8
MILITARY DEPARTMENT, 18TH MARCH 1890, No. 2026.
Station Hospital.—Surface drainage very defective. Rain water issuing from roof pipes
floods and tears up the ground.
No. 1 Ward Lavatory is much in need of additional lighting and ventilation. The
verandah floors of the " detained" and No. 2 Wards are of clay. These should be concreted.
The " Detained Ward" latrine requires additional ventilation by windows and ridges and its
floor should be concreted.
The night-soil is removed from barracks in imperfectly closed iron receptacles placed on
ordinary rubbish carts. Crowley carts have not yet been provided as the Bombay Government
does not consider them suitable to the local conditions of cantonments in the Bombay Presi
-dency. Inquiries are being made by Government as to what would be the best pattern filth
cart to adopt.
Bellary.—Malarial fevers of all kinds are specially prevalent among European and Native
troops. The composition of the ground is a black cotton soil on which rests a thick layer of
disintegrating primary rock. In the presence of' great sun-heat it favors, to an exceptional
degree, the development and evolution of malarial poisons. At this station, as at Secunder
-abad and Bangalore, the surface drainage should be carried out in well laid, properly pointed
surface channels. This and the planting of fast-growing trees and shrubs would largely avail
in diminishing the malarial diseases from which the troops now suffer so much.
The water-supply of the cantonment requires to be put upon a much more satisfactory
basis than at present obtains. Much correspondence has taken place on this subject, and it is
satisfactory to know that a committee has been ordered to assemble for the purpose of submit
-ting some definite proposals for the improvement of the water-supply of the cantonment.
SOUTHERN DISTRICT.
The health of the troops at Wellington, Calicut and Malapuram has been good, and at
Cannanore indifferent. During the second quarter of the year the health at Malapuram was
indifferent.
The sanitation of the barrack buildings and hospitals at these stations has been satisfactory
with the following exceptions :—
At Wellington a lunatic ward attached to the hospital is very much needed.
The Army Hospital Native Corps attendants are not provided with quarters, and are
consequently obliged to live at considerable distance from their work.
This is the cause of great inconvenience and affects prejudicially the discipline of the men.
At Cannanore the lighting of the barracks is reported by Dy. Surgeon-General Farquhar
to be defective.
At Malapuram the Medical officer in charge states that the staff sergeants' quarters are
damp and their drainage insufficient.
The distribution of the water-supply at Wellington by means of leather buckets and
puckally bags is very objectionable, and it is important that zinc buckets be substituted for
these. The water up to the points of distribution is pure and wholesome. As this is a
sanitarium for invalids and young soldiers, it is recommended that the water should be laid
on to cook-houses and barracks in the usual way.
The sanitary condition of the Coonoor bazaar is very fair, but the Deputy Surgeon
-General represents that it can never be all that is desirable till the water-supply is piped and a
system of drainage carried out. Bearing in mind the fact that this is the bazaar to which the
young solider has constant access and from which he obtains various supplies, it is of the first
importance that its sanitary condition should be as good as it is possible to make it.
The drainage of Wellington is favored by the ground conformation. It would be advisable
to have the present masonry drains extended so that their contents could be carried still further
away from barracks. Drainage should also be extended to the Coonoor bazaar.
SECUNDERABAD DISTRICT.
The health of the troops in this district has been fair and shows a decided improvement
compared with the previous year. The sanitation of the barracks and hospitals has been
satisfactory.
Secunderabad. —The great radical defect which universally prevails here is the total absence
of artificial surface drainage. There are absolutely no means of carrying off storm water ,
except by the natural channels which are formed in due course by the cutting up of the surface
into deep rugged drains, rendering the ground broken and uneven. The surface soil at Secun
-derabad is composed to a great extent of disintegrated granite, and it is a well recognized fact
that no structure harbours more closely the poison of malaria and evolves it more readily in the
presence of heat and moisture than a decomposing granite soil.
A thorough system of surface drainage is strongly recommended as a means of reducing
the serious diseases and mortality of this station.
The next point that calls for remedial measure is the drainage of the low swampy ground
between the two Infantry barracks. Here the ground is low and unwholesome, and to this