( 17 ) 
Ankylostomiasis. 
Practically all natives harbour the worm but cases 
showing a noticeable amount of anaemia are, in the 
absence of malaria, not common. 
Why ankylostomiasis is not a greater cause of 
sickness and deaths in this country has not been 
worked out. The genera] disregard of sanitary 
principles in the practice of defaecation, especially 
among Tamils who form the bulk of the estate popula- 
tion, would lead one to expect far more trouble from 
this disease than is actually experienced. The death 
rate is about 0.5 per thousand per year. 
Efforts have been and are bein| made by the health 
authorities to prevent the spread of this disease by 
the proper disposal of night soil but it is difficult to 
convince either European or Asiatic of the seriousness 
•of ankylostomiasis when so many are infected and 
so few show symptoms. 
Town Planning. 
Town Planning Laws have been passed for the 
Straits Settlements and for the Federated Malay States 
and special departments have been established to 
•administer them. 
Urban Sanitation. 
The Municipal Ordinance and the Sanitary Boards 
Enactments — laws which govern sanitation in cities, 
towns and villages — have much the same scope as the 
Public Health Act of England. 
1 They deal with housing, drainage, scavenging, 
conservancy; water supplies; food supplies including 
the control of bakeries, dairies, markets and slaughter 
