20 T. P. ANDERSON STUART. 



seven hundred acres is available, enough at this rate to provide 

 for a population of the very least three-quarters of a million. 



In saying what I have as to sewage farms, I do not forget the 

 immense progress which the chemical modes of treating sewage 

 have made in recent years, but where the conditions laid down 

 for sewage farms are found together, then such farms should be 

 preferred. In other circumstances, other methods. Each case 

 requires to be considered on its merits. 



DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 



The disposal of the dead deserves some notice here, for precisely 

 the same prime conditions control the destruction of all buried 

 organic remains whatever be their source. The cemetery at 

 Rook wood is not a suitable soil — a stiff clay is one of the worst 

 that could have been chosen, while a light, porous, well-drained 

 site such as at Waverley is the best, for there the decomposition 

 proceeds rapidly and with the least danger to the living. When 

 the time comes to extend the cemetery accommodation, the 

 authorities should try to find a sandy valley draining into the 

 ocean — just as at Waverley in fact, and this opinion is supported 

 by enquiries I have caused to be made at the Waverley Cemetery, 

 where the grave diggers tell of the rapid disappearance of all the 

 soft parts of the body. At Rookwood, on the other hand, my 

 enquiries show that decomposition proceeds very slowly and very 

 imperfectly. This might be inferred from the impermeable nature 

 of the soil — wedges have sometimes to be used to get out the hard 

 rock at the bottom, and in wet weather, as I was told, the open 

 graves sometimes need to be baled out before the funeral. 



SEWER AIR — ITS CHARACTERS. 



This subject has lately been the cause of much discussion and 

 controversy in Sydney, and it might perhaps be fitting for me to 

 say something on the matter here, speaking in very general terms, 

 and without particular reference to the sewers of Sydney, seeing 

 that these will be specially dealt with by the Board of Health, of 

 which I have the honour to be President. 



