARKS 19 



expressed to me the view that in law it was "inconsistent to 

 provide by legislation for a permanent board to perform a 

 temporary act." As the duty of the commission first ap- 

 pointed would be to m.ap out and report on a plan for the 

 park system, he contended that the term of authority and 

 life of the commission should therefore be for a limited 

 term only, and be pro^dded for in the act itself. To this 

 view I acceded, although some members of the committee 

 felt that, owing to the uncertainties of future legislation, 

 the provision for a permanent commission was preferable. 

 On April 20, 1894, W. A. Ure expressed this view in a 

 letter which I then received from him: 



"Replying to yours of yesterday, I would say that the 

 Park Commission plan you outline seems to meet all the 

 requirements. 



"As to making the commission permanent, I think that 

 would be necessary in order to accomplish permanent bene- 

 fit. At the outset, however, the joint committee, which is 

 composed of gentlemen competent to consider the subject, 

 might formulate a general plan to be submitted to the peo- 

 ple of the county, the details of which, if ratified, to be 

 afterward supervised and controlled by the commission.^' 



In all other respects than the one limiting the time for 

 which the commission was to be appointed, the bill was in 

 strict accord with the plan as above outlined, and was 

 favorably reported at the meeting of the joint committee, 

 held at the Board of Trade rooms, Xewark, the afternoon 

 of April 25, 1894. The proposed bill was there, as dra^vn 

 and without amendment, unanimously approved, and the 

 same afternoon a copy of the bill was transmitted to Sen- 

 ator Ketcham at Trenton for introduction into the Legis- 

 lature. The bill was accompanied by the following letter : 



'^e believe this bill will meet with the unanimous ap- 

 proval of substantially the whole county. If in your judg- 

 ment the presence of representatives of our organizations 

 Will in azcv' wa^t' tmi. to expedite the passage of th© biil^ 



