2
No. 1916, P.H., 18TH SEPTEMBER 1928
eleven times last year's amount. The demand for all other stock vaccines and parti-
cularly of typhoid also increased. There was a fall in the supply of autogenous
vaccines as the General Hospital made its own. The total number of specimens
examined in the Institute also shows a decline, the number for the year under
review being 24,619 against 29,377 in the previous year, though there was an
increase in the number of Wassermann tests carried out from 13,824 to 16,070.
6. The Public Analyst continued to be in charge of the chemical’ side of the
work of the Public Health section of the Institute till about the end of March
1928 when he proceeded home on leave leaving the bacteriological and chemical
sub-sections in charge of his assistants. The Madras Prevention of Adulteration
Act, 1918, has not yet been brought into force and there was therefore no regular
supply of samples of food for analysis. The samples of foodstuffs analysed were
mostly hospital tenders and only a few were from private sources. The question.
of extending the Act to certain selected. municipalities is still under the considera-
tion of the Government and a final decision is pending return of Mr. Hawley, the
Public Analyst, from leave. The Surgeon-General is requested to address Govern-
ment separately on the proposal to fix a standard of purity for tea.
7. The investigation units attached to the Institute continued to perform
valuable work in connexion with malaria surveys, a survey of filariasis and other
special investigations. Details of the work of the investigation units will be
published separately as a supplement to the annual report.
8. There was an increase in the number of samples of water examined
during the year, especially under railway supplies. The new arrangement by
which a general report is furnished to the local bodies concerned on the exami-
nation of water-supplies and a special report containing specific recommendations
to the Director of Public Health and the Sanitary Engineer was continued
during the year and is reported to have worked well. The attention of the
municipal councils concerned is invited to the remarks in the report on the
results of the periodical examination of protected water-supplies and they
are requested to take necessary steps to improve their quality.
9. The attention of the Inspector-General of Prisons is invited to the remarks
in the report on the impurity of the water-supply of all the jails except that at
Rajahmundry. Early steps should be taken to arrange for local investigations
to determine the causes of the pollution of water in the wells of the several jails.
10. An examination of the water supplied at the railway stations at Pakala
,
Waltair, Naupada, Galicut and Tanjore showed that the quality was bad. The
water of the well at the Ongole railway station was found to be totally unfit for
use and the tapping of another source is reported to be essential. The Agents
of the Railway Administrations concerned are requested to take steps to improve
the quality of the water supplied at these stations. Of the two wells at the
Hospet railway station; one is reported to be fed by drainage water from the
neighbouring plantations and is therefore highly polluted. The Agent, Madras
and Southern Mahratta Railway, will be asked to give the matter his attention.
The Agent, South Indian Railway, is requested to see that chlorinated water is
supplied at stations in cans with lids and spouts instead of in open buckets, and
is further informed that it is not advisable to supply non-potable water through
stand pipes, as it is done at Shoranur, in view of the risk of the travelling public
using it in spite of the warning " Not for drinking."
11. The progress made in the survey of the water-supplies of the Presidency
which was started in 19 2 6 - 2 7 h a s n o t b e e n s a t i s f a c t o r y . I ti
s
r e p o r t e d t h a t i t
was not possible to visit more places because of the extra work entailed by the
starting of the experiments at Kilpauk.
12. The experiments started in 1925-26 regarding the value of a non-
submerged percolating filter compared with an ordinary submerged slow sand
filter were continued during the year under review. It is reported that,
although no superiority could be claimed for either method as regards bacterial