2g2 TlMEHRI. 
large vats or tanks for the collection and storage of 
pure drinking water. The relieving officers should be 
responsible in the dry season that there be no 
waste ; and a suitable fine in the Magistrate's Court 
might be inflifted on persons guilty of any waste, 
the relieving officer being rewarded by half the fine as 
in the vaccination suggestion. I feel convinced that the 
pure water would convey with it an inestimable blessing 
to the community, and that many diseases, especially 
amongst children and constitutionally weak persons, 
would be much reduced both in severity and in frequency 
of occurrence. Other sanitary work might follow 
such an organisation, such as the cleansing and 
the proper drainage of villages, and matters of 
house hygiene and village conservancy. Each and 
all might receive such attention as they demand. The 
present vote for the upkeep of the villages might be drawn 
upon to effe6t this, and the relieving officers referred 
to in this proposal might be the present village overseers. 
In view of such a system I would propose that neglecl: 
to seek early medical aid be reckoned as an infringement 
of the law and capable of being recognised as a criminal 
offence. 
The foundation of some of these suggestions may 
be found to exist to a certain extent in the system 
of medical relief afforded under the Local Govern- 
ment Board at home, which, I am certain, for effective- 
ness of organisation, and the attainment of its objecl:, is 
unsurpassed by any other similar system. I have worked 
under this board as the responsible medical officer in a 
district of about 20,000 persons, and I can assert with 
some amount of confidence that the system is not Quixotic 
