to the Town of Geelong. 39 



To the above table I have appended the supply to Ancient 

 Rome, after which all our modern ideas sink into insignificance, 

 proving the luxuriousness of that age, which is said on the 

 authority of Sextus Julius Frontinus to have been 310 gal- 

 lons per head per diem, and conveyed a distance of upwards of 

 fifty miles in aqueducts, supported on seven thousand arches, 

 of great magnitude, many of which are still in existence — 

 examples of the ancient magnificence and finely cultivated 

 taste of the Roman people. 



It is only by a patient investigation of the traces of ancient 

 civilization as they survive in such public works, that we are 

 enabled to form correct ideas of its real condition. The 

 care taken by the Romans to ensure to all classes of society 

 the full and comparatively free enjoyment of the first neces- 

 saries of life, indicates that if theirs was an iron rule its des- 

 potism was greatly counteracted by its intelligence, as witness 

 the careful foresight in providing an abundant supply, evi- 

 dently irrespective of outlay, for every use conducive to 

 cleanliness, whereby every Roman citizen enjoyed the luxury 

 of a bath, free of cost. 



In modern times, particularly in the mother country, this 

 matter — water supply — is still a vexed question, and has either 

 been tin-own into the hands of the local authorities or left to 

 the enterprise of private companies, which has necessarily 

 superinduced a mode of treating such works in a way but 

 little conducive to the display of grandeur or magnificence ; 

 the great end sought after (and generally obtained) being a 

 good dividend at the expense of the people. The conse- 

 quences of the rigorous application of which principle have been 

 such that the mother country scarcely possesses one work 

 connected with the supply of water, to be quoted, for its bold- 

 ness of conception, grandeur of design, or as a parallel to the 

 Roman example alluded to. 



Let us hope, and I believe, we have struck on a happy 

 medium in Victoria — an amalgamation of the ancient system 

 of management, (without its despotism) — with modern science 

 in designing and conducting these great works, so conducive 

 to the general prosperity of the colony. The management 

 being placed in the hands of the representatives of the people, 

 each commission being responsible to the Government as a 

 head, all working together for the general good, having no 

 personal interests to serve ; and, I believe, I am not too san- 

 guine in stating that the ultimate result will be, having water 3 



