The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-25 00:00:00

Sanitary State of the Indian Army.

The report of the commission appointed to inquire into
the sanitary state of the army serving in India has just
been published by the War-office. The inquiry has been
one of unusual extent and duration, and from its very na-
ture has led to considerable delay in the collection and
arrrangement of the information supplied. The commis-
sioners had, in the first place, to lay the foundation for their
investigations by a careful examination of the statistical
and sanitary documents in the India-house, and, in the
next place, to take an enormous mass of oral evidence, but,
beyond this, they found it be necessary for the attainment
of the object which they had in view to institute a prelimi-
minary inquiry by means of printed questions at all the In-
dian stations. In addition to these causes of delay there
were others which operated in the commission itself. As
originally composed at the date of its appointment, May 31,
1859, it consisted of the following members :—The Right
Hon. Sidney Herbert, chairman—Major-General Sir R. J.
H. Vivian, K.C.B.—Colonel Sir P. T. Cautley, K.C.B
Dr Alexander, C. 8., late Director-General of the Army
Medical Department—Colonel E. H. Greathead, C.l3,—Dr
W. Farr, Mr J. R. Martin, and Dr Sutherland. The
official duties of the chairman, and, unhappily, his
declining health frequently rendered it necessary that
the meetings of the commission should be post-
poned, while its proceedings were interrupted, also, by
the resignation of Sir R. Vivian, whose services
were required elsewhere, and by the death of Mr Alexan-
der. To supply their places Dr. Gibson, the present Direc-
tor General of the Army Medical Department, and Colonel
Durand were nominated members of the commission, and
Lord Stanley succeeded Lord Herbert as chairman. Under
his auspices the inquiry was brought to a close in the spring
of last year, and the result is now before the world in an
elaborate report and two volumes of evidence. Besides,
appended to the report itself is given a summary of the evi•
dence, an abstract of all the reports from the stations in
India, and a valuable paper of comments upon them written
at the request of the commission by Miss Nightingale.
Among those who contributed to furnish the information
thus carefully compiled are the present Governor-General
ef India, Sir J. Lawrence, Sir C. Trevelyan, Sir A. M,
Tulloch, Colonel Durand, Colonel W. Thompson, Commis-
sary-General, Bengal ; Brigadier-General Russell, Dr.
Bird, late Physician-General to the Bombay Army—Dr W.
C. Maclean, Deputy-Inspector-General of Hospitals—Maj.-
Gen, Cotton, Madras Engineers, and several others whose
acquaintance with the soldier's life in India was from the
nature of their position while in that country necessarily of
a most intimate character. Before proceeding to take oral
evidence, however, the attention of the commissioners was
naturally directed to ascertain from what authentic docu-
ments these facts upon which the whole of their subsequent
investigations were based. The rate of the mortality pre-
vailing in indict, especially in the army, was therefore the
first point to which they addressed themselves, and under
this head is to be found some of the most interesting in-
formation in their report.
The English population in India amounted, according to
the returns made by the several governments in 1361, to
only 125,945 persons ; so that this vast Eastern empire is
held in subjection by a mere handful of Europeans, which,
as the commissioners observe, is less than the population of
the parish of Marylebone. 01 these 125,945 people, 84,083
went to compose the British officers and men of our Indian
armp ; while 22,556 consisted of men and boys in civil life,
including the civilians in the public service ; the remaining
19,306 being females, of whom 9,773 were over 20 years of
age. Taking in the first place the English children in India
it is found that the rate of mortality among them is lower
than that which generally prevails among children at home;
but then as they advance in years they grow feeble, and
gradually wither away. This remark does not, however,
apply to children reared on the Hills, as is shown by the
experience of the Lawrence Asylum at Sunnawur, which
contains 505 children, of whom a native chief on one occa-
sion observed that they looked like lions' cubs, and who
appear to possess all the vigour of children reared
on English soil. When the census was taken
the number of females of English origin in India
above the age of 15 was 11,636, including 8,356 wives
and 1,146 widows. Of the officers and men of the
Royal army 93 per cent, of all ages were unmarried, while
the proportion of civilians above the age of 20 unmarried
amounted to 50 per cent. The mortality among the wives
of officers the commissioners regard as a fair representa-
tion of the mortality under ordinarily favourable circum-
stances of English women in India, and this has been ascer-
tained not to exceed 14 in 1,000 between the ages of 20 and
40. The wives of the non-commissioned officers and sol-
diers do not fare so well, as the provision made for their
accommodation is inadequate, and in that class of life the
women—including the Eurasians, or half-castes, whose
number is very considerable—die at the rate of 35 per 1,000.
Among the civil servants in India between the ages of 20
and 45—and they may be looked upon as affording the most
favourable illustration of the duration of life among the
adult male population of English origin in that country—
the average rate of mortality per 1,000 has been found to be
little more than 20, the rate being between 14 end 18 in the
case of Madras. In England the mortality among men of
the same age is on an average about 9 per 1,000. The mor-
tality among the natives of all ages in India, it may be
added, as far as can be ascertained, amounted to 51 in every
1,000, while in this country the latest returns showed the
number of deaths per 1,000 to be under 23.
We come now to deal with the army in India, the con-
stitution of which it was the special object of the commis-
sion to investigate. According to the returns published in
April, 1362, when some of the changes resulting from the
incorporation of the Indian with the Queen's troops had
been carried,into effect, that army numbered nearly 200,000
—the returns were not quite complete,—of which number
3,952 were European officers and 70,439 European non-
commissioned officers and men ; the native officers
and men amounting to 103,332, exclusive of 11,652 men in
the Punjab local force. Tho distribution of these troops
was as follows ;-88,000, in round numbers, in Bengal, the
North-West Provinces, and the Punjab, 42,000 in the
Bombay Presidency, and 54,000 in Madras. Over the pro-
vince of Pegs, too, a few thousand soldiers were scattered.
To the Europeans in this large army the experience of the
past proves service in India to be extremely trying. The
average mortality e 1 men of the soldier's age in the healthy
parts of England and Wales is such that 8 die annually out
of 1,000 living, while in the unhealthiest towns and in the
unhealthiest trades the number of deaths in 1,000 is not
more than 12. In the British army at home the mortality,
which was 17 per 1,000, is now declining in proportion as
well ascertained causes of disease are abolished or mitigated.
In India, however, a different state of things exists. 'There
the death-rate of the English soldier has ranged from 41, at
which point it stood in 1852,,t0 134 per 1,000, which was the
mortality in 1804. Fluctuating during a long series of years
between those two extremes, the average mortality has been
struck by the commissioners at 69 per 1,000; so that,
taking the average mortality of men in England at
the soldier's age at 9, it would seem that 60 in every 1,000
die annually in India owing to the special causes there in
operation; the numbers slain in battle being few compared
with those who fall victims to the more deadly agency of
disease.

