Defective
drainage
considered the
cause of a
large propor-
tion of sickness
and mortality
in India.
Advantages
which have
been derived
from a proper
drainage
system in
England.
Stations
which might
benefit by
being
thoroughly
drained.
xiv
ample room for improvement. He considers there is great facility for
undertaking the drainage, as the cantonment lies 52 feet above the valley
of the Goomti.
Meerut Circle.—Dr. Hutchinson does not recommend the drainage of any
military station in particular.
Lahore Circle.—The Deputy Surgeon-General considers it would be a great
advantage to drain Meean Meer thoroughly, and he states that the drainage of
Mooltan is very defective.
Rawal Pindi Circle.—The Deputy Surgeon-General reports that the sta-
tion of Edwardesabad might be rendered more healthy if thoroughly drained.
33. It would therefore appear from the foregoing opinions, that the canton-
ments (containing both European and Native troops), which might possibly be-
nefit by being thoroughly drained, are those of Barrackpore, Dinapore, Agra,
Lucknow, Meean Meer and Mooltan ; but as I consider the question to be one
that should not be hastily decided on (principally on account of the great ex-
penditure it would entail), and then only after very serious consideration, or
with an almost absolute certainty of success following its completion, I would
suggest that the opinion of the Surgeon-General of Her Majesty's British
Forces may also be taken. This procedure I consider the more necessary, as, if
the thorough drainage of any one cantonment is determined on, the European
troops will probably derive greater benefit from the measure than will the Na-
tive soldiers.
34. For my own part, however, I have had no reason to alter the views I
entertained when compiling the Native Army Report for 1875, but, on the con-
trary, feel the more satisfied, if that were possible, that defective drainage has
been, and is still, the cause of an untold amount of sickness and mortality in India.
35. In England, the advantages of a proper drainage system have been
clearly demonstrated, indeed so clearly as to leave the necessity for a dry subsoil
beneath and in the immediate vicinity of towns or homesteads, a question that
no longer admits of the slightest doubt. The strongest evidence has also been
afforded as to the benefits resulting to the public health in those towns and cities
in which sewers, which were primarily intended for the discharge of liquid
refuse, have acted accidentally in the double capacity of drains and sewers, and
have drawn out of the subsoil the water rising up within it, while discharging
the sewage they were originally intended alone to remove. This has been shewn
in Dr. Buchanan's report " upon the results of works for promoting the public
health ; " from which it appears that, after drainage, the general death-rate of
Newport in South Wales was reduced 23 per cent., while that from phthisis
was lowered by 32 per cent. At Cardiff, the general death-rate was reduced by
24 per cent., and the mortality from phthisis by 17 per cent. At Salisbury, the
general death-rate was reduced 9 per cent., and that due to phthisis 49 per
cent. The experience of Mr. Simon corroborates the foregoing statements, and
the observations of Dr. Bowditch of Boston, proving the connexion between a
damp subsoil and phthisis, appear to be almost conclusive. The remarkable
exemption from intermittent fevers now experienced by those people residing in
the neighbourhood of the Fens in Lincolnshire, also affords a very convincing
proof of the great importance of good drainage as a means of preserving the
public health.
36. There are probably many in India who are well acquainted with the
great success that followed the completion of those drainage schemes carried out
on an extensive scale in many of the country districts at home ; and can remember
lands, that in years gone by were of little or no value except to the sportsman,
or only afforded herbage of the coarsest description, but which now, by means
of being thoroughly drained, yield most luxuriant and highly remunerative crops,
or else are covered with rich pasturage, which is of great value for either dairy
or feeding purposes.
Advantages
which most
probably
result from
the proper
drainage of
stations in India.
37. Such, then, being some of the benefits derivable from a well-drained soil
under the influence of an English climate—viz ., a very marked decrease in the
general mortality, but most notably in that from phthisis, conjoined with the
conversion of wet and unproductive soils into those of extreme fertility and of
a correspondingly increased value to the owners—it surely is not going beyond
the bounds ofp r o b a b i l i t y t o e x p e c t t h a t t h e r e s u l t s o b t a i n a b l ei
n I n d i a f r o m