170
being 5,946; 1,582 men, or 15 27 per 1,000 of strength, died, whilst 832 were inva-
lided for discharge and 3,631 for change of climate; so that from death and inva-
liding for discharge the army lost permanently 23 30 per 1,000 of strength and
temporarily the services of 35 05 per 1,000 of its strength in addition.
The death-rates of the different stations enumerated in the tables of the
vital statistics show that in some of them the rates were enormously high.
Why should the men die at such very high rates as 29 11 per 1,000 at Neemuch,
28 88 per 1,000 at Ahmedabad, or 23 73 per 1,000 at Nasirabad, whilst during the
same period at Ahmednagar only 8 62 men per 1,000 died and at Belgaum only
7 76 per 1,000 ? There must be some reason for this. In the three stations first
named the mean death-rate for the 10 years among the British troops there.
quartered was higher than in the city of Bombay in 1874 , when the death-rate
only amounted to 23 43 per 1,000 and in the two first it is far higher and in the
third not far short of the mean death-rate (26 31 per 1,000) of the city of Bombay
during the 10 years, 1866—1875 ; and when it is remembered that the popula-
tion of this crowded city consisted—not of selected lives as in the Army—but
included infants, children, old men and women, the indigent and the inmates of
the two large native hospitals—as well as adults, the above exceedingly high rates
should, I respectfully submit, arrest attention, for surely such facts demand earnest
enquiry and the removal of the causes which have led to such results. Again, if
due consideration is given to the expenditure incurred in sending home the 4,463
invalids and in bringing other men out to replace them, as well as the 1,582 men
who died, in addition to that representing the cost of maintenance of the hospi-
tals, with their staff of medical officers, subordinates, and menial servants, in
which the 158,845 patients were treated, it must, I think, be conceded that there
is nothing so expensive as disease, and that in the long run it would, leaving the
question of efficiency on one side for the moment, be a truly economical policy
to put our soldiers in India under the very best conditions to ensure health.
The subject appears to me to derive increased importance from the acknow-
ledged difficulty that is now felt in getting recruits for service in the British
Army and to demand the earnest and careful consideration of all interested in
the welfare of the Army.
I cannot conclude this report without an acknowledgment of the assist-
ance I have received from the Surgeon-General, Her Majesty's Forces, and
especially from his late Secretary, Surgeon-Major Turnbull, as also from the
Surgeon-General with the Government of Bombay and from the Officers in the
Civil Department serving under him. My thanks are also due to the Deputy
Surgeons-General in charge of the respective Divisions of the Army, as well as to
the Officers commanding stations and corps and their staff. I am also particularly
indebted to the Executive Medical Officers, Army Medical Department, to
whom, I am aware, I occasioned a great deal of trouble, but who most kindly
spared no pains to place at my disposal all the information in their power and who
assisted me in every way they could.
T. G. HEWLETT, Deputy Surgeon-General,
Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of Bombay.
BOMBAY : PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT CENTRAL PRESS,