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CHAPTER XXII,
One further result has been to prohibit the use of areas which in other
circumstances could be made reasonably sanitary and be utilised to re-
lieve existing congestion. The disposal of the Development Trust lands
is handicapped because further efforts to open up communications and
make land available would greatly restrict the Trust's activities by the
sinking of capital in land and houses to which no water could be brought.
The position is that no material extension of the areas to be used for deve-
lopment schemes can be undertaken until a greatly increased water supply
is provided. Even in the areas provided with water, there are constant
complaints of shortage of supplies, mainly because of the tremendous
wastage which is permitted.
Municipal Administration.
Rangoon has advantages possessed by few industrial towns in
India. The main streets, even in the area where the industrial workers
live, are broad and spacious, and the back streets leading to the lodging-
houses are not narrow, measured by ordinary Indian standards. In
addition, a substantial area is sewered. Thus the two main difficulties
which confront local authorities elsewhere are absent. But, in spite of
this, sanitation is seriously defective. The corporation staff has appa-
rently been unable to maintain an effective system for the regular removal
and disposal of refuse. Insufficiency of dustbins tends to encourage
the common practice of throwing litter and rubbish from upper windows
on to the paved back spaces below and to intensify the lack of sanita-
tion. Even in the sewered areas, sewage stagnates as a result of
blockage of drains and traps with refuse, and the areas at the
backs of the lodging-houses seem to be seldom clean. The con-
ditions which prevail indicate the need for more stringent municipal
administration. The. enforcement of bye-laws in regard to food
supplies, markets and sanitation, and efforts directed towards preven-
tion of waste of water would go a considerable way to effect im-
provement. The revision of building rules and the adoption of
model bye-laws, providing snter alia for masonry plinths and two or three
storeyed buildings would also assist. We have dealt elsewhere with the
weakness resulting from the lack of control by Government over the
health administration of municipalities, and in no place is control more
necessary than in Rangoon as its health problems are the concern of the
whole province. In addition, the Government Public Health Depart-
ment apparently has no control over the port health administration,
and some alteration of the position here is also desirable. The committee
appointed by the Government of Burma to report on the re-organisation
of the Public Health Department made specific recommendations on
this point.
The Development Trust.
The Rangoon Development Trust, which has been in existence
for ten years, has done valuable work in constructing roads, in providing
drainage and in opening up new areas for development, although its activi-
ties outside the areas supplied with water have been greatly restricted
