103.
I must also state my opinion that the mules of the mountain battery are in
too close proximity to the barracks. It is true they are not quite in the line of
the prevailing wind, yet they are on the windward side and the soil is becoming
saturated with urine.
I do not believe that except by incurring a very large expenditure of
money, such as we may feel certain will never be forthcoming, these barracks can
ever be made as healthy as those at Wanowri which have the great advantage
of not only standing on the hard and compact trap rock itself, but in having
immediately in front of them an area with but little surface soil, whilst the
barracks themselves are of better design. The older barracks are in my opinion
as regards design much better suited to the climate of Poona than the new,
though they need the alterations I pointed out in my report for 1876 to make
them what they should be ; but they seem to me the best adapted of any in the
cantonment for the admission of a sufficient quantity of air without exciting
draughts, and I think it is a pity that the new barracks at Ghorpuri were not
built on their design.
The Government of India has, I am informed, refused to allow the Ghorpuri
Barracks to be permanently abandoned as the Government of Bombay recom-
mended. If they are ever to be used again, none but acclimatized troops should
be allowed to occupy them, and that they will suffer may be predicated from the
experience of the 5/8th R. A.
In these barracks the ventilation is excessive, and I should advise that some
arrangement be made to keep out the full force of the wind during the monsoon,
especially in the new barracks, which are most exposed to it. Perhaps this can
best be effected by putting up permanent windows in addition to the Venetians.
It is especially necessary to defend the open spaces leading from the outside into
the verandahs, for they are the cause of much of the draughts. I recommend that
the men occupying these barracks during the monsoon be made to provide them-
selves with knitted Cardigan jackets to wear after sundown, and that an extra
blanket should be served out to them. I must also mention that no provision has
been made regarding the wastage water spilt from the Khadakvásla stand pipes.
Moisture in the soil means fever, and it would be an immense improvement to carry
out some such scheme as was originally proposed by Mr. Whiting, C.E., and to
convey the night soil as well as the refuse water from the bath and cook rooms
through glazed stone or earthenware pipes to the fields towards the river. Colonel
Ducat, R.E., has prepared a scheme for the Native Infantry Lines into which
'sewers from the Ghorpuri Barracks could enter; and I am certain if it were ex-
tended so as to connect with Ghorpuri, it would improve the healthiness of the
site.
The sub soil drains put down by Colonel Ducat in the portion of black
cotton soil, of which the officers' compounds and the ground adjacent to them
consists, were simply designed for the purpose of preventing water lying on the
surface near the Officers' Lines.
I have attentively observed the condition of this area during the present
monsoon and am of opinion that they for the present answer their purpose; but
I must bring to prominent notice that at their points of discharge the pipes have
become blocked by earth. The main nálás require cleaning, and the mouths of the
drains should always be free so as to admit a free current of air passing up the pipe.
The underdrainage of the whole area of the lines is required,—and in my opinion
a very much larger area in addition,—as I do not believe that anything short
of the underdrainage of the large area of retentive soil to windward will affect the
malaria producing causes. The bed of the nála near the Native Infantry Lines
requires thorough cleaning from its commencement and the removal of all the
earth that now impedes the flow of water, and its bottom would be greatly im-
proved by being covered with a layer of concrete.
The condition of the Sadar Bázár has been very greatly improved since
I reported on it in 1876. Colonel Ducat has commenced a system of open
segmental cemented drains which are infinitely superior to the cut stone ones
formerly existing. These are flushed with Khadakvásla water twice a day ;
but greatly superior as they are to the old ones, they are far inferior as sewers