186 president's address — section I. 



offal and market-jDlace garbage, the most effectual and harmless 

 way is by burning in properly-construoted furnaces or " destruc- 

 tors " ; "and the most dangerous and objectionable way is to use it 

 to fill up claypits, quarries, and such like places in the neighbor- 

 hood of cities. 



As far as my observation and experience go, the quantitj' of 

 objectionable refuse to be treated in a year amounts, in the larger 

 English towns, to about 12cwts. or IScwts. for each head of the 

 population. Well designed and built destructor furnaces, such as 

 Fryer's, will burn about 8 tons a day in each cell ; so that one destruc- 

 tor cell is required for each 4,000 of a population. If the heat that 

 is generated in the destructor be utilised for steam production, and 

 if the steam power and clinkers resulting from the burning be profit- 

 ably employed, as at Southampton, this method of the disposal of 

 town refuse may be said to cost nothing. I am not speaking of the 

 cost of collection, as the refuse has to be collected however dis- 

 posed of. If no use can be made of the heat or of the clinkers, the 

 cost of destruction will be, including interest on outlay, repairs, 

 and labour, about Is. a ton, or Tjd. a year for each head of the 

 population. 



As the greater part of the expense of refuse dis^oosal is connected 

 with its collection, it is important in large towns to distribute as 

 much as possible the emplacement of the destructors, so as to 

 reduce tbe length of the cartage. It should also be borne in mind, 

 when selecting destructor sites, that cartage uphill ordinarily costs 

 50 per cent, more than cartage downhill. 



IV, 



MEASURES FOR SECURING WHOLESOMENESS OF FOOD 

 AND WATER. 



The principal constructional work in this section is connected 

 with the water supply of towns. We hope to hear something 

 about the supply of the city we are meeting in from a very com- 

 petent authority. I will only generalize. In these dry Australian 

 climates the procuring and conserving of a good water supply is a 

 matter the difficulty of which becomes the greater almost in geo- 

 metrical ratio to the increase of population. The first difficulty muy 

 be as to quantity. The increase of the population means the dis- 

 afforesting of the country, and that in turn means the decrease of 

 rainfall, that is of water supply. On the other hand, where sufi5- 

 cient quantity is obtainable from forest-covered land, the quality of 

 the water is apt to be deteriorated by the presence of excessive 

 quantities of albumenoid ammonia and impurities resulting from 

 vegetable decomposition. In such cases it should certainly be 

 purified before being delivered for consumption. A matter to 

 which too little attention is usually paid is the necessity, or at 



