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" that the clanger against which the steps are prepared to he taken is an
"imaginary one, etc."
This letter went on to point out that the cause of malaria in Bombay
was the " Excavation of land previously reclaimed by town sweepings" and
also stated that—
" The existence of fever is attributable to (1) the existence of sub-soil
" water and gases emanating from the ground ; (2) the defective construc-
" tion of drains ; (3) the leaky and choked up condition of the drains which
" contaminate wells and places of storage of water; and (4) the use of storm-
" water drains for carrying off sullage."
The letter further stated that—
" If the theory of sub-soil water and emanations of gases therefrom is
" correct, the measures now proposed would raise the level of the sub-soil
" water and further endanger the health of the public."
And it ended by a second appeal on behalf of supposed religious liberty,
on the ground that open wells were necessary " As according to their
" religious doctrines they cannot use pipe water for the performance of religious
" ceremonies; that the water must be exposed to the rays of the sun, which
" alone, according to their religious text, keeps the water pure ; that the water
" drawn from covered wells will not be used for religious purposes ; that the wells
" would consequently be useless and would become a source of danger to health;
" that the measures proposed would not only cause great discontent amongst
" occupants of such houses but would be held as tantamount to an interference
" with religious liberty which is contrary to law."
393. These views, put forward as serious reasons for allowing known
breeding places of dangerous anopheles to go unprotected, represent the present
ideas of even the more advanced classes in Bombay, and what is more important
from the point of view of malaria-prevention in the City, they represent
in many cases the current opinion of property-owners and rate-payers, in whose
hands the municipal government is placed. The vast body of the population
who are even less enlightened, take but little active interest in questions of
sanitation and municipal government.
394, Unfortunately also, the hundreds of medical men in Bombay appear
to influence the views of wealthy clients but little. In a Municipal Report of
1902 Dr. Sukhia, a well known Parsi Physician, recommended the covering of
wells, in order to protect them from the breeding of mosquitoes; but many
hundreds of open wells exist to this day in the houses owned and tenanted by Parsi
citizens; and the Parsi community is suffering in consequence. In 1910 a
petition signed by about 350 Parsi priests was addressed to the Municipal
Commissioner stating that, they could not fill up or even cover their wells, as
according to traditional custom they cannot use water for performing religious
ceremonies if it is drawn by means of a pump from wells that have been
covered up.
395. On the other hand a few of the most enlightened men belonging to
the different religious communities in the City, see no great difficulty in
arranging a satisfactory solution of the problem.
In reply to a communication from the Executive Health Officer a well
known Parsi priest stated as follows: —
" In the Zoroastrian religion great importance is attached to the laws
"of health and rules of purity and it has therefore been a common
" practice in connection with the wells attached to the sacred places of
" Parsis to see that those wells are properly cleaned from time to time and
" the water kept in a pure and healthy condition. I am, therefore, of
" opinion that the unclean and impure state of the wells referred to by
" you has rendered them unfit for human use, much more for a sacred
" purpose, which those wells cannot serve until the cause of impurity
" has been removed.