Stewart. — Address. 15 



man informs the Winton Record that after forty years' ex- 

 perimenting he has succeeded in attaining perpetual motion, 

 and protected the invention over the world. It is hard to 

 conceive what sort of intellect could labour for forty years at 

 a mechanical impossibility without discovering it to be so. 



But even the primary- school master must be abroad now 

 and then, and I am tempted to give one or two instances of 

 a rather comical nature. I dare say many here present have 

 observed that the terms " square feet " and " feet square " are 

 often used indiscriminately, evidently under the impression 

 that they are synonymous. In a description which appeared 

 lately in a local newspaper of the Duke of Cornwall's apart- 

 ments on board the " Ophir " the drawing-room was stated to 

 be 1,200ft. square! Even in these days of big ships this is 

 rather startling, for it means that that room has an area of 

 more than 33 acres; 1,200 square feet, which, of course, was 

 meant, would still indicate a good-sized room at sea, and 

 might mean 40 ft. by 30 ft. Another local paper told us that 

 it is interesting to know that the late Queen's walking- 

 stick was one that had belonged to her " ancestor," King- 

 Charles II. 



I have taken up more space than I intended when I 

 touched on technical education, but I cannot conclude with- 

 out mentioning, if I do little more, two or three subjects of 

 economic importance to our community. The first is the 

 drainage of towns and cities, which has always been a sub- 

 ject of first importance ; but the recent plague scare brought 

 it more to the front, and showed us unmistakably what a 

 genuine visitation may mean. It is possible that very few 

 could be found who would own to a belief that plague ever 

 entered Auckland, and it is certain that not one would care 

 to deny the importance of being prepared for combat with the 

 pestilence. What such a visitation would mean to Auckland 

 some may know, but not many actually realise. But with 

 our commerce destroyed, and the influx of all visitors — and 

 their money — stopped, together with the stampede of that 

 large section of our residents who are here for the sake of 

 health, all would soon become alive to the reality. And is 

 anything being done to meet such a contingency ? Practi- 

 cally nothing, so far as the first requirement — complete and 

 thorough drainage — is concerned. Without that no amount 

 of cleaning of back yards and slums will be of any use. 

 Such measures without perfect drainage only serve to dis- 

 tribute filth over a wider area than it before occupied. 



But measures that are sufficient in one town may not be 

 applicable to another. Sydney carries the sewage out to the 

 rock-bound coast of the Tasman Sea. London, after allowing 

 the sewage to settle in tanks, runs the effluent, more or less 



