2
5. Para. 11.—
I do not object to the open drains, but they are not so effi
-cient as the pipes, which are easier to flush than the open drains, as all that is
required is to block up the further end of the pipe and then when the water is
collected behind, suddenly to allow its escape when it would carry down any
solid matter that may have got into the pipe.
6. I think the suggestion of the Committee as to the desirability of making
a General Hospital for all the European Troops near the Artillery Hospital an
admirable one, and one which would have my hearty support. I was not aware
that such a proposal would be entertained by the Military Authorities.
7. Paras. 17 and 18.—I submit that the objections of the sub-committee
regarding the construction of huts for natives are not valid. The necessity for
seeing that the huts of followers attached to troops in Cantonments are of proper
construction and design must be clear to every one, when it is remembered that
on the cleanliness and healthiness of these very Places the safety of the troops
may depend. Times out of number European troops have contracted disease
generated among the followers, and it is high time that a better form of dwelling
place for natives be begun ; and I do not see the necessity of consulting them
as to whether they "would like raised plinths or large window ventilation."I
am therefore entirely opposed to the sub-committee's proposal that additional huts
should be allowed on this site, and it is difficult to conceive how it could have
been made, as in the very next sentence it is stated that "the sub-committee fully
agree that the position of the native syce lines is a very bad one and dangerous
to the barracks and the Officers' lines near" the north-west site proposed by the
sub-committee for the location of these followers should not, in my opinion, be
sanctioned, as it is to windward of the barracks. I am informed that the question
of the removal of the battery stables was mooted as long ago as 1868, and in my
opinion it would be desirable that both stables and syce lines be removed to the
south-east of the barracks. The only objection to this site being that they
would be situated on black soil, but it is thought that by careful subsoil and
surface drainage any difficulty arising from this cause would be overcome.
8. Para. 20.—I thoroughly object to the moveable iron receptacle pro-
posed to be placed below the urine trough on the upper storey of the barracks.
It would perpetuate the extremely dangerous system now in operation, and is
opposed to every principle of true sanitation. The urine and water should, as
sumvested in the report, be made to carry themselves to a garden through a pipe
drain.
9. Para. 21.—
I have already expressed my views as to the utter untrust-
worthiness of the three garrah filter arrangement.
10. Para. 22.—I have not, as the sub-committee suppose, mistaken the
nature of the air shafts leading from the lower floor of the barracks. My conten-
tion was and is that the air shafts should go straight through the roof and
terminate in a louvred opening, as now in my opinion so much friction is caused
by the current of air having to bend in order to escape by the central ridge venti-
lator, that the ventilation of the lower room is in my opinion deficient.
11. Para. 24.—
I am glad that the sub-committee agree with my recom-
mendation about the drainage of the barracks for a system of untrapped and
unventilated under-ground drains into which sullage finds its way but
which does not escape at the outlet, is about the surest way of introducing typhoid.
fever that I know, and I must say that I am much surprised no plan of the
drains exists in the Executive Engineer's office. It is a subject which admits of
no delay, and I am of opinion that the communications with the barracks should
be at once cut off.