14
twon. Some of it during the dry season might be burnt, and the ashes be used
in the privies ; in fact, if the house-owners were ordered to do this and throw all
their ashes into pit privies as long as these are allowed to continue, it would do
good. The " cutchra " might be usefully employed in reclaiming the rice fields
on the south, and would convert them into the most magnificent garden land.
Especial care should be taken not to allow the deposit to be of too great thickness,
but it should be kept at such a level that it could be irrigated with sewage from
the town.
52. The keeping of the cattle inside houses should be at once stopped, and
the owners should be compelled to build proper stables for their accommodation
outside, and these stables should be carefully and systematically inspected.
53. The tanners' places as well as those of the dyers should be drained
and regularly inspected, and the owners should be compelled to take out a licence
annually.
54. The markets require more frequent lime-washing; The beef market
was particularly dirty. They should be lime-washed at least once a month. The
beef slaughtering-place is objectionable as it is close to a public road, and
another site on the south of town, but at least a mile away, 'should be chosen.
It was a mistake placing the mutton slaughtering-house inside the town ; but as
this has been done, great care should be taken to see that the offal is entirely
removed every day. No quarry should be allowed to be excavated in the town ;
the existing ones might, it is thought, be enclosed after being, thoroughly well
cleaned.
55. The hedges should be cut and the rank vegetation should not be allowed
to grow as high as it does now, and the prickly-pear should be cut whenever
found; but especially the growth of this pernicious plant should not be allowed
in the close vicinity of the Police Lines.
5 6 . T h e r e g i s t r a t i o n o f b i r t h s a n d d e a t h s s h o u l d b e m a d e c o m p u l s o r y o n
the inhabitants by a municipal bye-law, for which there is power under the Act.
The occupier of a house in which either a birth or death takes place should be
compelled under a penalty to report such birth or death without loss of time to the
nearest policeman, who would then go and collect the required information, and
who should give, in the case of a death, a written permit for the body to be disposed
o f . T h i s c o u l d b e e a s i l y a n d b e s t d o n e b y t h e r e g i s t e r b o o k b e i n g p r i n t e d i n
counterfoil, the leaf of which could be torn out and given to the person conduct
-ing the funeral to be delivered up at each plàce of disposal to a man in charge
before the body could be disposed of; and the permit should be returned to the
P o l i c e O f f i c e , s o t h a t t h e r e w o u l d b e a n e f f i c i e n t c h e c k , a n d e a c h p l a c e o f d i s p o s a l
of bodies should be registered in a book kept by the Municipality into which the
name of the person in charge could be entered. Burning and burial should no
longer be permitted along side the Khánápur road. Another site on the south
could easily be chosen.
57. The disposal of the night-soil as practised in Belgaum is, as I have
stated, unscientific in the extreme, and should be at once altered. A large field
distant from any well or water-course should be bought, and trenches onefoot
deep, two feet broad, with intervals of one foot between each trench should be
”dug. The night-soil collected during each day should be deposited into this trench,
commencing, if the ground is not level, at the lower end. The night-soil should
not exceed. half a foot in depth, and should be covered over each day with the
earth taken out of the trench alongside at the bottom end of each trench ; if the
night-soil is very liquid, a hole 5 feet deep should be dug to allow the ooze to
escape from the trench and to be absorbed. This ooze also should be covered
over with the earth dug out of the pit every day. Land must be chosen wher
e
is a sufficient depth of soil. If the ground is rocky, ashes of burnt sweepings
should be. thrown in sufficient quantity to absorb this ooze. When the whole