ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF SANITARY WORKS. 121 
ECONOMIC HFFECT OF SANITARY WORKS. 
By J. HAYDON CARDEW, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E. 
[With Plates V.-—IX.]} 
[Read before the Royal Society of N.S. Wales, August 5, 1903.] 
THE benefits arising from judiciously considered and 
economically designed sanitary works are scarcely realized 
or appreciated by the general public, and even municipal 
bodies who are supposed to be the custodians of the public 
health are not fully seized of their great importance. The 
City of Sydney so far has led the way in sanitary works in 
Australia and may now be said to have a complete system 
of water supply and sewerage works, which although leav- 
ing much to be desired, especially in the department of 
water supply and house connections, may be considered as 
fairly effective, and if viewed from the standpoint of 
sanitary results alone should serve as an admirable object 
lesson to the rest of Australia. | 
The disclosures made in the city and suburbs of Sydney 
during the plague scare of 1900, the great difficulty experi- 
enced by the Local Health Authorities in getting property 
owners to connect their houses with the sewers, and the 
neglect and carelessness of house-holders in their treat- 
ment of sanitary fittings show the great ignorance that 
still exists amongst the people regarding sanitation, and 
the lack of appreciation or knowledge of the vast benefits 
conferred by sanitary works. The disinclination of property 
owners to make sewer connections is no doubt due prin- 
cipally to a selfish parsimony, which they are too short 
sighted to perceive, re-acts most prejudically against their 
own interests, and the negligent and careless use of sanitary 
appliances is due to an ignorance which is not only deplor- 
I—Aug 5, 1903, 
