ANNUAL ADDRESS. III. 



and material, affords some amusing reading when viewed after a 

 lapse of nearly half a century. An eminent authority of the day 

 occupying the position of Surveyor-General was very wrath at the 

 temerity of the municipal authority in commencing a trigono- 

 metrical survey of the city for the purpose of water and sewerage 

 works. In reply to a question of the chairman as to whether the 

 survey made by the Government included the whole of the city, 

 he replied "Yes, this is the trigonometrical survey itself," (pro- 

 ducing the original triangulation in pencil on a sheet 5 ft. 6 in. x 

 6 ft. 6 in.). "This was completed upon the smallest sized table 

 in my London lodgings, and I cannot but envy those people who 

 can obtain acres of table and paper for the survey of a piece of 

 ground that a man might leap his horse across." In fixing the 

 size of the sewer the same authority was a little more liberal in 

 his ideas, viz., in his opinion the sewer should be of very great 

 dimensions, and on being asked as to the limit of the dimensions, 

 he stated that it should be "large enough for a horse and cart to go 

 in and out." One of the committee improved upon this by stating 

 that in the old Roman sewers a cart with a load of hay could go 

 in and out, this appeared to settle the question as to the dimen- 

 sions of the main city sewer as the two were of the same opiniun. 

 From a perusal of the final report of the committee it is manifest 

 that at that period, 1854, the legislators of the day were alive to 

 the interests of the citizens in the preservation of health. It is 

 interesting to read the names of the committee, all of whom have 

 passed away, but the memory of their public services remain. The 

 committee consisted of Mr. (the late Sir Henry) Parkes, the Chief 

 Commissioner of Crown Lands Mr. (late Sir Charles) Cowper, 

 Mr. Flood, Captain King, the Colonial Treasurer, Mr. Holden, 

 Mr. Nichols, and Mr. Allan, the late Chief Justice, Sir James 

 Martin, being chairman. The City Engineer who initiated the 

 -work was the late Mr. B. Rider, and the officer in charge of the 

 trigonometrical survey was the late Mr. W. H. Barron. 



The examination of the latter gentleman by the committee also 

 affords amusing if not instructive reading. A number of the 