To determine the rate of mortality among the British
troops in India of different ages as well as of different terms
of service, the returns for the 10 years ending 1856 have
been used. From these it is found that the mortality per
1,000 between the ages of 20 and 25 is 56.4 ; between 25 and
30, 48.8, when it gradually rises till between the ages of 40
and 45 it reaches 61.6. After the age of 55 the deaths grow
less, and at 70 and upwards old men die nearly at the salve
rate in India as in England. From these rates of mortality
a lite table has been constructed from which the mean dura-
tion of life, as well as the value of the annuities dependent
on soldier's lives in India, can be deduced. By this table
it will be seen that the mean after-lifetime, or expectation of
life, as it is sometimes termed, at the age of 20 in India is
17.7 years, while it is 39.5 years in England; so that
life is shortened by more than 21 years by residence in
the former country. The after-lifetime at the age of
40 is 15 years in accordance with the Indian, 26 in
accordance with the English table. We must not fail
to observe that while the mortality of the soldier in
India has been at the rate of 69 per 1,000, that of the officers
has been only 38, and a fair deduction• from this corn-
parision would appear to be that the 31 deaths in excess
in the case of the former are due to other causes than the
climate, to the influence of which officers as well as men are
everywhere exposed. To illustrate the extent to which the
insalubrity of India has been proved to affect civilians,
officers, and soldiers, the case of four armies, each consisting
of 33,615 young men of the age of 19, may be taken. The
first army remaining in England, and experiencing the or-
dinary rate of mortality, would lose in the first year 251
men, 276 in the second, 281 in the third, and so on, until at
the expiration of 11 years it would be reduced to 30,453 men
of the ago of 30. The second army, proceeding on the
same calculation, would also lose in the first year 254, and
if then landed in India, and suffering a loss only equal to
that of the Madras civil servants, it would in 11 years be

reduced to 28,916 men ; while the third army, landing in
India after the first year, and experiencing the same rate
of mortality as the military officers, would be reduced to
24,610 in 11 years ; and the fourth, in the same period,
to 19,617, the death-rate being that which has hitherto
been found to prevail in the case of the common soldier. If
in such contrasts as aro thus presented thero be much to
regret, it must not b 2 forgotten that the elements of hope
are not wanting ; for it in cvilent that the great mortality

