71
NORTHERN DIVISION OF THE ARMY.
Vaccination and re-vaccination.
13. Twenty-nine primary and twelve re-vaccinations were
performed: four of each were unsuccessful.
14. Twenty-three men were sent up: 18 have been pensioned, 1 discharged with
a gratuity, and 4 returned to duty. They were invalided for
the following disorders:—3 for anæmia, 1 each for ague,
dropsy, facial paralysis, rheumatism, and scrofula (discharged with gratuity), and 11 for old
age and debility.
Invaliding and its causes.
Requirements and recommen
-dations.
15. It is to be hoped that the present camp will soon be
done away with, and a new one built, on a better site, near the
old Cavalry lines.
Inspection by Deputy Surgeon-General W YLLIE.
Inspected 15th December. Health so far has been exceptionally favourable, owing to
unusually small rainfall; and ague much less prevalent, although admissions under that
head are still much in excess of ordinary incidence, as are those from lung disease. Since
last inspection a separate building with aggregate accommodation for 16 beds has been
completed to supplement the hospital, and a contagious ward added—the latter unfor
-tunately, and seemingly unnecessarily, placed close to the roadside. The lines are poor,
but the best has been made of them, and I note with satisfaction that all the men have now
been provided with charpoys to sleep on—a provision that will go far to obviate the effects
of dampness.
I visited the old Cavalry lines, and consider the site to be greatly preferable to that
of the present cantonment, not only because the ground is well raised and free from any
risk of flooding, but especially for its perennial supply of clear sweet water. There are
three large wells, some 300 yards apart from one another, the water-level standing from 22
to 24 feet from the ground surface. In one I found 18 feet of water, and in each of the
others 6,—a supply that deepening could add to indefinitely; while at the same date
the cantonment wells were practically dry, the best one having only one and a half feet
of water, and the men being dependent on the impure river supply.
This site, therefore, has natural advantages which would, beyond question, remedy
the ill-health that characterized the existing cantonment, which results from lowness of
ground, and concurrently defective drainage and liability to flooding, together with a very
bad water supply.
H. M.'s Left Wing, 24th Regiment N. I.
AGAR.—In medical charge of Surgeon J. E. FERGUSON.—Strength 245.1.
On the 1st of January the regiment was encamped at Delhi. Leaving Delhi on the 11th
January, it arrived at Agar on the 1st March. The right
wing separated on the 8th of March to proceed to Mehid
-pur, leaving the left wing stationed at Agar.
2. The vast majority of the huts have no windows; the interior, even when the door
is ajar, is partially dark. Ventilation is deficient. Only 96
huts have bathing-places in their verandahs. To prevent
the water permeating under the floor, and rendering the house
damp and unhealthy, the majority of the nanees are formed of
a basement of chunam work or stone flags. The water flows off through a hole in the wall
to a small surface drain which leads to the main drain, about thirty feet in front of the
doors. When it is convenient, it is conducted to a plot containing a tree. Accumulations
of dirty water are always taking place in these drains, the levels being bad, and the sepoys,
as a rule, not troubling themselves to keep them clean. This condition of the drainage is the
most apparent sanitary defect in the lines; but there are other minor points on which
improvement is also desirable.
Location and movements.
The Lines and their surround
-ings: present condition, hygienic
or otherwise.
3. The night-soil is removed to a place 400 yards from the lines. The sweepings are
removed by the station conservancy carts.
Conservancy.