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remove 30 tons of soil not less than 27 carts would be required in daily use.
It is, therefore, manifest, that when the pay of the halalcores and that of their
supervisors, as well as the maintenance charges of the carts, bullocks, plant, &c.,
are taken into consideration, a very large annual expenditure must necessarily be
entailed. I would also, as a preface to the remarks following, earnestly invite
consideration of the fact, that the system of hand removal of nightsoil, although
theoretically perfect, is practically most imperfect. From long experience in
Bombay I know that any idea of placing below the privy seats an iron utensil
to catch everything that falls into it—the fœces, the urines, the ablution
water—is eminently unsuccessful and impracticable. No municipality in India
would be able to stand the expense of removing even all the urine passed by the
inhabitants. The present system of hand removal, imperfect as it confessedly
is, when we have to acknowledge that at least 4/5 of the urine voided will soak
into the ground close to the habitations of the people or pass into the so-called
sewers, is one which is yet much better than no system at all, and it ought forth
-with to be introduced as a temporary, though expensive, measure, into the City of
Poona; but I would with all the earnestness at my command strongly counsel
the municipal authorities at once to set to work, and to devise a scheme where
-by (leaving the existing channels to carry off the storm-water) the sewage—con
-sisting of nightsoil, urine, and water fouled in domestic use—could be diverted
from the river, and be at once carried by means of glazed stoneware pipes to
the land, for the purposes of agriculture. There can be no gainsaying the
fact that the water-carriage system is the cheapest and most effectual of all,
if only there is an ample supply of water available. With proper care on the
part of the engineer, all danger of sewer gas entering houses should be entirely
prevented. The advantages of the system will be apparent, if consideration is
given to the fact, that you effect by the agency of water alone what now
requires at each privy the services of a bunghy, a cart, a pair of bullocks and their
driver; whilst as regards the public health there is no comparison, for, in the one
case, by simply pulling up a plug, all offensive matter isat once washed away for
ever, and at the out-fall should be applied to enrich and fertilize the soil; whilst
i n t he ot he r , 4/ 5 of t he ur i ne , c onf e s s e dl y, mus t s oa k i nt o t he gr ound, or be
partly carried away by the present imperfect drains, and in doing so injure the
public health; and, above all, its successful working is dependent on the vigilant
supervision of the labour of a most troublesome class of people, who are daily
becoming scarcer as other modes of employment are opened out to them. I
view with grave apprehension the proposal to bring in a large supply of water
from Kharakwásla, although such a course is absolutely necessary, as I fear the
death-rate from fever will increase, because the Municipality has not, as the
Peshwa so wisely did, previously provided a system for earring away the water
after use. Miss Nightingale, one of the greatest living authorities on the subject,
says
"The true key to sanitary progress in cities is water-supply and sewer
age. No city can be purified sufficiently by mere hand labour in fetching and
carrying."
As regards the disposal of the sewage in England and on the Continent,
the truth of Mr. Ward's axiom—"the rain to the river, the sewage to the
soil"—is every day becoming more and more acknoweldged. Every year the
Army Sanitary Commission, which has done so much for the cause of sanitary
reform all over the world, urges that this action should be taken in India. In
Poona the natural drainage is excellent; and its advantages in having pure
drinking water at hand in unlimited quantity, whilst the present supply from
the Katruj Reservoir could be utilized for flushing the sewers, would place it on
a par with any city in Europe, before many in England, and all in India.
26. The preparation of such a scheme is, of course, beyond my powers
and beyond my duty; but I am informed by high authority that it is be
- l i e v e d t h a t i t i s a f e a s i b l e a n d a p r a c t i c a b l e o n e , a n d t h a t t h e r e i s s u i t -