37
GWALIOR DISTRICT.
l7th (The Ioyal Poorbcah) Regiment of Aatibe Infantry—Morar.
I. Medical Officers.—Surgeon G. C. Hall held medical charge of this
regiment from 1st to 31st
January 1875, inclusive.
Surgeon L. E. Eades
has been in medical charge
from 1st February to 31st
December 1875. This r
e-port is submitted by the
latter officer.
II. Location and move
- m e n t s
. — T h e w h o l e r e g i m e n t
was on the line of march be
- t w e e n M e e a n M e e r a n d M o r a r
from 1st to 22nd January 1875
inclusive; was stationed in lines
or huts, Morar Cantonment, from
23rd January to 20th September
; in camp near Morar (on account
of cholera breaking out in the regiment) from 21st September to 15th October 1875; and
again in lines or huts, Morar Cantonment, from 16th October to 31st December 1875 in
-clusive. From 10th to 15th April 1875 and from 21st to 27th October 1875, two detac
h - m e n t s , a v e r a g e s t r e n g t h r e s p e c t i v e l y 1 3 6 . 8 5 a n d 6 6 , w e r e s e n t t o D h o l e p o r e a n d b a c k f o r t h e
Purpose of escorting treasure to Morar, relieving at Dholepore a police guard from. Agra.
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily Sick.
1870 . . . Delhi, November 1867,
from Barrackpore.
210.5
2.6
5.3
1871 . . . Ditto . . .
157.6
2.5
4.9
1872 . . . Meean Meer, Feb. 1872
218.9
3.2
4.5
1873 . . . Do. do, . . .
176.3
2.8
4.2
1874
. . . Motor, December 1874
103.4
2.4
2.1
Average . . .
173.34
2.70
4.20
1875 . . .
Morar . . .
94.37
3.04
3.11
Medical Offi
-cers.
Loeation and
movements.
III. Topography, &c.—
A description of the topography of the station
has been previously given by Surgeon Center, M.B., in his sanitary report for
1869, and by Surgeon E. R. Johnson, 33rd Regiment Bengal Infantry in his
reports for 1869 and 1870.
V. Lines, barracks, or huts.— The lines (Left Native Infantry) are on about the most
unhealthy position or site that could have been chosen. The Morar river on the west brin
g -
ing down all the drainage from 9th (Right Native Infantry) lines, sudder bazar, which
is very large, and the bungalows on its bank depositing alluvia and filth at and about the
bund—the Biswas Nulla on the east, stagnant during 8 months of the year, a torrent when
rain falls, bringing down the drainage from the Artillery, Native Cavalry, and Left European
Infantry lines; these two main drains of the station coalescing a few hundred yards to the
north-east of our lines, make the site the very reverse of healthy.
Topograp hy, &c.
Lines,
brracks, or huts.
The bed of the Morar river at the sudder bazar, which is nearly 2 miles from our
lines, is on the same level as the highest point of the bund. This bund is to be, I believe,
destroyed, and at present is being partially demolished. The Biswas Nulla is, I bear, to be
diverted into the Morar river on the south side of the 9th Right Native Infantry lines.
These measures may be of some service; they will reduce the main drains of the station to one
in place of two, but we shall still get the benefit of all the drainage, as the Morar river
cannot be diverted. The demolishing of' the bund entirely will, to a certain extent, allow more
drainage, &c., past our lines, and may, therefore, be beneficial.
The sepoys' huts are dark, badly ventilated, and are not in very good repair.
They are furnaces in the hot season, from the construction of the roof; they admit plenty
of water in the rains from the roof still, and the cold night air in the cold weather months,
there being not a single door or even a jhamp in any one of the huts, unless the men, who
are only poorly paid to afford any such extras, choose to supply the latter-named for them
-
selves. From the above account it is not at all surprising that the men suffer from severe
agues, spleen disease, dysentery, diarrhœa, bronchitis and pneumonia.
The cubic space and superficial area is miserably inadequate. A table given below will
show the average cubic and superficial feet per naik and sepoy allowed for sleeping purposes.
The measurements have been furnished by the Public Works Department. The monthly
sanitary reports contain these particulars abbreviated. Contrasting the cubic and superficial
space allotted respectively to the native officer, the havildar, and the rank and file, it is not
surprising that sickness should be rare in the higher ranks, and so frequent and fatal in the
lower. One reason of this very small space per man is that one quarter, or one section, or
one-half sub-division (the whole accommodation for each company consists of two sub-divisions
or four sections) has had to be set apart for cooking purposes, and for them alone.
The Regiment occupying these lines prior to the 17th Native Infantry, was the 34th
Native Infantry. They cooked indiscriminately in their sleeping huts, a most unsanitary and
objectionable proceeding in every sense. Even if the cubic and superficial measurements of the
above section set apart were included, the accommodation would still be very very much below
what the standard is. If the huts be inspected at night, when most of the men must of
necessity be in their beds, it will be found that actually there is not room for a man to walk
between two beds. To improve matters, I suppose; a wall running north and south divides.
K