vii
dangers of subsoil pollution, and that a sufficient staff of sweepers be maintained
to ensure their being always kept clean and pure. In many stations, from want
of space, position of the lines, nature of the soil, &c. &c., the latrine system has
to be adopted in its entirety, and in these dry earth as a deodorizer is chiefly
used. The general plan adopted is to place iron pans to catch the night-soil, in
which it mixes with dry earth, and when these fill, the contents are removed in
filth carts somewhere beyond cantonment limits, to be either disposed of as
manure, or buried in pits. From both Dharwar and Malegaon the medical
officers reported that the trench system was carried out with complete success,
and that the ground containing the filled in and disused trenches is now under
cultivation. At Deesa trenches are sunk in the beds of nullahs during the
dry season and on its banks during the rains. In Baroda the trench system is
used during the dry season, and the medical officer reports, " it is found necessary
to post police sentries to enforce their being used, and prevent the men from
defiling the surrounding country instead." It will be of course no easy task to
change the ordinary habits of the sepoy so as to bring them within a proper
sanitary system, but the result to be attained is of such immense importance that
no trouble taken to secure it will be thrown away. Above all things the surround
ings of his dwellings must be clean and well conserved, otherwise the atmosphere
permeating them will be tainted and unwholesome, ultimately leading to impair-
ment of health, long residence in hospital, and loss of service to the State.
21. Nearly all the reports speak in favourable terms of the water supply,
Water supply.
and it would appear that a greater amount of attention
has been paid to this essential of health during
recent years. There are however still some stations where the water supply is
deficient. At Aden particularly it is reported, " The men get two gallons of
sweet and three gallons of brackish water per diem. They complain that the
quantity is insufficient, and an increase of one gallon of sweet water has been
recommended by the Surgeon of the Regiment, but the increase has not yet been
sanctioned." In Sattara the wells in the lines dry up in the hot season, and in
consequence the men have to go a long distance for a supply of potable water.
It is stated however that a scheme is under consideration for supplying both
city and camp with good drinking water, to be brought in from a distance, and
when this scheme has been carried out, the lines, it is hoped, will be independent
of the wells. In the lines occupied by the 6th N. I. at Mhow, one of the three
wells in use "is very near the latrines of the 13th N. I.:" another, used by-
" Purwarries," " is near the hospital latrine." At Neemuch the supply was scarce
during the first half of the year, but improved with the rainfall. Deepening the
wells and building a lateral nullah has had an appreciable effect on the quantity
of the supply. Surgeon Ferguson, of. the 24th Regiment N. I., reporting of
Mehidpur, says, "a constant supply of good water is still a desideratum," and
I would invite attention to the details he enters into of the defects of the present
one. The Surgeon of the 1st Sind Horse reports that, " the water of the out-
posts is extremely bad on account of dissolved impurities, Sooie being worst in
this respect." In the report of the 19th N. I. the Medical Officer says, "The
water of Kurrachee, apart from its being of inferior quality, is decidedly limited
in quantity." With these exceptions, the water supply is spoken well of, and
the medical officers stationed at Poona particularly speak in the highest terms
of the Kurruckwasla water supplied to the lines.
22. As in the previous year, the ruling prices of food grains ranged very
high; and reports pretty generally speak of the difficul-
ties sepoys, more particularly those with families to
maintain, had to contend with in providing themselves with a sufficiency of whole-
some food. Under the most favourable circumstances however it does not always
follow that sepoys, particularly Hindoos, will provide themselves with the first
quality of food grains while they can get damaged or inferior grains at a cheaper
rate. This at least seems to be the general prevailing impression, and to obviate
Food and clothing.