1006 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 
The architect of to-day has before him a wide field of choice 
in the selection of materials for every part ef his building, and 
has the command of the markets of the world for the supply of 
all that cannot be produced locally. 
The electric cable, and the swift steam-ship place within his 
reach, at short notice, all the resources of EKurope and America. 
[The author here refers in detail to the materials available for 
building purposes in earlier days, and the methods of using them, 
and contrasts them with the wide range of choice available to 
the Architects of the present time, and with the modern improve- 
ments in the construction and decorative arts. | 
Last, but not least, must we acknowledge with thankfulness 
those items in our dwellings which so much tend to the preserva- 
tion of health, and the prolongation of life. As the outcome of 
much laborious thought, much patience in experiment, and much 
devoted enthusiasm in the cause, ‘Sanitary Science” has in the 
last two decades made giant strides, and conferred untold benefits 
upon the human race. In the matter of drainage and ventila- 
tion, in the construction and fitting of closets, baths, sinks, 
lavatories, and all necessities for the health, cleanliness, and 
comfort of our lives, it is almost impossible to overrate the 
importance of the improvements that have been made during the 
last generation. 
Much of this we owe to wise legislation. In Sydney, as in 
many other places, the Government has taken upon itself, through 
properly constituted representatives of its authority, the charge of 
providing the inhabitants of city and suburbs with a pure and 
abundant supply of water; a system of sewerage, constructed 
upon the most approved methods of modern science, and which in 
its full development will challenge comparison as a triumph of 
engineering skill with that of any city in the world. Under the 
same administration is placed the control of the entire sanitary 
arrangements of every household, and a watchful and rigid super- 
vision is exercised over them down to the minutest detail. Under 
this beneficent guidance, the dread rule of “the pestilence that 
walketh in darkness,” and of “the destruction that wasteth in 
noon-day ” has been in a great measure arrested, and a marked 
improvement effected in the death-rate and health returns of the 
metropolis. 
Within the limits of the city proper, the Legislature has provided 
for a control, vested in the Municipal authorities, of the buildings 
erected in it. The City of Sydney Improvement Act, which came 
into force in 1876, regulates the construction of Luildings in a 
fairly effective manner ; but outside the city boundaries there is, 
as far as the writer is aware, no control whatever over the 
construction of the buildings — every manis left to his own devices— 
