127 



an adequate supply at a good depth may be located. Water can be 

 found by digging a few feet below the surface almost anywhere 

 but these shallow pits, they cannot be called wells, do not afford 

 a safe supply and if dug during the wet season they are apt to fail in 

 the dry. All shallow wells, that is wells less than 50 feet in depth 

 require most careful protection against pollution by surface washings 

 or soakage from cess pits. For the lining of wells concrete cylinders 

 should be used i-ather than brickwork, concrete is less porous than 

 brick and the use of concrete cylinders renders any subsequent 

 deepening of the well more easy than if brickwork is put in 

 as a lining. The greater depth to which the concrete cylinders 

 are sunk the less likelihood will there be of contamination 

 from the surface. In no case should these cylinders be sunk for 

 less than 15 feet. It is not desirable that wells should be close to 

 the lines, freedom from contamination must be secured and the 

 nearer the well is placed to the lines the more difficult does that 

 become. Wells should be far removed from the outfall of line 

 draiiis, latrines, cattle sheds, and rubbish pits. The ground sur- 

 rounding the well should be guarded from gross pollution for several 

 hundred feet. A pump is a necessity and it is recommended to 

 procure it from a reliable firm and to pay a good price for it, cheap 

 pumps are quite unsuitable for estate use, they are rarely in work- 

 ing order for more than a few months. A light cover should be 

 placed over the well, this should not exclude air, it is intended to 

 prevent accidental or deliberate fouling of the water. The discharge 

 from the pump should be at a distance from the well and should be 

 provided with a concrete platform sloping to an impervious drain to 

 take away wa,ste water. 



Conservancy and Rubbish Disposal. 



vSome system of night-soil disposal is a necessity, labourers must 

 not be permitted to foul the ground by indiscriminate defoecation — a 

 habit to which rhey are accustomed but which they must be broken 

 of. This fouling of the soil is a real danger to health, it conduces 

 through the agency of house flies to the dissemination of dysentery, 

 diarrhoea, typhoid and other complaints. The repeated contamina- 

 tion of the soil by faecal matter inevitably tends to the propagation 

 of hook worm disease and that disease in conjunction with malaria is 

 a grave menace to the efficiency of a labour force. Latrines of what- 

 ever type adopted should not be far from the lines, the closer they 

 are placed the better, provided of course that where pits or trenches 

 are used they are outside the line reserve. Latrines should afford 

 plenty of accommodation, those for men and women should be 

 separated and sufficient shelter for decency's sake should be provided 

 by the use of screens. Latrines must be roofed over to protect them 

 from rain, they should also have drains dug round them to keep out 

 storm water. A liberal supply of lime must be used to prevent the 

 breeding out of flies. Pit or trench latrines must be placed at a 



