6
informed that the Municipality are taking steps to compel the owner to close this
place, and contemplate the erection of three additional mutton markets. The
dry-fish market in Aditwar Peth was clean at the time of my visit, but the smell
from the places where the dry-fish is stored, is much complained of.
12. Some of the hollows caused by stone and mourum quarrries, mentioned
by Dr. Leith, have been filled in, but they are still far too numerous. One
near the Bolai Temple, on the northern boundary, opposite and to windward of
the Sassoon Hospital, is particularly objectionable, as it contains stagnant pools
of water, and, as I had proof, is constanly used as a necessary. All such places,
which it is impossible on account of expense to fill in, should be made reservoirs
of Kharakwásla water, after the surface had been thoroughly well cleaned.
13. The municipal authorities have also not exerted the powers entrusted
to them with the view of compelling owners of ruinous houses to remove them,
the consequence being, that these places become depôts of filth, where nuisances
of all kinds are perpetrated. The pernicious prickly-pear, too, has been allowed
to grow luxuriantly in any waste place. In Mangalwar Peth, where there is uo
public latrine, the open space thus covered with prickly-pear is used as the com-
mon necessary of the locality.
14. There appear to be no regulations regarding the disposal of dead cattle.
In the filthy village of Maharwada, on the high ground above the confluence of
the Nagjheri and Manila nullahs, I saw dead cattle lying on the roadway. It
was stated the Mahars are in the habit of skinning and eating the flesh of these
animals; whilst the heaps of bones, skulls, horns, &c., which were rotting in
the sun, showed that this practice must be of long standing.
15. There is a cremation ground for Hindus of high caste and another for
lower caste on the banks of the river, not far from Onkareshwar Temple, which
is above stream. The funeral pyre is generally composed of cow-dung cakes, and
after the body is burnt the ashes are thrown into the river. There are also about
75 burial-grounds inside the city, chiefly belonging to the Mahomedan com-
munity, only 4 or 5 being used by low-caste Hindus. All are in the most
objectionable state, and must have been filled over and over again.
16. Another nuisance is the state of the sheds where cattle are kept, the
probable number of which is set down at 8,850; but hardly in a single instance
did I see proper accommodation made for them. They generally are located in
the back yard of the houses where their owners live, and very few of the stables
had any drainage at all.
17. Although, since Dr. Leith's report, the streets have been named and
400 oil lamps erected, and some of the narrow streets in Aditwar and Budwar
Peths—which are two of the most thickly populated parts of the City, have been
widened—yet the want of ventilating avenues from west to east is still as strongly
felt as when pointed out in his report. Great improvements have been effected
since 1863 in making macadamized roads in place of the old broken pavements
Dr. Leith complained of. The are now about 27 miles of made road, with side
gutters through the City.
18. The system of the registration of births and deaths is faulty in the
extreme, and the results stated are, in my opinion, entirely untrustworthy. The
birth-rate in 1874-75 is recorded to have been 9.9 per 1,000,—a statement
which, it is manifest, is grossly incorrect; whilst the death-rate is reported to
have been 22.50 per 1,000, which, I believe, is also much under the true amount.
There is neither any policeman stationed at each burial-ground nor at the places
of cremation, and there is no order in force compelling persons who conduct the
funeral ceremony to give information to the police on the occasion of the dis-