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