94 G. H. KNIBBS. 



sanitary mischief, their reaction upon human beings is unfavour- 

 able, and they are therefore undesirable. 



20. The preliminaries of design. — Imperfect as is the statement 

 given of the elements to be considered in any real attempt to 

 properly design an important city, it will nevertheless be sufficient 

 to indicate that a preliminary topographical and contour survey 

 of the whole of the site is an essential. Such a plan perfectly 

 represents the surface, and if supplemented with geological 

 information as to the depth at which rock is found, the nature of 

 the rock and of the material from the surface down thereto, it 

 would constitute the necessary prerequisite for thoroughly discuss- 

 ing the design. Obvious as this seems, (and it must be equally 

 evident that even in regard to the engineering details alone, the 

 cost of obtaining such information would be far more than com- 

 pensated by the aid it would lend to economy of construction) it 

 has not been the practice in the Australian States to obtain it. 

 The time lost in so doing is gained in the end, and it is only by 

 such systematic procedure that satisfactory results can be achieved. 

 I am well aware that those who have not thoroughly studied this 

 question, are under the impression that what is called the common 

 sense of well educated people is sufficient for the task of designing. 

 That is not the opinion of those who have seriously given the 

 matter their professional attention. If evidence were wanted of 

 the calamity of indifferent design, it is to be had in our own city 

 and suburbs. The topographical features of Sydney would have 

 permitted it to be, if not the most, at least one of the most 

 beautiful cities of the world. No word-painting could too vividly, 

 or with too high a colour, express the magnificent opportunity 

 that once existed for the people of this land to create a city of 

 almost unparalleled beauty : that opportunity has been hopelessly 

 lost through the ignorance, and want of apperception of those 

 whose duty it was to avail themselves of it, leaving at the same 

 time a monument of the dignity of their ideas. And the reason 

 of failure is that no great scheme for the creation of the city was 

 -ever heartily entertained. Like Topsy it has 'growed.' And any 



