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grazier to be thrown away or wasted, containing as
it does in abundance, certain ingredients essential to
the successful rearing of young stock, not readily
obtainable elsewhere. If the present drains, extended
with an outlet at the entrance of the harbor, are to
take the sewage it will be necessary to adopt some
efficient system of flushing, and all gratings and
openings carrying off rain or flood-water from the
streets must be securely trapped; or ventilators, or air-
shafts may be found necessary to carry noxious
effluvia over head and away, for the fear of putre-
faction are so insidious and penetrating, that even the
best constructed water-traps have been found insuffi-
cient to prevent their ascent into the streets, the
heated air of summer attracting them from the lower
depths of the sewers below; but these details and
many others will of course be considered, and form
part of the proposed system of drainage as heretofore
intended, if it be ever fully carried out.

The existing drains are indispensable, and will pro-
bably be extended to all our main streets to take the
rainfall and flood-waters, which will sweep away with
them superficial impurities, which even in a town like
ours are not inconsiderable; and I may, perhaps,
remark in passing, that as these flood-waters are likely
to do considerable damage, which will increase as the
outskirts become more cleared and cultivated, I think
deep, instead of open or superficial drainage should
be encouraged to moderate this flow, as well as to
improve the land through which such deep drainage
would pass.

If you decide that the sewage is to be made avail-
able as a fertilising agent, as I trust you may (for any
other means of disposing of it but by its application
to land has been proved to be from one cause or
another objectionable), I am of opinion that the earth-
closet, for those who can afford the first outlay, and
other means of disposing of its principle for
others of smaller means, are the best system for
adoption here. It would doubtless require very careful
management and supervision, and a well organized
system of scavenging for the town; but in the suburbs
and country districts, I imagine the head of each
family, after understanding its importance, might be
easily taught the means of utilising the sewage on his
property for the benefit of his own crops.

In connection with this subject, another essential
sanitary condition may be mentioned—the absence of
all animal and vegetable refuse and house liquids of
every description from the neighborhood of the dwell-
ing; everything of this description should be carried
as far as possible from the house, and either carted
away or thrown into a pit, and covered with earth
every day. All sinks communicating with drains
are highly objectionable in houses, as noxious gasses
find their way through them, and are disseminated
throughout the house when the doors are closed at night.
Animals of all kinds should be kept away from
dwelling-houses, and their manure not allowed to
accumulate. The ground about a house should be
kept clean and dry; the closet and refuse-pits ought
to be in as cool a place as possible, and in such a
situation that the prevailing winds may blow any
effluvia away from the direction of the dwelling.
With respect to the present system of collecting
sewage in cesspools, I consider it the very worst that
can be practised, for apart from the fact of those
accumulations contaminating the atmosphere, of
which annual warnings are given us in the form of
dysentery and low fever, it is only a wonder from
the porous nature of the soil and the consequent
almost unavoidable pollution of the drinking water in
the town wells that the inhabitants have not before
this been visited with some terrible epidemic, for this
is of all others the most fruitful source of some of the
most fatal forms of disease, this immunity could not
continue if the town become more densely populated,
and it is a subject for congratulation that the pro-
posed supply of pure water to the town, when ob-
tained, will obviate this danger for the future.

In conclusion, I may perhaps be allowed to state
that the consequences of polluting rivers are not well
understood. Indeed, some persons have an idea that
it is advantageous, and that fish feed and flourish
upon the sewage of towns. This is so contrary to the
truth that I may state that Sanitary Commissioners
at home, as the result of their investigations, have
been taught to consider fish a good test of the purity
of the waters they inhabit, for in many rivers, and
before sewage was thrown into them, fish were abun-
dant and of good flavor, they are now scarce and un-
palatable, and shrimps and flounders taken near the
mouths of different rivers, some receiving sewage and
others not, vary so much in color, appearance, and
flavor, so as to make it difficult to believe they belong to
the same families. To give a familiar illustration to
what extent a river may be affected by sewage, I may
instance the putrid fermentation of the Thames, in
1855, on which occasion but for an unusually large
proportion of ozone in the atmosphere, which by
oxidizing, neutralized the organic poison evolved in
such alarming quantities from that river, London, it
was believed would have been visited by some devas-
tating disease.

With many apologies for trespassing upon your
time and patience at such length, I wish you every
success in your important duties. The subject you
have to deal with is one of considerable difficulty, but
as it affects the interests of all, I trust when the
result of your investigations is made known, the
inhabitants will be convinced of the necessity of
making some change, and that the report of the Com-
missioners will lead to the willing adoption by the
public of any measures that may be recommended by
them to ensure a sound and practicable system of
sanitary reform.

I am, dear Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
GEO. WILLIAMS.
To Secretary of the Nelson sanitary Commission.

To C. HUNTER BROWN, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

SIR—I have the honour to acknowledge the re-
ceipt of your letter of the 13th ultimo, desiring
information relative to sewage, scavenging, earth-
closets, &c. I have much pleasure in complying to
the extent of my ability, and shall refer to the seve-
ral subjects in order.

As to sewerage, removal of night-soil, &c.:—
Melbourne has no sewerage. Many of the larger
buildings, as the General Post-office, the Treasuries,
the Melbourne Club-house, and others, have drains
which communicate with the River Yarra, and all
the surface drainage of the city and suburbs finds its
way to the river by means of the street gutters, or of
open channels constructed for the purpose. A Go-
vernment Board was constituted as long ago as
1853, for the double purpose of procuring a sufficient
supply of water, and constructing sewers for the
city. The former object has been effected at a cost
of somewhat more than one million sterling, but, in
respect to the latter, nothing more has been accom-
plished than the preparation, several years ago, of a
series of plans. The carrying out of these has not
been attempted, nor is this, I believe, a matter of
regret, for so far as I am informed they contem-
plated the construction of large egg-shaped drains to
receive as well the soil from privies and water-closets,