58
I was informed, as long ago as 1854, that these barracks had even then been
condemned, and it was said they were immediately to be pulled down. They, how-
ever, still remain, and, doubtless, the site on which they stand has been the cause
of much of the malarial fever that has always affected the Infantry at this station.
Another source of malaria is in my opinion the condition of the foreshore, which
is covered by a mangrove swamp on the north west, west, and south west of the
barracks.
The Lascar Lines, from their proximity to the barracks, are not only a
great nuisance, but their crowded state from the number of natives living
in them must always be a standing danger of no inconsiderable importance to
the troops.
The Dep6t Barracks in Middle Colába are very good buildings, but have too
low plinths for safety.
I am informed that when the Infantry Barracks are pulled down it is
proposed to build three storied barracks on the plinths of the Napier Barracks.
There is no doubt that this will be a great improvement on the existing Infantry
Barracks, but it is not altogether a desirable scheme, as the men will not like
them, and there is danger in aggregating a large number of men in one barrack.
Supposing, for example, an outbreak of cholera occurs, it will be very inconvenient
to vacate the whole building.
If it were possible for Government to acquire the whole of the land
between the Military Lines and the Sassoon Dock, such an extension would
afford ample room for the location of both the European and Native garrison
of Bombay as well as of the followers, but the cost would be so enormous that
I fear there is no possibility of it being sanctioned; and the distance the various
guards would have to travel would be another objection, although, solely from
a health point of view, it would be the best. The reclamation of the foreshore
on either site of Colába, especially on the Back Bay side, would be an immense
sanitary improvement, and perhaps this may be carried out in future years. In
the mean time the troops at Colába will in my opinion always suffer from
malaria until the site now occupied by the Infantry Barracks is underdrained.
When the Queen's Road Sewer is built it will be possible to extend a
branch to Colába, and if this were done, all the liquid refuse as well as the night
soil and urine would be removed much more efficiently than at present, and the
foreshore would not, as now, in spite of the great care taken to prevent it,
be polluted by squatters.
The following tables show the disease statistics of the troops at Colába
since 1877, the ratios per 1,000 of aggregate average strength of the chief
diseases being as follows :—
Period—Six years, 1877—82.
Artillery
Infantry
Depôt...
Cholera.
A.
0 9
0 0
0 0
D.
Enteric
Fever.
A.
1 8
0 4
26 2
D.
1 8
8 7
All Fevers
except Enteric.
A.
669 1
1138 7
335 2
D.
2 7
0 8
2 9
Dysentery.
A.
31 8
26 8
139 9
D.
1 8
0 8
32 2
Diarrhoea. /
A.
38 2
70 0
99 1
D.
2 9
All Causes.
A.
1,680 0
2,049 0
1,405 2
D.
20 9
10 3
105 0
In considering the death rate the exceptional character of the cases at the
Dep6t will, of course, be borne in mind ; but the marked increase under fevers
and all causes among the Infantry at once attracts attention.
In the Artillery two men belonging to the 5/8th R. A. were admitted into
hospital suffering from enteric fever in December 1878, one of whom died in the
following year. No cause could be assigned for the disease. A death is also
recorded in the 7/1 E. A, in 1882.
In the Infantry a man belonging to the 2/7th Foot was admitted in 1880,
but there are no records about this case.