PAST AND PRESENT SANITARY CONDITION OP SYDNEY. 525 



Colonial Architect for report as to ingress, egress, and general 

 safety of the building proposed to be constructed, and if all is 

 satisfactory the Colonial Secretary grants a license for twelve 

 months. During this period the manager or proprietor is practi- 

 tically his own master. He can apparently make any alteration 

 in the building that he chooses ; he may block up the doors, he 

 may obstruct the stairways and corridors, and otherwise render 

 the structure absolutely dangerous to life and property : the oidy 

 check on these misdemeanours being a threat fron\ tlie Colonial 

 Seci-etary to refuse an application for renewal of his license, 

 should he require one. 



2.— THE PRESENT SANITARY CONDITION OF SYDNEY 

 AS COMPARED WITH THE PAST. 



By J. M. Smail, M. Inst. C.E., of the Government Sewerage 

 Department, Sydney. 



We are informed by the historians of the colony, that the induce- 

 ments which led Captain Phillip, the first Governor, to select the 

 site upon which the City stands, as the place to found tlie first 

 British settlement in the Southern Seas, was the existence of fresh 

 water streams discharging into deep water inlets or coves, also 

 well-wooded slopes rising with easy grades from the running 

 streams. 



The colony was founded on January 26, 1788, so that in little 

 over a century the primitive settlement has developed into the 

 city of to-day. 



The city is divided into two main drainage areas by a well- 

 defined ridge extending from Ben Buckler on the seaboard, in a 

 westerly direction to Botany-street, and then in a south-westerly 

 direction towards Newtown. The drainage on tlie north flowing 

 towards Port Jackson, and on the south into Cook's River and 

 Botany Bay. 



From the main ridge various spurs extend, separating the main 

 watersheds into minor drainage areas, the water from these flowing 

 into various coves, viz., Blackwattle Bay and Cockle Bay, now 

 Darling Harbour, on the west side ; Sydney and Farm Coves on 

 the north ; and Woolloomooloo and Rushcutter's Bays on the east 

 side. 



The first settlement was made on the shores of Sydney Cove 

 and extended up the banks of the Tank Stream. This stream 

 for many years supplied the eai-ly settlers with water, but as 

 population increased and the settlement developed into a town. 



