1 84 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



of the Indian Council of the St. John Ambulance Association, 

 saying that they would be glad to receive their views on the 

 points raised, and asking whether the Executive Committee are 

 willing that the Association should be enlisted in a work which 

 it is believed may ultimately prove one of far-reaching importance 

 in India. 



As a member of the Executive Committee of the Indian 

 Council, I know that this matter has already engaged their 

 serious attention. I have also had an opportunity of discussing 

 the case informally with the authorities at St. John's Gate, so 

 that I have no doubt as to the favourable nature of the reply 

 which will be sent to the Government of India, and I am con- 

 fident that, in the near future, we shall be able to work out a 

 scheme which will have a lasting effect upon the welfare of 

 future generations of our Indian fellow-subjects, not only by in- 

 creasing their knowledge of preventive measures, but also by 

 improving their general standard of health and raising their 

 powers of resistance against disease. 



Meanwhile the Government of India is actively engaged not 

 only in remedying sanitary defects, but in studying the condi- 

 tions and circumstances which affect mortality and the increase 

 and decrease of populations, as well as the relative effects of 

 personal environment and of the social and economic conditions 

 in the different parts of the Indian Empire. Want of space 

 prevents me from discussing the various recurring and non- 

 recurring grants made under the head of Sanitation or from 

 enumerating the numerous important sanitary schemes which 

 have been carried out during the past few years. It will suffice 

 if I state that during this year and last year recurring grants of 

 £261,000 and non-recurring grants of nearly £1,500,000 have been 

 made, the bulk of which are intended for schemes of urban 

 sanitation ; also that the Budget estimate of expenditure under 

 this head for the current year comes to nearly £2,000,000, show- 

 ing an increase of 112 per cent, over the expenditure of three 

 years ago. Nor have the claims of rural areas been overlooked. 

 Assignments have been made to local Governments to enable 

 them to forgo the amounts which at present are appropriated 

 for provincial use from the cess on land. This will increase the 

 resources at the disposal of local bodies, and it is hoped that it 

 will lead to a great improvement in village sanitation and especi- 

 ally to the provision of a pure water supply and its adequate 



