Brown.—Drainage of Towns. 263 
Dr. MacLawrie gave strong evidence on the evils due to this cause,* and 
the result of it was a recommendation that an Act be passed (which is now 
law,) requiring that every water-closet should be connected with mains only 
with the intervention of a cistern, approved by the City Engineer as being 
of such construction as to prevent the pollution of the water. 
* Remarks are also appended upon cesspits, which are still necessary in 
some parts of Sydney. It has been recommended that, to lessen the evil 
effects of cesspits, full powers should be given to the local authorities to 
regulate the construction of cesspits as to their size and situation ; and to 
insist on their being made water-tight ; and also that the duty of cleansing 
them be transferred to the town authorities, and owners of houses relieved 
of all responsibility in the matter, except as regards payment for the work 
done on their behalf; and 300 acres be authorized by an Act to serve for 
the deposit of the night soil. 
* The earth-closet system is discussed in the Fifth Report of a Com- 
mittee of the British Association on the treatment and utilization of sewage, 
in which this system is condemned. And in the Third Progress Report of 
the Sydney Board it is considered practically impossible to secure proper 
management, and a supply of suitable earth ; that they would not diminish 
the contamination of the sewers ; and that the manure is of little value. 
“ Orowded Dwellings and Areas. 
* A portion of the work devolving upon the Board in Sydney was the 
investigation of crowded areas and dwellings, and the results of the exami- 
nation show the effect of allowing land to be divided according to the will of 
the proprietor, uncontrolled by ihorough T for the protection of 
the health of a town population. 
** I have endeavoured in the above, to compress, into a short space, from 
the reports under my notice, an account of the principal matters being dealt 
with in Sydney. There are no less than eleven progress reports of the 
Sydney Board, all supported by minute and carefully-taken evidence ; from 
them much more might be gathered if necessary. The contents are only 
briefly alluded to in this letter. The work of the Board is most thorough in 
its character, and done at a very great expense to the Government." 
* Dr. MacLawrie, in his evidence attached to First Progress Report, stated that, in the 
Harbour of Wellington, N.Z., the crew of H.M.S. ‘ Challenger,” having had occasion to 
use the water from a former town supply, now superseded, an outbreak of diarrhwa 
occurred, and continued for about three weeks, and it ceased on the supply being stopped. 
The water was found to have been contaminated with fecal matter from cesspits in the 
town during the heavy rains. The water hada disagreeable smell, and the suspended 
particles gave it a milky consistency. 
