PART III-PREVENTION OF MALARIA IN BOMBAY.
CHAPTER I.
HISTORY OF MALARIA PREVENTION IN BOMBAY.
Section 1.
243. THE PAST HISTORY OP MALARIA PREVENTION IN
BOMBAY.—The history of malaria prevention in Bombay dates from quite
recent times, for although much has been done in the past two centuries to
reclaim the" drowned lands" in the island, embankments having been built
here and there, many swamps and marshes having been filled in and much
low-land raised above flood level ; and although much of this work was
originally undertaken with the view of improving the health of the City, it is
questionable if it can be said to have been specially directed against malaria,
244. In 1841 the two Napiers cleared a considerable area of the foreshore
at Colaba of mangrove bushes in the hope of reducing malaria, which had
become so severe during the construction of the Colaba Causeway as to
seriously affect the health of the troops. This measure was undoubtedly
directed against malaria ; and there is reason to believe that after it was
carried cut the disease diminished in Colaba, though whether as a result of the
work or merely because of the completion of the Causeway, the construction
of which had caused the epidemic, it is difficult to determine.
245. It is not possible to class the numerous drainage schemes which have
been carried out in Bombay since 1863 as anti-malaria measures ; for although
it was at one time believed that the undrained areas in the island were
malarious and that the construction of sewers and storm-water drains would
render them more healthy, there is no evidence that malaria was influenced
in the slightest degree by the drains and sewers ; and the fact that many
parts of the City now severely affected by malaria are among those which have
been longest drained, while the northern portion of the island which is totally
undrained is almost free of the disease, negatives this view.
246. The appointment of a Committee by the Corporation in September
1901 to consider certain matters regarding the presence of Anopheles mosquitoes
and the measures which might be taken to reduce or suppress them, appears to
have been the first occasion on which the adoption of specific measures against
malaria on the lines laid down by Ross received consideration in Bombay.
At that time it was assumed that malaria was responsible for a very large
amount of sickness and considerable mortality in the City.
The Committee urged the Corporation to attempt the destruction of
every kind of mosquito, and stated that they " Were prepared to recommend
the Corporation to sanction liberal expenditure, if necessary, to make these
measures effective, but as the Executive Health Officer believes that he will
be able to carry them out with the existing establishment, he may be requested
to endeavour to do so, and to report at the end of three months it he finds
that a special staff will be required." As a result of their recommendations
certain measures were undertaken.
Apparently it was soon found necessary to augment the existing staff,
for it is recorded in 1902 that for each ward of No. 1 Division of the City one
mosquito gang, consisting of a sub-inspector and four men, was formed. No. 1
Division of the City at that time consisted of three wards A., B., C. with a total
area of about 3.8 square miles and a population of: 376,624 and the mosquito
gangs for work in this area numbered 3 sub-inspectors and 12 men. The total
wages of this staff at present rates would amount to about Rs. 260 per month
(or about £208 per annum), These gangs found Anopheles larvæ chiefly in
fountains, drinking troughs, tubs and buckets, open cisterns and certain drains.
Culex larvæ they found chiefly in wells, gullies and stormwater catch-pits,
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