90 SANITATION AND HYGIENE ON TROPICAL ESTATES 



Malaria does not, as a rule, prove fatal, except after 

 many attacks, and the reduction in the malarial death- 

 rate means an enormous reduction in malarial sickness. 

 In a town situated as Kuala Lumpur the " true " death- 

 rate will always be higher than the " real," as only one 

 month's residence is needed for a person to be classed 

 as a resident, and there will always be a significant death- 

 rate from malaria while it exists on the borders of the 

 town, but malaria can and will be practically eradicated 

 from Kuala Lumpur. 



Further interesting figures are available in the health 

 returns of the Police Depot, Kuala Lumpur, for the years 

 1910 to 1913 inclusive Sikh and Pathan police recruits 

 are trained for a few months only at the depot, so that 

 the population constantly changes, and conditions are, 

 therefore, favourable to severe malaria. The following 

 table gives the average monthly percentage of Indian 

 recruits at the depot who were detained in hospital or 

 given sick leave for malaria monthly : 



1910 1911 1912 1913 



Average monthly percentage ... 35*8 ... 57^0 ... 27-3 ... 11*3 



The protective works here were practically completed 

 early in 1912, except for the continued existence of one 

 of the swamps mentioned above, which still affects the 

 health of the depot and the town in the neighbourhood. 

 Very few places can show a sickness-rate to compare 

 with that given for 1911 above, when on an average every 

 Indian recruit was attacked by malaria seven times in the 

 year. Owing to the great improvement in the health 

 conditions all recruits suffering from malaria are now 

 admitted to hospital. Formerly there were too many 

 cases to allow of this being done. 



Amongst the Government Officers and their servants, 

 who live in a completely drained area, few cases of 

 malaria have occurred since the beginning of 1912, and 

 none of these have been reported by the medical authori- 

 ties as having been infected or reinfected in the area 

 itself. Formerly these officers suffered severely. 



That the improvement in the malarious condition of 

 Kuala Lumpur has been due to the works undertaken is 



