99
" particular the Paltan Road Chawl area is the site of intense malaria
"and in the Dongri Koli area adjoining, many actual and potential
"breeding places for Anopheles (N. stephensi and M. rossi) have
" been found from time to time. In my opinion it will be necessary
" to undertake work in these areas of a similar nature to that which
"it has been suggested shall be initiated by the Municipality, the Port
" Trust and the Railway Companies. It appears to me probable that one
" trained man assisted by an ordinary coolie could ensure that the
" Improvement Trust areas referred to are kept free from mosquito larvae
" during the monsoon and one man alone could do the work in the
" dry weather. But the question of supervision is in my opinion all
" important, and it would be necessary that the work of such a staff should
" be inspected weekly by some responsible officer engaged on this kind of
" work alone. I do not feel that it lies within my province to suggest
" what arrangement to this end should be made by the Improvement
" Trust. I have suggested to the Port Trust and Railway Companies that
" it would be advisable to appoint responsible Inspectors, and it appears
" to me that trustworthy time-expired European soldiers with a good
" knowledge of the vernacular would be the best type of men to employ.
" But in the case of the Improvement Trust no single area is sufficiently
" large to require one such men and though possibly one Inspector could
" superintend the work on the whole of their property it is possible that it
" would be better that each separate Improvement Trust area should be
" under the supervision of the special municipal inspector for the anti-
" mosquito work of the section in which it lies."
269. Action taken by the City of Bombay Improvement Trust.—The
Improvement Trust did not appoint a special staff, but they deputed one
of their subordinate officers to pay special attention to the question of
mosquito breeding places on their Estates. For the purpose of training this
officer and other Inspectors of the Trust's Estates, demonstrations were given
by the Special Officer and staff employed on the malaria investigation.
In the Admistration Report of the Improvement Trust for 1909-1910 the
following paragraph appears :—
" A new departure in 1909-1910 was the training of all inspectors
" and peons on the Trust Estates to find out mosquito breeding place3
"and destroy larvae. Systematic arrangements were made for the
"periodical inspection of all wells,"tanks and cisterns in Trust Estates in
" co-operation with the lessses, and the result has been the elimination of
" many mosquito breeding places and a great reduction in the mosquito
" pest. Cisterns on Trust Estates are now required to be made with
"close fitting covers so that mosquitoes cannot breed in them. The
"expenditure on this anti-malaria campaign in 1909-1910 was Rs. 363."
270. The memorandum submitted to the Port Trust is given below :—
Letter No. 117, dated the 17th July 1909, from Dr. Charles A. Bentley, M.B.,
D.P.H.; on Special Duty, Malaria investigation Committee, Bombay, to the
Superintendent, P. & 0. Company, one of the Port Trustees.
" In accordance with the minutes of the Committee Meeting held on
" the 30th June 1909, I have the honour to report as follows. The present
" enquiry into Malaria in Bombay has shown that the disease is especially
" prevalent along the whole of the east coast of the Island between the
"Kasara Basin, Mazagaon and the Sassoon Dock, Colaba. This tract
" includes large areas under the control of the Port Trust. Investigation
" has shown that an area of very intense malaria exists in and around
" Princes and Victoria Dockyards. (In 1903 the admissions for malaria
" among the police stationed at these docks stood at 2776.8 per 1,000 against
" an average of 1031.3 per 1,000 for the whole of Bombay.) In particular
"the enclosure of the New Dock Works can be shown to be the site of
" very severe malaria and probably the centre from which the disease is
" disseminated to a considerable area around. An examination of the Prince's