613

NOTES FROM INDIA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.)

Plague.PLAGUE returns of the week ending Jan. 8th show 10,515

deaths, compared with 7725 in the week preceding. BombayPresidency reported 886; Madras, 70 ; Bengal, 1093 ; theUnited Provinces, 5341 ; the Punjab, 1421 ; Burma. 109 ; theCentral Provinces, 1198 ; Mysore State, 79 ; and Rajputana,273. With respect to the figures for the United Provinces,Ballia district recorded 2035 deaths and Azamgarh 1119.

New Barracks for Indian Troops.It is very satisfactory to learn that, on the personal

initiative of the Commander-in-Chief, measures are beingtaken to improve the housing of the native army. The"lines" in only too many instances are not as substantialand weather-proof as could be wished, and the health of themen suffers in consequence. Twenty-one new sets of barracksare to be built of an improved pattern that will ensure whole-some and comfortable quarters for the men, and the expendi-ture for these is not to fall upon regiments. The old planof allotting lump sums to commandants and leaving themto make the best use of the money- never really sufficientfor the purpose intended-is to be given up, and there willbe expert supervision of the planning and construction. The

Military Works Department are to be given their chance, andit is certain they will do their work in a practical andeconomical manner. The outlay from first to last will be

heavy, and it will take a considerable time to give all unitsgood "lines " ; but a beginning has been made, and not eventhe most uncompromising critic of the Indian military budgetwill begrudge expenditure in this new direction.

New Drainage Works at Amritsar.The Punjab Sanitary Board has granted a subvention of

Rs.37,500 for drainage works at Amritsar. The full pro-gramme of sanitary work at this station is a very expensiveand extensive one, including the filling up of hollows aroundthe town, the deepening of the outfall drainage channel, andthe removal of sullage. When completed it should have avery beneficial effect on the health of the station.

St. John Ambulance Association.

The annual report of the Indian Branch of the St. JohnAmbulance Association for the year ending Sept. 30th,1909, has just been issued. It is published with the

authority of His Excellency the Viceroy, and can be recom-mended to those who are at all interested in the greathumanitarian work of the ambulance department of theOrder of St. John. The report gives an account of the

organisation of the branch and deals in some 17 sectionswith the work of the association amongst military and volun-teers, police, railway, mines, mercantile marine, jails, &c.Details of the work of the 24 centres in various parts of theIndian Empire are given. A letter from the PrincipalMedical Officer of His Majesty’s Forces in India is publishedwhich should lead to a great extension of the work amongstsoldiers. A number of soldiers from each unit in India haveto be trained annually in "first aid," and the diagramsprinted by the association are recommended by Indian ArmyRegulations, Volume VI., paragraph 896, for use in allclasses. The course of instruction covers the association’s ssyllabus, so that military medical officers could, without anyadditional labour to themselves, put up a large number ofmen annually for the association’s certificates. This hasalready been done at several stations, and in view of Surgeon-General Trevor’s circular will no doubt be taken up in manyothers. The sanitation course of the association opens up awide field of work amongst soldiers. In accordance withIndian Army Order No. 334, 1907, four men and a non-commissioned officer per company have to be trained annuallyin sanitation. The curriculum covers the association’s s Isyllabus, and here again a large number of men can becertificated without any additional lectures or examining.Forty-eight men were granted the certificate in the First

(Peshawar) Division of the Army during the year. Their

commanding officers gladly paid the small fee for the

certificates, which are highly valued by the men. The:reportmay be obtained on application to Colonel W. R. Crooke-Lawless. C.LE., Surgeon to H.E. the Viceroy, or to MajorR. J. Blackham, R.A.M.C., Peshawar.

Jan. 15th.

CONSTANTINOPLE.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

A National Disaster.

THE destruction by fire of the magnificent palace of

Tchiragan, the new Ottoman Parliament, which was inaugu-rated only a few months ago, may well be considered a greatnational disaster for the Turks. They have lost with thissplendid edifice perhaps the finest building in the wholeof their Empire. A feature of the disaster, a featurealmost always met with in extensive fires in Constantinople,was the great lack of water for purposes of extinction. Theso-called " Dercos " water that supplied Tchiragan was some-how cut off from the main source during the conflagration,and the tire brigades, the regular and the irregular (popularlyknown as 11 touloumbadjis "), were for an hour helpless tocombat the disaster. This fact is taken by many as anargument for the supposition of foul play. Then it wasfound that the palace had not a single contrivance to aid inthe extinction of the fire. This has now been found thecase in all the public and Government buildings of the

metropolis. The authorities have, therefore, ordered that thisevil should be remedied as quickly and as energetically aspossible. The theatres and the small new circus and otherinstitutions of that kind have received strict injunctionsalways to keep a number of barrels and buckets full of water

ready for immediate use in case of fire.

Typhoid Fever.The present month has again shown a rather alarming

increase of typhoid fever. Several officers of the American

Embassy’s despatch vessel have been laid up in the Britishhospital with this disease. They are now, however, on theway of recovery. Fatal cases are most frequently foundamongst newcomers to Constantinople. Oysters are one chiefcause, while the ever-contaminated water-supplies play theirpart. The officers alluded to had partaken freely of theoysters of San Stefano on the Sea of Marmora. The beds ofthese molluscs in that part are considered to be the best inthe metropolis. The natives eat them liberally and frequentlyand almost always without any bad results. Apart from that,the natives or old residents seem to be able to eat and drinkalmost anything without consequences, as though there is akind of immunity which those who live here a long timeacquire. It is said that the first settlement of Spanish Jews,who came over about 400 years ago and took up a permanentabode on the banks of the Golden Horn, used to sufferterribly from the scourge of typhoid fever. At present thisdisease seems to have lost much of its virulence for theirdescendants. Typhoid fever cases amongst them are easilyamenable to treatment.

Military Surgeons.There seems to have been much recent negligence in per-

forming their duty on the part of Turkish military surgeons.It appears that sick soldiers have received inefficient medicaland surgical assistance, and numbers were not attended atall. The inadequate scale of pay is assigned as the cause ofthis negligence. I am informed that some medical men inmilitary service in Constantinople itself, men with longexperience, do not get more than 600 piasters per month (,E5).This is, of course, a miserable salary, and one can hardlywonder that they are not very eager to do full justice to theirduties. The Minister of War, however, has issued an orderthat all military surgeons must attend to their work withmore zeal and efficiency. In cases of further neglect theywill be liable to severe punishment. I understand, however,that the question of the increase of salary is shortly to betaken up in a very energetic manner by some competentleading men.

Feb. 12th.