The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-09-28
BEDDING LIKELY
 TO HAVE LARGE NEW STATE PARK
Estab blishment of Reserva tion Is Considered By
 Connecticut Board.
Special to The Farmer.)

Bedding, Sept. 27.-several members Of the state park board attended the monthly meeting of the Putnam Park commission last FridaF and made
 known their purpose to establish state reservation in this part of the
 country, probably near the line of the
 projected Eridgeport-Danbury trunk highway and if g. suitable site can be secured not a. great distance from Putnam Park. Several of these res- ervations have been established in different parts of the state, but the i only one in Fairfield county is to be
 developed from a rather marshy tract near the shore. Another located some l l5 or IS miles back from the Sound is
 now projected. These reservations are | intended to serve as camping places
 for the Boy Scouts and as general out | Ing and recreation resorts for city.
 dwellers. Putnam Park is state prop
 erty. but 1t is accounted chiefly val-,
 uable for it's historical associations
 and lacks many of the conditions
 sought for in the public outing places
 of more recent origin. Goveronr HoI-
 comb was expected to attend Fridays conference meeting. but press of off,
 clal business prevented and Chairman
 FarEer of the state park board, also expected, was detained by illness The members present were Messrs. Rob 1nson, Calhoun, Wright and Williams, Estate Forester Filley and ex-Senators Peck and Bisseu were also in attend
 ance After an inspection of Putnam
 Park, where conditions were found
 ntreiy satisfactory, the party vis-
 lueo by invitation the country estate
 of Senator Peck and viewed with ad-
 mtration his Beautiful flower garden. Next the gardens and greenhouses of
 Commodore Luftgen, near by, were. l visited and a trip made through the woodland park into which the Com
 modore has converted the region for.
 ineriy known as East Woods. Later uhe visitors were dinner guests of b. iS. sanford of the Putnam Park <c,om-
 mission. s Their previous recommendations
 haVans been mostly or wholly ignored by the sefectmen, the special coumit tee on town accounts appointed sev- erai years ago, may think it a. waste
 of time and effort to make a report
 this year If heard from they will 1 advise that in future the town treas l urer De debarred from drawing and paying out any part of the public
 funds without an order from the
 proper authority These authorities l are the selectnen, the school com
 mtttee and justices It is now the ! practice for the treasurer to pay in-
 terest obligations, which are largely
 represented by coupons, without orr
 ders Another custom calling Tor
 criticism and correction is the prac-s
 tce, when note becomes due. of drawing the order for it's payment to the treasurer individually The term r roYp,s fe, l nor is the purpose of the order speci-. 1 fed so that on the face of the record he might properly draw and return the money In all other cases the or- der Is drawn directly in favor of the creditor and why an exception should be made as regards notes remains an 1nsolved mystery. Another faulty
 method is the failure to charge to the operating expenses of the town the discount interest on bank loans. the
 full amount of the loan being entered 1 as cash received despite the interest deduction in advance The fact that, these methods have lately resulted in no loss for the town does not lessen the grave objections to them.
 The annual report of the various departments of the town government l to be submitted to the town meetfncs l next Monday will show that there is balance of $1G in the treasury Se-s l lectmen's orders amounted to be- | tween $14.00O and $15,o00 which Is 1 less than usual. the explanation for
 this being that only $500 was borrow, | ed and $250 paid on loans whereas
 this account usually runs into the
 thousands Comprehensively viewed
 the financial situation from the years
 record Is not especially good It is | time that the borrowing excess was
 only $250 but there are chargeable 1 considerable expenses incurred dur-g ing the year which will be payable l Oct. 1. The main items of these are 1 $2,6o0 on the general road contract
 nearly s1,o00 for road improvements l c1assed as permanent, and an add1-5
 tionaI amount for miscellaneous bills and the October school expense as
 well as $1,000 appropriated last year,
 for the sinking fund and yet to be | provided for The schools cost about $6,100, the increase being due to the | additional cost of running the
 Georgetown school. Additional ad-s. vantages, however, are furnished from this increase and there is a di-.
 rect compensatory return in the
 schools junior high department by.
 which Is reduced the towns outlay TOT tTdnSpOftallOn ana Iu1C1On cOnSo-5
 Quent upon sending pupils to high 1 schools out of town. ! | There were expended for general
 road. repairs S5,113, for state road re-
 pairs $438. bridges sand sluices $675, paupers s1,364, interest account $s00.:
 county and state tax $1,767, and elec-.
 ton expenses $4o1, the latter being
 an increase of $277 over the previous year. The collections of property and 1 personal taxes amounted to about | s21,00o. To meet next years finan- cial requirements an increase over the lagt tax rate will be called for as
 in addition to the charges above men
 toned there will probably be added to
 the budget s1,000 for the purchase of
 the Dayton lot at the Center to say
 nothing of the unusual expenditure
 which will probably come from vote
 in favor of the further construction of
 State aid road building.
 An extensive appraisal of property in town Is being made by H. c. Mo T Collam and Henry A. Gilbert in the interest of L. O. Peck in the tax suit
 which he brought last-year to recover
 for the alleged excessive valuation of his property by the assessors The 4 action has been so long in coming to