OCCASIONAL NOTE

In an introduction which he has written for Mr. Jahar Lal Das’s “Manual of Conservancy” Dr. Bentley exhibits a characteristic faith in the possibility of arousing India to a hygienic and sanitary consciousness. He quotes with approval an assertion of the late Sir Pardey Lukis that the movement in favour of sanitation is gaining ground in India and adds that “in no part of the country has the demand for sanitary improvement been more clear and more insistent” than in Bengal. Dr. Bentley gives quotations from descriptions of Glasgow in 1838 which suggest that India in the next eighty years might travel hygienically as far as Scotland in the past eighty years if its towns and villages were endowed with their proper quota of Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors. Unfortunately the deadweight of prejudice to be overcome is enormous. It is only a few days since the organ of the so-called “Progressive” politicians in Bengal asked: “Can the Government show that any municipality has been benefitted by the appointment of a Health Officer?” Whether education will break down these prejudices and produce that civic pride and co-operative action which changed the face of the European towns during the last century remains to be seen.

BIG BLAZE IN BOMBAY

BOMBAY, OCT 24

On Thursday morning a fire broke out in a three-storied building in New Queen’s road. The ground and first floors were occupied by the Bombay Cycle and Motor Car Company, Ltd., who have been using the first floor as residential flats. The fire was discovered at about 1 A.M., and was brought under control by 3-30 A.M. The inmates had a narrow escape. Damage to the motor company property amounts to rupees three lakhs; and to the building rupees fifty thousand, both being covered by insurance. A tenant has also suffered a loss of Rs 1,000. The cause of the fire is unknown.

DEMOBILISATION IN INDIA

SIMLA, OCT 24

A Press communiqué states:- From the 1st to 15th of October 6,988 British troops have been returned to England for demobilisation. This brings up the total number of British troops despatched from India to the United Kingdom since the date of the Armistice to 52,337, including 19,741 exMesopotamia who were temporarily detained in India. In addition since the 1st of October orders for the release of 21 officers and 190 men for civil employment in India have been issued, making with a total of 901 similarly released before that date, a grand total of 53,449 demobilised. 3,117 temporary British officers of the Indian Service have been released since the Armistice.

WOMEN IN ICE CLEFT

The climbing season in Switzerland has brought an unusually heavy crop of accidents. A story of seven hours’ imprisonment in the ice is told by one of the victims of a party of three who met with an accident on the Piz Col. About 10 A.M. when crossing the large glacier, the two women slipped and fell into a crevasse 100 ft. deep. Unable to help, their male companion rushed for guides. When these extricated the women from their position one was dead and the other in a state of collapse. On the same day on Luisin Peak, above Salvan, three young couples had just reached the summit when a girl of 21 collapsed and fell 500 ft. After an all-night search guides found her body and carried it with difficulty to the village of Martigny. A climber named Durisch has died at St. Moritz after a fall on Mount Rosatsch. Guides took 13 hours to carry his body to St. Moritz.

THE RENT QUESTION IN RANGOON

A meeting called for this morning by a number of landlords to discuss the proposed rent control legislation was swamped by the attendance of tenants of all communities. After waiting half an hour one of the convenors announced that the meeting was intended to be a conference only and must be postponed. This was objected to and a municipal commissioner, Mr. Campagnac, author of the draft Bill, was elected chairman, but as the convenors announced that the hall was a private room and that they must leave, the assembled tenants, after protesting, arranged to hold an open air meeting which they did, the Commissioner of police consenting. Resolutions were passed reciting the hardships of tenants due to high rents and asking for emergency legislation on lines of Mr. Campagnac’s Bill.