among the mass of the troops is not the inevitable result of
Indian sun. It is clearly attributable to other causes than
the nature of the climate. While the soldiers livdtogether
in numbers in common bed-rooms in barracks, the efficers
generally reside in separate bungalows; their food and
drink are of superior quality; their contact with the sick in
barracks is limited to periodical inspections, and when ill
they have the advantage of being able to resort to healthy
places. Similar causes operate in favour of the civil ser-
vants, the mortality among whom, as has been already
stated, does not exceed 20 in 1,000 at the soldier's age, and

as they are distributed all over the country, it would see
to follow that the climate of India is not necessaril
fatal to Europeans in any higher proportion. Hitherto;
the mortality of the army from sickness in India has
been considerably raised during the period of war. In the
first Mahratta war, in ISO 4, it reached 134 per 1,000. Ir
the Burmese war of Lord Amherst the mortality among till
European troops was as high as 130 per 1,000 for the three
years ending 1826. Since that period the condition of th
troops in time of war has been healthier, and all the evi
deuce goes to show that the mortality in the wars in Indi
is mainly the result of disease. Disease too contributes t,
destroy the efficiency of an army in another way. It appear
from the returns which have been laid before the Commis
sion that in the stations of Bengal 81 men in a battalion e
1,000 were on an average constantly in hospital, a large pre
portion of the cases being of a syphilitic character. WitL
this amount of sickness an army of 20,000 British troops iL
India would require constant hospital accomtnodation fG
5,880 men, while with a mortality of 69 per 1,000, it loss
yearly 4,830, or nearly five regiments. A return whirl
was laid before the Commission by Brigadier-Gen. Russel
shows that out of 1,061 non-commissioned officers and mel
of his regiment—the 84th—who arrived in Moulmein a
1842, only 93 landed in England in 1859 after a perid
of 17 years' service, so that the regiment had to be almost
completely renewed during that time in India. This t-
turn, it may be added, agrees very closely with the geneal
tabular results, from which it may be seen that 1,000 efftz-
fives serving in India are reduced to 96 in 20 years. It

would further appear that the mean term of service in Ingia
is 8.6 years, and that 11 recruits are required annually to
every 100 men, so that to maintain an army of 86,000 Lon
a yearly supply of something like 10,000 recruits would be
necessary. _ _ _

Such are the principal facts connected with the rate
mortality among the European troops scattered throughu
our Indian Empire, but there is, independent of these a
large force composed of natives, into whose sanitary corn-
tion it was equally the duty of the Commissioners to inqure.
From the returns which were laid before them by the Secre-
tary of the Bengal Medical Board, it is to be inferred fiat
the mortality of the native corps at the several places wlere
European troops were stationed was somewhat under 8 per
1,000; while the average rate for the three Presidencies is
ascertained from the military returns far the 20 years aid-
ing 1844 to be 18 per 1,000, 19 in every 1,000 being the
extent of the invaliding. Thus it will be seen that the restive
troops experience a rate of mortality nearly the same asthat
of the civil servants. Their superiority in point of health
to the English soldiers serving in India has often hitlerto
been explained on the supposition that their organisation is
specially adapted to the climate in which they were barn ;
but it is found that removal from one part of India to an-
other at a distance from their homes has the effect of greatly
increasing the mortality among them, and there is no good
ground for believing that the mere fact that they are breath-
ing their native air operates to so great an extent as to pro-
duce the marked difference, or anything like it, which exists
between an average mortality of 15 and 69 in every 1,000. The
men of the native army are for the most part married. Their
pay exceeds the earnings of their fellow- countrymen of the
same class, and, except in Bengal, the wives live with their
husbands in small huts, which are constructed of bamboo
and matting at a slight expenditure of money and labour.
The Brahmin of Bengal leaves his wife at home, but visits
her periodically when on furlough. The men generally
sleep outside the huts, except during the rainy season, and
to the fact of their possessing those separate huts, and not
being cooped with several of their fellows in one sleeping
apartment, much of their superiority in point of health to
the European soldier is attributed.
The Commissioners, will. all these points before them,
and being aware that the British soldier in India is a some-
what expensive article, verynaturally dwell upon the expe-
diency of taking steps to preserve his life, not only upon the
score of humanity but also on that of economy. After a
careful examination of the statistics upon the subject they
find that £lOO is on an average annually expended on the
European soldier serving inlndia, The loss of a man who,
with all his arms, costs the 3ountry that sum, reckoned at
only a few years' purchase, is not to be lightly regarded,
especially as it occurs frequently and inopportunely in the
field, when his services are most required. Taking the
annual death-rate among the English troops in India at the
amount already stated-69 in every I,ooo—and the whole
European military establisament in that country at 73,000
men—the number proposed—it is evident that it would re-
quire 5,037 recruits per annum to fill up the vacancies caused
by death alone. Now, a death-rate at 20 per 1,000 to which
amount the Commissioners express a confident opinion the
present rate might be easily reduced, would render neces-
sary only 1,400 recruits per annum, so that the excess of
mortality presumed to be avoilable is absolutely 3,577 lives
in the year.

