10 



colour from the rest, several feet thick, just below the old closet, and 

 tapering off towards North-terrace to a thickness of a few inches. 

 The length was 24 feet, and any part of this, even at its apex, 

 when removed had a fecal smell as distinct as though it had just 

 been taken from beneath the cesspool. This was only a section, 

 but the workmen told me that the whole part excavated had a 

 similar layer of stinking earth. I could not learn how long this 

 privy had been in use, but we can readily imagine the filthy con- 

 dition of our subsoil when we remember that hundreds of similar 

 cesspools have been in use in all parts of the city during some 20 

 to 30 years. All this pollution has to be paid for, the purification 

 of such soil will be slow, and until it is effected we cannot fairly 

 estimate the advantages of having adopted a cleaner system. 



In dealing with figures it is easy to fall into mistakes, and the 

 risk of this is increased when we have to draw conclusions from 

 comparatively low numbers. But after making allowance for 

 this and taking care to give the weight of any doubtful point 

 against rather than in favour of the new system, I believe the 

 experience of Adelaide, so far as it has gone, has been altogether 

 on the side of deep drainage. At the time of the census the 

 population of the city was about one seventh and a half of the 

 whole colony. It is safe to assume that the ratio remained about 

 the same down to 1884, and also that the Registrar's estimate of 

 the city population for that year was correct. After 1884, the 

 year when the city drainage was completed, the loss by excess of 

 emigration, as we have already seen, was for the whole colony 

 15,000 during two years. The proportionate loss for the city 

 would therefore be 2,000. The excess of births over deaths in 

 Adelaide during this period was 1,077, leaving a net loss of say 

 1,000, but seeing that it is probable that the proportionate loss 

 by emigration was greater in Adelaide than in other parts of the 

 colony, we will assume that double this number represents the 

 loss that actually occurred. This would reduce the Adelaide 

 population to about 40,600. The Registrar's calculations of the 

 ratio of mortality of Adelaide have been made and published 

 during the last three or four years on two distinct bases. In one 

 the number of deaths occurring in the city is compared with the 

 estimated population. In the other the rate is calculated after 

 excluding all deaths in hospitals and public institutions of patients 

 who have not up to their illness been residents in the city. For 

 our present purpose it is not of much importance which of these 

 calculations we adopt. If we take the latter, the ratio of mor- 

 tality during two years (1883 and '84) was about 20*4 per 1,000; 

 the ratio for the two years since the deep drains were completed, 

 calculated on the assumption thp.t the population fell to 40,600, 

 was 17'6-. If^ vve take the first method the average of the ratios 



