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CHAPTER XXII
Fortunately cholera cannot be said to be endemic in any of the
plantation sreas of India, although occasional outbreaks occur. In-
oculation with anti-cholera vaccine, carried out, if possible, before the
cholera season commences, has already proved of value, and a wider
use of this method of immunisation would preclude the danger of serious
outbreaks among the plantation populations.

Housing Construction.

Resident labour is housed rent free and, almost without excep-
tion, the housing is provided by the employers without assistance from
the Government or other public or private agency. In a few gardens
materials for building purposes are provided by the managements,
the labourers in such cases erecting dwellings to suit their own require-
ments. Most of the houses are constructed of mud plaster with thatched
roofs, and necessary repairs are carried out by the labourers themselves
during the slack season, thatch being provided free. It has’been the
custom for employers to erect houses in long blocks of 8 to 12 rooms, but
these should be suitably spaced out and should never be built back
to back. The addition of suitable verandahs would also give
some degree of privacy, a feature which is much appreciated, but
has received too little consideration in the housing of labour
in the past. A more recent type we have seen meets all require-
ments in regard to space, light and ventilation, the houses being built
in blocks of two rooms. Small families are allotted one room, but
where the numbers necessitate additional space, both rooms are given
over to the one family. We commend this method of construction
to managers proposing to erect new housing for their workers.
In plantations occupying hilly land, as in South India, the lines of
houses were previously constructed, without plinths or drains, on sites
lying on the banks of the streams running through the estates. This
was convenient for the supply of water but objectionable as regards
malarial infection. In most cases the incidence of the disease:can be
effectively reduced by selecting high ground for house sites, and all new
construction should be governed by this principle.

Minimum Requirements.

Even in the most recently constructed lines, plinths are seldom
provided, floor and cubic space are often inadequate, whilst light
and ventilation are too frequently entirely ignored. The house built by
the worker himself is never provided with windows or ventilation openings,
but that is no sufficient reason for their exclusion from houses built by
employers. We were informed in Ceylon that the compulsory installa-
tion of windows had had a marked effect in lowering the incidence
of pneumonia and other respiratory diseases, and that the workers are
gradually learning to keep their windows open. The authorities we in-
dicate later should lay down standard minimum requirements on all
these points, and should have the power to condemn houses which cannot
be made sanitary. Standard type plans to suit varying conditions
should also be prepared and made available to garden managements.