MANUAL OF THE NILAQIKI DISTRICT. 383 



not less than Rupees 85,000, have espeuded considerable sums on CHAP. XVII. 

 the construction or reconstruction of roads within the station, municipali- 

 and also on the improvement of the town bazaar and the ties and 

 reclamation of the upper lake, besides providing gratis for some ^^^ ^'°^^ - 

 years for these and other sanitary works the services of a large 

 gang of convicts. 



The sanitary condition of Ootacamand at the time of the — «amtation. 

 establishment of the Municipal Commission was most deplorable. 

 A detailed account of the state of affairs then existing will be 

 found in the report of the Sanitary Commissioner (the late Mr. 

 R. S. Ellis, c.B.) in 1868. Much had been done in the succeeding 

 nine years to remedy some of the more crying evils, but in conse- 

 quence of the outbreak of cholera in 1877 in the hill stations, 

 when the district was suffering from drought and famine, the 

 Government appointeda Committee, consisting of Surgeon-General 

 Gordon, c.B. (British Army), Dr. Cornish, Sanitary Commissioner, 

 and the Commissioner of the Nilagiris, to report upon the 

 sanitation of the station. A history of the health of the town from 

 1855 and most of the important papers connected with the 

 subject will be found in the Committee's report dated December 

 1877. It is not necessary to refer to the matter further here, 

 beyond inserting a few remarks on the subject by Major Morant, 

 R.E., District Engineer. " The site of Ootacamand, '' he writes, 

 " has been well chosen, but from its commencement until now it 

 has never been systematically treated, the town having been 

 allowed to grow up uncontrolled. The gradients of many of the 

 roads are inconveniently steep. The town would have been 

 better served by fewer roads properly alligned. Houses have 

 been allowed to be built without guidance ; the locality of many 

 is objectionable ; the construction of most is poor and insanitary. 

 Lands have also been recklessly sold to private individuals, who 

 in many cases allowed them to remain unutilized and unenclosed. 

 It is not now easy to obtain space for public wants. Thus 

 difficulties exist in the way of much needed improvements. 

 Ootacamand might have been a beautiful, convenient, and healthy 

 town at no greater outlay than has already been incurred. The 

 great desideratum is a copious supply of good dinnking water, the 

 present scheme in dry seasons not being adequate to requirements 

 of the town. To this cause is due much of the sickness in dry 

 years. More might be done by lease-holders in digging wells for 

 themselves ; a few have been successfully sunk, but near the bazaar 

 and in low-lying parts densely occupied such wells would be 

 exposed to contamination by soakage of sewage and filth 

 through the adjoining strata. The drainage of the town may be 

 regarded as a matter of secondary importance. The steepness of 

 the ground upon which it is built and the wash of tropical floods 

 effect a rude scavengering which is generally effective, and the 



