- Author:
- Wright, Arnold
- Publication Info:
-
London ; Durban ; Perth (W.A.):
Lloyd's Greater Britain Pub. Co.,
1910,
pg 379
Text on page 379
TWENTIETH
CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF BURMA.
European residences have been erected to the west of the central ridge. On the ridge itself is Salween House, the official residence of the Commissioner, whilst the Government offices and Law Courts are at the foot of the rising ground. The General Hospital, which contains 100 beds and is maintained by the Municipality, the Government Schools, and the Leper Asylum are also conspicuous buildings. An undoubted blot, not only on the appearance of the town but also on its cleanliness and sanitation, is the way in which coolie barracks, bastis and lodging houses have been permitted to spring up indiscriminately in all quarters. Especially insanitary and undesirable are the bastis. These are composed of long narrow houses running along three sides of a square, which are in turn divided into small compartments, innocent of windows or other means of ventilation other than that afforded by the one door. Common to all the occupants of these huts is the backyard, in which is a shallow well for the supply of both bathing and drinking water. Often quite near it cesspits are situated, and a herd of cows is frequently accommodated in a lean-to shed in the yard. Goats and calves find a welcome shelter in the living rooms. However, the Municipal Committee is a very go-ahead body, and determined efforts at reconstruction and improvement have been made of recent years. A water supply, for instance, has
recently been completed at a total cost of 92 lakhs of rupees. A plentiful supply is obtained from a reservoir at the foot of the Taungwaing hills, and it is possible to dis-
tribute the water throughout the whole of the town by gravitation. For ten years, by the enterprise of the Municipality, the town
gas daily.
Since the Municipal affairs were taken out of the hands of the town magistrate and placed under the control of a Municipal Committee in 1874, the annual income and
expenditure during the decade ending 1901 averaged Rs. 1,42,800. In 1903-4 the income was 7*2 lakhs, and the expenditure 6 4 lakhs. The former included a loan of 3*96 lakhs.
The population of Moulmein has shown a steady and not over rapid growth. In 1872 it was 46,472. By 1881 it had risen to
53,107; it was 55,785 in 1891, and at the last census in 1901 it had risen to 58,446. This included 8,544 Mahomedans and 19,081 Hindus. It is a notable fact that the increase during the last decade has been almost entirely due to Hindu emigration, mainly from Madras.
OFFICIALS AND PROMINENT BUSINESS MEN.
MR. J. D. FRASER has been president of the Moulmein Municipal Committee since May, 1909. A son of the late Mr. J. D. Fraser, of the Colonial Civil Service, he was born at Demerara in 1870. He was educated at Christas Hospital, London, and Queenas College, Oxford, and came to Burma in 1891. He is a member of the East Indian United Services Club.
LIEUT.-COLONEL EVANS, I.M.S., D.P.H.,
joined the Indian Army Medical Service in 1883, and received a medal and clasp for his services in the third Burmese War. He is a Welshman by birth, and was educated at Oswestry, and afterwards received his medical training at St. Georgeas Hospital, London. In 1880 he qualified as M.R.C.S. (Eng.), and in the following year became L.R.C.P. (Lond.).
MR. F. LINNELL is Deputy Conservator of Forests for the Thaungyin division, an area which covers nearly 4,500 square miles. He is a son of the late Mr. J. T. Linnell, the well-known artist, and was born at Redhill
GYMKHANA CLUB.
FARM CAVES NEAR MOULMEIN.
has been lighted by oil gas. The plant is capable of generating 12,500 cubic feet ofhas been lighted by oil gas. The plant is capable of generating 12,500 cubic feet of