Assuming the cost of recruiting, training, and landing
men in India to be no more than .CIQO per man, this excess
of mortality is equivalent to a tix of £l,OOO a day, irrespec-
tive of the extra sickness indicated by a high death-
rate. The point, however, is one with respect to which
the Commissioners entertain very sanguine hopes. A care-
ful examination, they say, of the causes of disease, and the
character of the diseases prevalent at the more healthy sta-
tions in India, lead them to expect a greater saving of life
eventually than one of even 49 per 1,000. They go so far
even as to cherish the idea that the day is not far distant
when the natural death-rate in times of peace of men of the
soldier's age in India will be no nigher than 10 per 1,000
per annum, which would bring it down almost to the Eng-
lish level.

Fearful Railway Collision.

PoslyrooL, Wednesday,

A fearful collision between an excursion train and a
mineral train occurred at the junction of the West Midland
and Taff Vale Extension Railway, at Pontypool-road, last
evening. The following are the particulars as ascertained
upon the spot by the reporter.
Yesterday morning an excursion train left Worcester at
7,25 for Crumlin Viaduct, one of the great attractions of
Monmouthshire. All went on well until the train was on
the way home in the evening. The train had only travelled
about six miles, however, when the occurrence we are about
to narrate happened. On the return from Crumlin the train
consisted of ten passenger carriages and three break-vans,
each having a guard to work the break. They approached
the Pontypool-road station at about half-past 5 o'clock in
the evening, and had been preceded about ten minutes by a
coal train. Pontypool-road station is approached from
Crumlin on a rather steep incline descending to the station,
and the run in is also on a sharp curve. The driver of the
excursion train was coming down the incline, the signal
being " All right" for his approach, when he saw thigoods
train on the rails in front of him. He immediately Thut off
the steam and whistled for the break to be put on, but the
impetus with which the train was travelling rendered a col-
lision unavoidable. The driver jumped off and escaped un-
hurt, but the stoker, who stuck to the engine, was badly
injured. The collision was fearful, and the cries of the pas-
sengers which followed the crash were terrible. Of the coal
trucks four of the hindermost were completely smashed •
The guard's break was broken from end to end, nothing be-
ing left entire but the bottom. The guard, David Jones,
who was at his break when the collision occurred, was fear-
fully cut about the head and face, and one of his hands was
badly lacerated. After his wounds had been sewn np he
was conveyed to Hereford by special train, and now lies
there. The first carriage of the passenger train was an old
Great Western third class, both ends of which were demo-
lished and the sides stove in. The next was a first-class
saloon West Midland carriage, which was served in a
similar manner. Both ends of the carriage were broken in,
and the wood and glass scattered ever the passengers.
Strange to say, however, the passengers in these two car-
riages were less injured than others nearer the middle of the
train. All the passengers were thrown together with great
violence, and many of them were severely cut about the
head, legs, and various parts of the body, but happily, as
far as we could learn, no bones were broken. The confusion
that ensued, as may be imagined,
was very great. Among
the passengers was Dr Woodward, of Worcester, who,
escaping with a few bruises, rendered valuable aid to the
injured. Other medical assistance was sent for and Dr,
Laurence and Mr Thomas, surgeon, of Pontypool, were
quickly in attendance, and, having bound up their wounds,
they were sent on by the ordinary six p.m. train and a
special train which followed. It is hoped that the whole
will eventually recover. The moat injured are Miss Gee,
of Worcester, and another lady (name unknown), besides
the guard, Jones Miss Gee is injured in the spine. This
is the most serious case. None of the carriages were
knocked off the line or they would have been precipitated
down an embankment. The rails were only slightly bent,
and a staff of labourers has been occupied to .day in remov-
ing the ruins of the broken carriages. The traffic has been
very slightly hindered in consequence of the accident.
The cause of the accident is attributed to neglect on the
part of a signal man at the Pontypool-road junction. The
approach to the station from the Taff Vale extension line,
as already mentioned, is down a sharp incline, and the
signal man, William Phillips, had instructions not to let
the passenger train pass until' the goods train, which pre-
ceded it, had been put into a siding. Contrary to these
orders, however, it seems he kept the signal up "line clear,"
and therefore the driver of the excursion train came on
round the curve, and ran into the goods train.
The above aro the facts as ascertained on the spot.
Phillips, the signal man, is in custody; and, of course,
there will be an official inquiry. The spot where the acci-
dent happened is about three miles from Cwmbran,
where, about two years ago, a passenger train ran off the
rails into the station, killing one person and injuring
others.

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