Laying aside all considerations of comfort and economy, which in themselves are sufficient to warrant its construction, asphaltum is the best paving material from a hygienic standpoint. Being a monolithic sheet it is impervious alike to the rise of exhalations from the earth and the soakage of liquids into the earth. It is easily cleaned; and, as it can be cleaned without sprinkling, it can be cleaned dry. At intervals it can be thoroughly washed with a hose, and all surplus water removed immediately with a squeegee. The absence of dust and the minimising of noise are hygienic benefits of secondary degree.

(5) The erection of a new abattoir, adequate to all the needs of the population, and furnished with modern appliances for the inoffensive utilisation of the entire animal, so that no refuse remains to be got rid of.

(6) The construction of “a suitable and sufficient incinerating furnace, for the complete and inoffensive destruction of garbage and other refuse,” including dead animals, street sweepings, mattresses, discarded clothing, rags, excelsior, paper, and similar substances, which might serve as vehicles of contagion. The experiments made by Colonel Waring while Street Cleaning Commissioner of New York, indicated that such a furnace may produce steam in quantities large enough to be valuable.

(7) The reclamation and drainage of all the marshes, or at least of those bordering on the harbour on the south and west. “This reclamation to be made after the ‘Polder’ method of Holland—by diking out the harbour and the watercourses and removing the water by pumping.”

(8) The establishment of a “power-plant sufficient for this pumping, for pumping sewage where necessary, and for propelling the machinery of the abattoir.”

In concluding his paper, Mr. Hill says:

“It may seem strange that no reference has been made to the dredging of the harbour—so urgently advocated by some advisers—or to any improvement of it, save such as would be effected by the withholding of solid organic matters from the abattoir, sewage, and dumping grounds, and by the construction of the dikes at its southern end. As has been said, the tidal flow is more than sufficient to effect the purification of the clarified sewage, which Colonel Waring proposed to empty into the harbour. So long as solid wastes are withheld, its surplus oxidizing power will gradually destroy the accumulation of putrescible material.

“To dredge the harbour now would be dangerous work; for it would stir up and expose to the air vast quantities of putrid filth. Later, if Colonel Waring’s recommendations should be carried out, it would mean only the removal of innocuous mud. Navigation is not yet impeded by the deposits; and the rate at which the harbour is silting up—one-third of one per cent. per year—makes it evident that a delay of even ten years would not be injurious to commerce. Long before this time has elapsed the harbour should be clean.

“Havana can be freed from her curse. The price of her freedom is about $10,000,000. Can the United States afford to redeem her? For once humanity, patriotism, and self-interest should be unanimous, and their answer should be, Yes!”

General Greene, U.S.A., has submitted an extended report on the city’s condition. General Greene notes that about sixty per cent. of the street surface is not paved, and that which is paved is in very poor condition. In some streets are small drains, connecting by gratings with the gutters, but no official record is kept of them, and no city plat shows whither they go, but as in Havana all sewers lead to the bay, it is supposed that is their destination. Some few private houses have their own sewers, but no official knows anything further than that permits were granted to build them and they are never cleaned. In parts of the city a drain two feet deep and two feet wide, covered or uncovered, runs alongside of the streets and into these all manner of ill-smelling and nasty refuse is dumped and left to wash away by the rain or to rot in the sun. For four years previous to the war the authorities had been considering an elaborate plan of street improvement and sewerage system, submitted by an American contractor, but no action had been taken. The estimated cost was $7,000,000.