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Method of Reclamation and Filling In . 1 
The Superintendent of Public Works has recommended the use of the sand 
pump on an extensive scale. The work which this machine has accomplished in 
the Southern States of America, where low swamp land is abundant, is well known. 
Galveston has been converted into a new city, raised high above sea-level. At 
New Orleans with the sand dredge 1 am informed that eight acres of land were 
filled in to an average depth of 12 feet, at a cost of $100 a day, or a total of 
$2,800. The length of pipe used to distribute the material was 300 to 500 
feet. In Boston a considerable tract has in the same way been reclaimed. In 
my judgment the sand dredge will probably offer in all those towns like 
Belize, Bathurst, &c., which are in places below sea-level, one of the most 
successful and cheapest methods of dealing with swamps and the malaria 
problem. Given the sea, and a suitable bottom, the dredgings can be pumped 
to where they are required, the roads and lots properly levelled, and the pools 
and shallow drains filled in. 
The more closely the conditions in low-lying swamp surrounding tropical 
towns are studied the more evident is it that the English methods of drainage 
are very frequently not applicable, and that considerable sums of money have 
often been spent upon them in the past, with very often the disadvantageous 
result of bringing about the formation of permanent pools and the diffusion of 
Anopheles throughout the town. In the case of the low-lying ground, the soil 
as previously mentioned, is but a thin crust upon a waterlogged or spongy loose 
substratum, and could deal with the heavy rainfalls without the necessity of side 
drains. Admittedly, immediately after heavy rain, there is no doubt that there 
would be some flooding of the roadway here and there, but it would be only for 
a very short time, as percolation is rapid. But even so, it is infinitely more 
important to the health of the community to get rid of Anopheles, and 
possibly Stegomyia, breeding pools, sources of the chief causes of sickness and 
death in the district. 
The drainage problem of Belize is therefore not a question of cutting 
drains, but one of levelling up with porous dredged material, and of making 
uniform slopes between the sea shore and the canals, and in the back of the 
town, between the old canals and the proposed new canals ; in other words, 
the construction of two parallel series of slightly elevated long turtle backs. 
Both roadways and plots would be uniformly graded, and except close to the 
canals and close to the shore, no open storm-water drains would be required 
Sewage and Night Soil Disposal. 
Both these problems, unlike the case in the Southern States or in Central 
America, are comparatively simple. There are no sewers, and they are not 
needed ; they would on the contrary be harmful in a town so flat and only 
standing at sea-level or a few inches above. The absorbent ground will 
By the Belize Improvement Ordinance, 1903, [rower is given to order the filling up of lots 
or low land to a prescribed level with dredgings to be purchased from the Board or otherwise. At 
the present time the cost stands in the way. 
