63
BARODA.
The Cantonment stands on a porous soil with a layer of impermeable clay
below. The barracks are very old and of a radically bad construction. In many
of them the plinths are almost level with the ground. They are said to be damp,
and as they have been built with sun dried bricks, they are infested with bugs
which, Surgeon Major Hare in his excellent report for 1881 points out, destroy
the rest of the men. He says :—" The insufficiency of the Infantry Quarter
guard is a standing grievance and becomes year after year the subject of com-
plaint, enquiry, and correspondence." The dimensions of the guard room are thus
given : length 32' 6", breadth 15' 2", height 14 feet. This room is allotted for
the guard consisting of a Sergeant and nine privates, so that allowing that one
man is always on sentry, the remaining 9 men have only 55 superficial feet and
766 cubic feet.
Even this is not as bad as the prisoners' room which adjoins the guard room.
It is 15' 2" long by 12' broad by 14' high; and in this small room. I was informed
that as many as 12 men were on one occasion confined for a few hours, so that
each man had only 15 superficial feet and 212 cubic feet.
The surface drainage is reported to be insufficient to carry off the storm
water which is said to lie about in pools. As Dr. Hare says :—
" It is true that when rain ceases this water soon sinks into the porous soil, but this is
just where the mischief begins; the water is absorbed and is forgotten, and when the dry
weather returns, the same water rises again in the form of malarial exhalations which fill the
hospital. The ground on which the barracks stand is very flat and therefore the water will
not run off unless it is conducted by artificial drains; but these should be numerous and deep,
and the ground should be made to slope towards them. As for a final outlet by which the
water can be discharged, this is amply provided by the little river Vishvamuntree that runs
between high banks close to Cantonment."
The Sadar Bázár is also in my opinion a source of disease : the streets and
lanes are not metalled. It is full of cesspools and in parts very filthy.
The propinquity of the night soil yard to it and the city must be a source of great
danger not only to residents and frequenters of the bázár, but also to those living
outside Cantonment limits.
Plans for new barracks have, I am informed, been prepared. In an intensely
malarial station like Baroda it is, I would urge, an imperative necessity that
these should be built on raised basements with an air space of at least 3 or 4 feet
between the surface of the ground and the floor in the rooms. But I consider that
for many reasons Baroda is one of the stations which for health considerations
should be given up for European troops. I imagine that the treaty under
which British troops are kept at Baroda could, by consent, be so far modified
that it should not be obligatory to keep them here unless in times of emergency;
for surely the conditions are materially changed since the treaty was signed, and
in these days of rapid railway communication there cannot be the same necessity
as formerly for having them always on the spot.
If, however, the station must be maintained, I think, although no doubt the
climate of Baroda does exercise a prejudicial effect on the European constitu-
tion, yet that the ill health of the troops has not been solely caused by it, but is
very largely to be ascribed to the infraction of well established and well recognized
sanitary laws; and that to a certainty if such works as underdrainage of site,
the erection of proper barracks, the removal of the manure yard from the
immediate neighbourhood of the Sadar Bázár, the abolition of cesspools, and the
substitution of a proper system of disposal of wastage water, &c., were carried
out, the health of the troops at Baroda would be vastly improved.
The execution of such works which would benefit not only the European
but the Native troops as well would, of course, entail the expenditure of a large
sum of money which in my opinion would be better spent in establishing on
Mount Abu a cantonment for the European garrison of Gujarát; but if British
troops must be kept at Baroda, as His Highness the Gáekwár already pays for
their maintenance, might he not also be called upon to provide the money neces-
sary to carry out those works which would make the place tolerably healthy \?\