32 Building Materials. 
seded the slow and tedious operations of hand moulding and 
smoothing, and the work of one man is now equivalent to 
that of six under the old style. The fashioning of bricks is 
not the only use to which the plastic clays areadapted. The 
fabrication of draining pipes and tiles employs a large capital 
in England, and the success which has there attended the 
manufacturer has been of incalculable value to the Agricul- 
turist. It has sufficed to bring under cultivation many 
thousand acres of larid, thereby increasing the demand for 
labour in all classes, and proportionably lessening the evils 
due to a surplus population. 
The Melbourne bricks, as they are now manufactured, will 
be too costly when we shall have brought in the aid of 
machinery. With the ordinary appliances, a mill, a moulding 
machine, and kilns, the clay in this neighbourhood could be 
wrought into pipes for sewerage, flower-pots—indeed into 
every article, whether of utility or ornament, for which there 
is such a demand; and not of an inferior quality, but quite 
equal to what is imported. 
If time permitted I would willingly advert to the manifest 
‘ dangers attending the use of ill-burnt bricks in large build- 
ings, such as hotels, stores, &c., &c. . It is not a matter 
entirely confined to the occupant and the proprietor. Many 
of these edifices abut upon our public streets and promenades, 
and though in all probability the greater number of them 
will be taken down ere many years pass away, it would be a 
much better state of things if done forethought preceded 
their erection. 
In concluding this paper, I would beg reference to the 
accompanying Table, wherein I have stated as accurately as 
possible, under present circumstances, the most characteristic 
properties of the Melbourne Building Materials :— 
* 
