ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. XXxi. 



In sketching the hygienic features to be considered in design, 

 it was, among other things, urged that there should be ample pro- 

 vision for play or recreation grounds in connection with every 

 school, college, or other educational establishment, and a complete 

 abandonment of the present niggardly notion of what is a reason- 

 able provision in this respect. That the recreation of a people 

 should be under pleasant and healthy conditions is always impor- 

 tant, and never more so than in the case of the young, so that the 

 school-grounds of a beautiful city should in themselves be a source 

 of attraction, and exhilarant in their reaction upon those who use 

 them ; and similarly hospitals and sanitoria should have bright 

 surroundings and pleasant aspects, for the cheery and tonic effect 

 of these is by no means the least potent of the remedies available 

 to those charged with the care of our health. 



The great importance of thoroughness in the matter of initial 

 preparation by a complete topographical and contour survey, repre- 

 senting the surface, and furnishing the necessary geological infor- 

 mation was referred to. The time lost in making this is gained in 

 the end, and it is only by such systematic procedure that satis- 

 factory results can be achieved. 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, but that is not the opinion of those who have seriously 

 given the matter their professional attention. If evidence was 

 wanted of the calamity of indifferent design, it is to be had in 

 Sydney and its 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 oppor- 

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

 city of almost unparalleled beauty : that opportunity has been 

 destroyed through the ignorance, and want of apperception of 

 those whose duty it was to avail themselves of it, and while doing 

 so to have left also a monument of the dignity of their ideas. And 



