( 3 )
open additional distributing centres at village schools so that no area may be
more than 5 miles from a dispensary or a post office or a school where the drug
is distributed.
The prevalence of malaria in Bengal has for many years engaged the
attention of Government, and in March 1905 prominent attention was drawn
to it by a member of the Legislative Council who asked for the appointment
of a Commission or Committee of Enquiry to investigate the causes of death
from malaria in Bengal and the remedies to be applied. It is believed that,
particularly in the Presidency Division, the main cause of malaria is the
obstruction of drainage caused by the gradual rise of the delta, and two
important drainage projects have already been determined on in this Division,
namely, the Magra Hát scheme in the 24-Parganas and the Bhairab Valley
scheme in Jessore. The Lieutenant-Governor has now decided that the whole
of the Presidency Division should be examined, and that a list should be
prepared of all practicable drainage schemes, so that a definite programme
of action may be drawn up. With this object a small Committee has been
appointed, whose duty it will be to ascertain in what areas in the Presidency
Division malaria is prevalent, and if the cause of the disease is held to be
obstructed drainage, to decide whether a drainage scheme is practicable and to
prepare a list of such schemes arranged in order of urgency. The Report of
the Committee is to be submitted to Government before the end of March
1907.
On the other hand, in order to ascertain to what extent drainage works
produce a beneficial effect in lessening the ravages of malaria, instructions have
recently been issued to the Sanitary Commissioner to make special investiga-
tions in those areas which have been influenced by such projects. The malaria
index will be worked out in the tract both before and after the completion of
the drainage works; the death-rate from fever will be carefully recorded in
each area for five years before and five years after the completion of the
schemes ; and at all hospitals and dispensaries in the tracts affected the attend-
ance of patients suffering from malaria will be ascertained for the quinquennial
periods both before and after the completion of the works.
Dysentery and Diarrhœa.—The mortality from dysentery and diarrhœa was
also heavier in the year under review than in 1904, the total number of deaths
returned as due to this cause being 45,260, or a ratio of .90 against .82 per mille
in 1904. Orissa suffered most and lost 2.93 per thousand of its population
from this cause. These diseases have been made the subject of a special
enquiry by the Sanitary Department, and the Sanitary Commissioner's report
embodying the results of his enquiries is now under the consideration of
Government.
Sanitary Improvements.—Compared with 1903-1904 there was an increase
in the expenditure incurred by municipal bodies under the heads " Con-
servancy " and " Drainage," but a falling of under " water-supply. Con-
siderable activity was displayed by many municipalities in the adminis-
tration of the various branches of Sanitation. Drainage schemes were under
various stages of preparation, and in some cases preliminary survey was being
or about to be made ; and steps were taken by many towns to improve their
water-supply. The Lieutenant-Governor has read with pleasure the list of
sanitary works carried out in different parts of the Province by municipalities
and other bodies.
As stated in paragraph 14 of the Resolution recorded on the last Sanitary
Report, enquiries were made during the year under review to ascertain whether
filtration through sand and the application of sulphate of copper rendered the
effluent from septic tank installations bacteriologically pure. The net result
of the experiments was to show that these methods, either separately or in
combination, were capable of purifying the effluent, but that in practice they
were likely to prove difficult and expensive in proportion to the amount of
impurity in the material to be treated ; and it was considered doubtful whether
they would be practicable in the case of effluents of a high degree of impurity
except as adjuncts to other methods of treatment. Sterilization of the effluent
was then attempted by means of chlorinated lime. The experiment proved
successful, and it was found that an addition of this material equivalent to
five grains for each gallon of effluent rendered the fluid virtually sterile.