from time
to time, as will probably be the case, it will be no disadvantage to
have the different parts successively available for construction.
Forty new court rooms will not be needed for some years, and there
will be a saving of interest to the city if the entire expenditure is
not made at one time. The county court now has four court rooms, the
supreme court ten, the appellate division one, and the appellate term
one--in all sixteen. The act empowering the judges to select a site
and approve a court house does not contemplate that the county court
will be provided for in the new building. If, however, a forty court
room building should be erected, it is evident that the county court
should be housed in it or else many of the court rooms would be idle
for a long time.

The new court house in Manhattan will provide fifty to sixty court
rooms. A new Brooklyn court house containing forty court rooms would
provide as much space as is likely to be needed during the next forty
years, and the city would hardly care to lose interest on unnecessary
space for a longer period. When, however, the civil business
transacted in the new court house should need all of the court rooms,
the city would probably feel the need of a separate criminal court
building in some other part of the borough. It is unlikely that the
county court will continue both its civil and criminal terms
indefinitely. The tendency in all large cities is to separate civil
and criminal trials both as to judges and location.

The new court house in this location would be near the Hall of
Records, a comparatively new, sound and dignified building. Both
judges and trial lawyers are accommodated by having the real estate,
surrogate's and county clerk's records and books near at hand. Part of
the large space under the new court house could be used for moisture
proof vaults for the storage of obsolete papers that are already
crowding the county clerk's office.

The great advantages of this site to the borough are apparent. It
holds the court business of the borough in the locality which has for
generations become adapted to it. It preserves and improves the
present office center. It is the most convenient spot in the city for
judges, litigants, lawyers and jurors, and is also the most accessible
from the court, municipal and financial centers of Manhattan. The new
rapid transit lines will make it more accessible from every part of
Greater New York.

The present l