6
MILITARY DEPARTMENT, 8TH SEPTEMBER 1879, No. 5000.
existed among the dhobies who washed for the Royal Artillery, but all communi
-cation had ceased at the date on which the first case occurred. The condition
of barracks, ration supplies, water, &c., was satisfactory. The condition of
2/16th and 1/21st Regimental barracks is likewise reported to have been satis
-factory. There was nothing in the water or ration supplies to account for
the attacks. A tank existed to windward of 2/16th barracks, and is said to
have smelt offensively at times when closely approached ; but it is situated
about a quarter of a mile from the south end of the lines, and the occupants of the
two bungalows nearest to it escaped. All the cases in 1/21st Regiment occurred
in men under treatment in hospital for other diseases. All precautions as laid
down by regulations were duly observed ; the barracks of 2/16th and hospitals of both
Infantry Regiments were vacated and their occupants placed in tents. These
moves, although carried out during heavy rains, were beneficial in shaking off the
disease, and were unattended with any injury to health from exposure. Subjoined
are the remarks of the Principal Medical Officer of the Circle in connection with
this outbreak : " The cholera cases which occurred among the European troops of
the Hyderabad Subsidiary Force in the months of July and August 1878, though
they cannot in any way be said to have been caused by local insanitary conditions,
as the disease had been prevalent for some considerable time previously in and
around cantonments among the civil native population, and also among natives in
Government employ, yet there is little doubt the state of the weather generally, and,
perhaps, the communication which necessarily must always exist between natives
employed in barracks and their relatives and others outside, were considerable
factors in introducing this disease. With the exception of two cases in the Royal
Horse Artillery which recovered, the whole occurred in the lines occupied by
2/16th Regiment, which includes the General Infantry Hospital, where the cases of
1/21st Regiment took place. The lines are situated on a slight ridge running nearly
north and south, and the barracks, which are built in an almost continuous line, face
consequently east and west. Along the east side of the barracks runs a main road,
and varying from about half a mile to a mile still further east is a low, long
hill, chiefly composed of granite boulders, where the rifle range is made. At the
back of the barracks, to the west, is some lowlying ground which in the rains is
cultivated in places and rice crops sown, and there is a stream of water running
down to it commencing in a drain which carries off the rainfall from the
entrenchment (1/21st barracks) on its south side. This lowlying land and the tanks
beyond it, into which the water eventually runs and collects, have always been a
mostobjectionable feature in connection with these barracks, and have been frequently
brought to the notice of the local authorities. At one time an attempt was made
to try and stop the rice cultivation and improve the sanitary condition, but the
amount of compensation was and probably will continue to be quite prohibitory.
The land in question belongs to some chiefs of Hyderabad, with whom it is most
difficult to interfere. At one of the lowest lying spots in this ground and directly
to windward of the lines of 2/16th Regiment was a most objectionable collection of
huts sprung up from time to time, probably without any authority, miserable and poor
in the extreme. In these huts it was discovered some of the puckallies of 2/16th
and 1/21st Regiments as well as some hospital servants lived, and though no cholera
cases were known to have occurred here until the 18th or 19th August 1878, yet
several took place after this date. As before stated, however, the free communica--
tion which takes place between soldiers, natives employed in barracks, and other
natives elsewhere, renders the tracing out of such matters an impossibility. The
huts in question were demolished before the 2/16th Regiment returned to barracks
from camp." Three cases of cholera (one fatal) occurred in E Battery, 6th Brigade,
Royal Artillery, Kamptee, on 3rd, 6th, and 18th July respectively. All were tem--
perate men. The disease existed among natives in the bazaars at the time. Two of
the men occupied the same barrack-room and all three had been associated together.
Three cases occurred in 33rd Regiment at same station on 10th, 12th, and 20th
September respectively ; of these, two died. The man first attacked had been in the
bazaars where cholera existed. There was nothing in the construction of barracks,