FERRY ARRANGEMENTS AT HOOGHLY BRIDGE

To The Editor Of The Statesman

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SIR, – The arrangement by the Port Commissioners to afford facilities to the public in the matter of transport across the Hooghly when the bridge is open calls for more than a passing remark. The bridge is sometimes open in the morning during office hours, and, to add to the inconvenience, one boat only, instead of two, which is usual, is put on the run. Then comes the question of management on the pontoon in so far as the control of passengers is concerned. They are in the first place made to stand in the open in the rain instead of under the portico where there is plenty of room to accommodate them. The passage under the portico has been used of late as the exit for the passengers by the incoming boat. Will the Port Commissioners be so good as to look into the matter and see if they cannot cause the transit of passengers to be facilitated, and good treatment meted out to one and all?

PRO BONO PUBLICO.

Calcutta.

SUSPECTED ADULTERATION OF MUSTARD OIL

To The Editor Of The Statesman

SIR, – I beg the hospitality of The Statesman to bring to the notice of the public generally and of the members of the medical profession specially, that there have been, of late, a considerable number of cases in which the members of a family, after partaking of their usual meals, have all been more or less simultaneously attacked with symptoms of acute gastritis, vomiting, purging, giddiness, and in bad cases with fever and puffiness of the face. Such has been the case in my family, and several such cases have been professionally noticed by me as well as by my colleagues. So far as I have been able to trace the cause, I am led to suspect that some new injurious adulterants are being used in the manufacture of mustered oil. Lately I had a talk with the Health Officer of the Corporation about this matter, and he promised a thorough searching inquiry.

S. MUKERJEE.

Corporation Street, Calcutta.

THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN CALCUTTA

To The Editor Of The Statesman

SIR, – I venture to think the views expressed in The Statesman will have special interest to householders in Calcutta. The situation as regards rents and limited accommodation is one that should immediately receive the serious attention of the authorities, and steps should be taken to extend the area of the city upon recognised principles of town improving. This is no doubt a very prosperous time for Calcutta house-owners, as they are able to demand abnormal rents simply because inhabitants are not in a position to obtain accommodation elsewhere, owing to the restricted number of houses available in the town and the inadequacy of communication with the suburbs. If immediate steps were taken to extent the tramcar system out to Dum Dum, Barrackpore, and similar outlaying districts, this would have immediate satisfactory results, and it is very much to be hoped that the Tramway Company have some such object in view.

RESIDENT.

Calcutta.