Sanitary Science. 457 



conservancy system would have probably attained a far higher state 

 of perfection. 



The late Dr. George Vivian Poore, xM.D., P'ellow of the Sani- 

 tary Institute, was an eminent practical Sanitarian, and deeply 

 considered the question of the satisfactory disposal of all waste 

 matters. He was entirely opposed to sewerage schemes, but his 

 theories were propounded somewhat late in the day. Writing in 

 England in 1893 he states : " Sanitation is a purely agricultural and 

 biological question. It is not an engineering question, and it is not 

 a chemical question, and the more of engineering and chemistry 

 we apply to sanitation the more difficult is the purifying agriculture. 

 This, at least, has been the practical result in this country." There 

 is no doubt whatever, he also states, that whenever excrement is 

 mixed with water we are in danger of Typhoid. Again, if excre- 

 mental matters be excluded from the house drains, the total volume 

 of sewage to be dealt with would be diminished by at least one- 

 fifth, and this surely is a great gain. We should deprive the sewage 

 of just those ingredients which are most troublesome to the sewage 

 farmer by clogging the pores of the ground, and we should leave 

 the sewage very thin and admirably suited to downward filtration. 

 It seems to be an acknowledged fact that, for the application of sew- 

 age to land, the more watery it is, and the more completely solid 

 matters are strained out of it, the simpler and more satisfactory 

 the processes become. 



Acting on the principles laid down by Dr. Poore, I advised the 

 Kimberley Borough Council about three years ago (and I should 

 here thank His Worship the Mayor for permission to refer to any 

 matters connected with the Borough) to adopt a new system of 

 Latrines at our Native Location, the details for which I supplied. 



Prior to the outbreak of Plague in the country. Latrines were 

 non-existent at the Location. At that time, however, a system 

 of Trench Latrines was adopted. This system is disgusting in the 

 extreme, and, in my opinion, more dangerous than the former primi- 

 tive manner referred to. The problem had to be solved, but a 

 pail service would have cost about ;£i50 per month, and was out 

 of the question on account of the prohibitive cost. 



Two Latrines were erected as a trial, being so constructed as 

 to immediately separate the urine from the Fseces. No pails are 

 used ; the solids remain on a slightly sloping granolithic floor, and 

 are removed daily and buried, in a dry state, in the top-layers of 

 the soil, in close proximity to the erection. The urine is conveyed 

 from the sloping floor to a granolithic trough, filled with soft wood 

 sawdust, which from time to time is removed and buried, in like 

 manner, when fresh sawdust is supplied. The trial of these La- 

 trines was so satisfactory, that the Council has since decided to 

 erect a sufficient number for the entire Location of about 8000 

 inhabitants. The cost for cleaning the whole lot has never exceeded 

 30/- a week ; they have never been offensive ; by proper daily atten- 

 tion it is an impossibility. Thus by simply separating the liquid 



