BURMA AND INDIA,

435

storing possessions and sleep outside on the streets or pavements. In
the monsoon and cold weather months, however, overcrowding must be
intense. Accommodation being so restricted, in the dry season it is not
anusual for larger numbers of rickshaw pullers to spend the nights in or
ander their rickshaws.

Non-enforcement of Bye-Laws.
Municipal bye-laws in regard to these lodging-houses are generally
 disregarded. During the past two or three years, municipal
inspectors have attempted to secure some improvement by prosecuting
the worst offenders, but no vigorous campaign has been instituted.
T'wo reasons are given for this defective control. One is that the magistrates
 treat delinquents too leniently, the ordinary sentence for breach of
the regulations being only a small fine. The second is that, if the rules
were enforced and each lodging-house only housed the regulation number of
persons, crowds of labourers would have no shelter of any kind. The
suggestion was made to us that, in order to force a crisis, strict enforcement
 of the regulations should be applied to the worst areas, the most
propitious moment for inception of the campaign being at the end of the
monsoon. The argument was that this plan would not add to human distress,
 that many of the excess numbers would thereby be forced to return
bo their villages in India, and that the authorities would be compelled to
adopt more active steps to amend the present state of affairs. There can
be no doubt that a large amount of additional accommodation is urgently
required if the numbers of immigrant labourers are maintained at their
present level, but it is not certain that the present laissez-faire attitude
Joes not impose greater hardships than would result ultimately from a
much more strict enforcement of the existing municipal regulations.
Inadequacy of Water Supply.

Other important features intimately connected with these conditions
 add to the evils of the situation. The present water supply has long
been inadequate to meet the needs of the total population, and the Public
Health Committee, in its report, sums up the situation by stating that there
can be no marked improvement in general conditions until an adequate
supply is available. The Corporation has definitely announced that it
cannot supply water to any areas not already served, and this decision
has prevented the development of housing schemes on land to which water
has not been laid. The problem cannot be solved by the sinking of wells.
The Government, recognising the difficulties of the situation, decided in
1926 to bear the entire cost of investigation of additional sources from the
dual point of view of water and eleciric power supply, but none of the
proposed schemes has yet been undertaken, mainly because of the large
expenditure involved. As a result of the shortage of water, large secsions
 of the city are without sewers, and because of the increased diffisulties
 of ensuring efficient sanitation, the death rate of these sections is
generally higher than that of other sections more fortunately situated.
This defect is so pronounced that it has been proposed to supply river
water for flushing the drains and for cleansing the paved drainage spaces.
2p