HEALTH AND WELFARE IN PLANTATIONS. 409
These need not be confined to one-roomed dwellings. In labouring class
houses of the kind required some form of ¢ ridge ’ roof ventilation should be
more generally adopted. This adds little to the cost, and the ventilation
openings are at such a height that they cannot easily be interfered with
by the occupants.
Experiments and Improvements.

A few experiments have recently been made with iron-framed
houses, the wall spaces between the frames being filled with bamboos
nd mud plaster, and the roofs made of corrugated iron or asbestos.
This is more stable than the usual type of house and thus requires less
oxpenditure on annual repairs, but the average labourer is probably right
in preferring the thatched house, which is cooler in the hot weather and
warmer in the cold season. He also considers it healthier, although
there is nothing to prove that the corrugated iron or asbestos roofs have
any deleterious effect on health. We think that the workers might be
encouraged, under supervision, to build their own houses on approved
sites, where a definite sanitary lay-out had been prepared and where
proper plinths had been provided. Wherever possible, a number of
lights should be provided in and around the housing areas. Electricity
is now available on many plantations and a few standard lamps, while
costing comparatively little, would add greatly to the amenities of life.
Considerable improvements in the housing of labourers have been effected
during the past few years, but more requires to be done, especially on the
more backward plantations and generally in levelling up standards. We
believe that these further advances will be more easily attained when the
authorities we propose commence to function.

Bathing and Washing Places.

Few plantations have made any serious attempt to provide
bathing and washing places for their labourers. The use of the'ordinary
surface tank or pond may lead to outbreaks of dysentery and other dis-
eases ; whilst bathing and washing in a stream, where the water lower
down is in all probability used for drinking, may readily produce the same
antoward results. Bathing and washing places of simple type are all
that are necessary, and these should be constructed in the vicinity of the
house lines. Public health departments should be prepared with type
plans so that the planter may readily obtain information as to recognised
standards on which to base his proposed expenditure.

Sanitation.
We have ev dence to show that a large proportion of tea garden
labourers are infecte(l with hookworm, the percentage of infection being
highest amongst those coming from web districts, like Malabar, although
the Assam Government memorandum definitely asserts that hookworm.
nfection is generally contracted on the gardens. Under certain con-
litions infection may be rapidly followed by hookworm disease. A
number of managers, on the recommendation of their medical officers,
have carried out annual mass treatment of their labour forces, and we