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The Executive Health Officer records that holes in the ground were filled
where possible; open drains cleared.; drinking troughs, tubs and buckets
emptied once a week ; fish were placed in fountains ; and other breeding places
were treated with a mixture of tar and kerosine.
247. In March 1903 the Corporation asked for a report of the work done
since the adoption of the resolution regarding anti-mosquito measures the
year previously. A list of 855 places dealt with, including pools, ditches, wells,
fountains, quarry-holes, etc., was submitted to them and the Executive Health
Officer stated that work on the lines laid down in 1902 was being continued.
In the same year (July 1903), the Corporation resolved that the Municipal
Commissioner should be requested to organize a regular system of cleaning
public wells and tanks at fixed intervals. But in August of the same year the
Executive Health Officer reported that, no good so far as mosquito larvæ are
concerned will be obtained by periodical cleansing such as the Health Depart-
ment was able to do. He recommended that the Heads of Departments, in
whose charge the wells and tanks were, should be asked to arrange for their
systematic cleansing.
248. In 1904 the Executive Health Officer recommended the filling up or
covering of wells or the use of fish in them ; but the number of wells thus dealt
with is not stated. In the Health report for 1904 it is not stated whether
the special staff appointed for anti-mosquito work in 1932 was continued
during that year.
249. In 1905 owing to the prevalence of malaria in the quarters of the
Inspector at Malabar Hill Reservoir, wire gauze was fixed to the verandahs and
windows at a cost of about Us. 750. In August 1905 the Corporation passed
a resolution asking the Municipal Commissioner to report on the probable cause
or causes of the reputed unhealthiness of the houses in the neighbourhood of the
reservoir and those in the vicinity of the nullah between the reservoir and Nepean
Sea Road, and also to report what steps he proposed taking to remove the cause
of unhealthiness and the cost thereof. The Executive Health Officer recom-
mended that the open channel drain for waste water from the water works should
be continued higher up and that all the places from whence water oozed should
be drained. He advised the abolishing of the Dhobi Ghat also and suggested
that residents in the affected area should be given a leaflet explaining how to
prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. In December 1905 the Municipal Com-
missioner directed the Health Officer to undertake the work of cutting away
undergrowth and connecting the sand washing tanks with the existing channel
drain. This work was carried out by January 1906. Towards the end of 1905
the Corporation moved a resolution regarding the supposed increasing preva-
lence of malaria and other fevers in the city and as a result Government was
approached and a Special Committee was appointed in March 1906 to go into
the matter.
250. During 1906 although the destruction of mosquitoes was undertaken
in various localities there does not appear to have been any measure of im-
portance carried out against malaria. A pond at Mahaluxmi and the storm-
water reservoir are mentioned as having been dealt with, but this was on
account of the mosquito nuisance and not because of malaria.
251. In 1907 the Corporation sanctioned the expenditure of a considerable
sum of money for the repair of Bhandarwada Hill Reservoir at Mazagaon, which
had been subject to serious leakage for some time. The leak gave rise to springs
and streamlets near the base of the hill and these became the breeding places
of Anopheles mosquitoes (M. listoni), the presence of which caused the spread
of malaria among residents in the neighbourhood. During the same year
complaints were received regarding the prevalence of malaria in Frere
Road and Chowpati ; and as a result a certain amount of preventive work
appears to have been done in both areas. The Health Officer records, regarding
Frere Road, that all the storm-water catch-pits in the locality as well as the
side walls of gullies were treated with pesterine (crude petroleum) at frequent
intervals; and that stagnant pools in the new Dock compound were also
pesterined. At Chowpati also similar measures were adopted.