Year: 1871

Judge lu2rNhau's Decision.


The Commissioners of Docks complain
very bitterly of the embarrassments TO which
they are subjected and the injury done
to their department by the delay Of Deputy
Comptroller Green in the payment of the
money to which they are by law entitled for
the prosecution Of the important work en-
trusted to them, They had sixty-eight thou
sand dollars on hand on the last day Of Sep
tember, and owed about seventy-two thousand
dollars but they retained the balance to pay
laborers and mechanics, and allowed the
bills against them for material to remain
unpaid. Commissioner Henry stated at the
recent meeting Of The Board that gentleman
stood prepared 10 take the whole half million
dollars worth Of bonds to which the depart
ment Is unquestionably entitled, but the
Deputy Comptroller delays their issue. The
Commissioners apprehend that they are to be
kept out Of funds until after election, as .
part of settled plan to obstruct the public
works for political purposes, and they assert
that the delay will entail great loss on the
city. Commissioner Hunt declares that s'by
stopping the work The amount Of damage
that will accrue will be fully as much as the
cost"


The public parks and the impr ovements oa
the boulevards and avenues are in just the
same position as the works on the DOCKS
Deputy Comptroller Green has admitted that
he never had any doubt MS to the legal right
and power TO issue assessment bonds on the
requsiton of tac Department of Parks, YET
there is singular delay and hesitation in
doing SO. Yesterday Judge Iugraham settled
the order regarding such bonds, and he grants
peremptory mandamus ordering the
Deputy Comptroller to issue them forth
with and to pay the proceeds int
the Tenth National Bank to the
credit Of the Park Department There
can therefore be no more procrastination 10
the matter, and we may expect that the works
on the boulevards, avenues and streets will
proceed, and that the next important two OF
three months will not be lost. 1t is 10 be hoped
that Judge Ingraham will rs speedily AZ
possible render his decision on the other
the department to require the issue Of bonds
for permanent improvements in the parks,
assessable on the city at large. The impression
is abroad that the Deputy Comptroller has
prejudice to crafty against the Board, Of
which he is himself ymcmber, and that the
distractions thrown In the way Of the Park
Commissioners are not such as are raised in
the interests Of the city. The fact is that.
allowing for the decrease in tho. time Of labor
from ten hours day to eight hours, and for
the vastly improved management aud care Of
the parks, in the police, gardening and other
arrangements, the expenditures under the
present Board have been some two hundred
thousand dollars year less than under the
old Commission. The condition to which the
parks have been brought during the past
wear and half is before the eyes Of the peo-
pie every day and can be judged by them. II
is to be hoped that all partisan and personal
warfare against these important Departments
OF Docks and Parks will cease, and thai
while oil proper vigilance and economy
are exercised by the Finance Department no
crusade will be initiated against the best
interests of the city, either to subserve political
ends or TO crafty personal pique. Let Judge
Ingraham hurry up the remainder OF hia
decision, and IL the work on the public docks
is obatructed for want of funds let the depart
ment seek the aid OF the Courts TO protect tho
interests entrusted TO their keeping.