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A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



is somewhat remarkable. The Fire Brigade Agency has lately been re-organized, and a 

 Metropolitan Brigade has been appointed, under the control of an officer who is also the 

 Superintendent of all Sydney Fire Brigades, volunteer or otherwise. The system is 

 jointly subsidized by the Government, the municipal councils and the insurance companies. 

 The temporary head fire-station is in Bathurst Street, and its apparatus and general 

 equipment are highly creditable. The volunteer system has not been found to work 

 satisfactorily, as the members are not sufficiently under control or amenable to discipline ; 

 but during the year 1885 a sum of two thousand five hundred pounds was voted by the 

 Fire Brigades Board to the volunteer companies for the year's services. At the Board's 

 temporary central office the telephone system is fairly effective, the various branches of 

 the Metropolitan Brigade, volunteer companies and police stations being connected. At 

 most of the street-corners alarm-boxes have been fixed, and the system will be gradually 

 extended throughout the city and suburbs. 



Sydney is well provided with charitable institutions. The new Prince Alfred Hospital, 

 a detached building in the University Reserve, was planned after an exhaustive exami- 

 nation of the best models in Europe 

 and America. It is in a healthy position, 

 away from the densely-populated part of 

 the town. The original funds were raised 

 by private subscription, but the greater 

 part of the money spent upon the build- 

 ing has been furnished by Government. 

 The management is in the hands of a 

 joint committee, nominated by the sub- 

 scribers and the Government respectively. 

 All the administrative arrangements are 

 excellent, and the patients enjoy not only 

 comfort but luxury. The situation is 

 close to the Medical School, and the 

 clinical instruction is under the general 

 supervision of the University Senate. 

 The old Infirmary, now called the Sydney 

 Hospital, is still carried on, though under 

 the disadvantages attendant on an incom- 

 plete building. It is, however, conve- 

 niently situated for cases of accident 

 arising among the shipping, or at the 

 northern end of the city, and its wards 

 are generally full. It has a special and 

 detached department for ophthalmic cases. 

 St. Vincent's Hospital in Victoria Street, 



on the heights of Darlinghurst, is a Roman Catholic institution, and though its accommo- 

 dation is limited it is excellently conducted. The administration is of course denomina- 

 tional, but the beds are open to sufferers without distinction of creed. At the Glebe 



ST. JOHNS CHURCH, IlAKI.I .NCHUKST. 



