PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
ཟ། ། ། །
Reference :-
C.O.885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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got rid of, the grand return which has been obtained for the money expended on sanitary work is at once appreciated.
Death Rate
...
Death rate of Americans from disease-
(Men, women, and children)..
Deaths from Dysentery
1906. 1910. 41.73 10.98
69
3.64 21
Malaria
233
50
22
Admission rate into hospital for
malaria per 1,000
821
187
48.3 21.18
Death rate in Canal Zone, Panama,
and Colon
...
107. Climate. As far as I could judge from my short stay the heat is not so great nor so trying as that in West Africa.
There are two seasons, a wet and a dry, and on account of the great amount of moisture and want of the regular breeze of the dry season, the former is the more trying.
Everyone wears straw hats of one kind or another, and a sun-helmet is more or less of a curiosity. This I noticed to be the case everywhere I went. Only in British Colonies were they to be seen occasionally and looked upon as an ordinary form of headgear.
108. Alcohol.-No trade in alcoholic liquor is allowed in the Canal Zone, Iced water, which is supplied on all trains and in other places, is the main form of liquid refreshment, and at meals ice water or iced tea are the chief beverages.
109. Wives and Families.-The men are encouraged to bring their wives and families out with them. House, light, fuel, and education are provided free, with medical attendance free, and hospital treatment at nominal rates, unless special accommodation is desired. Very many have done so, and a point which strikes one very forcibly, is the very healthy appearance of the white population, men, women, and children, many of the last being quite robust and ruddy.
110. Quarters.-The Commission houses all employés, gold and silver-which is almost equivalent to white and black-rent free if they wish, but some of the coloured people prefer to live in their own places. Some of the bungalows are occupied by one family only, while others are divided up to accommodate three or four. Unmarried
men mostly occupy rooms in larger buildings.
The Canal houses are all built of wood, on the bungalow pattern, with one, two, or three storeys, the vast majority having verandahs all round.
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They are raised 3 feet off the ground at its nearest part, but as this is not levelled up it may be much further away at other parts.
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The wooden supports are usually in or on cement or brick foundations. The roofs are of galvanized iron without any guttering (none being permitted) and are painted black, the houses themselves being of a dark blue-grey colour. The inside of the rooms is generally white. Every bungalow is made mosquito-proof on the outer edge of verandah by gauze from roof to floor. The doors are single, all open outwards, and are fitted with strong special springs to keep them shut. The Canal Commission houses have ventilators at the ridge and an interval between the top of the wall and the roof (only in a few of the old French houses, which were built with a view to shutting out the miasm, is the latter not present).
The quarters for labourers, European and coloured, are large single-room mosquito-proof buildings of bungalow type of a similar character to the others, but have either no verandah or usually only on one or two sides, and are on one floor only. Ventilation is adequately arranged for in the roof, by windows, and by intervals of 2 feet between tops of walls and roof. There is no ceiling or is the roof lined. The inside is painted of a light colour, white being recom- mended. In some instances these houses are provided with double doors as an extra precaution, but the men do not always make proper use of them.
The sleeping accommodation is arranged in tiers. Each bed consists of canvas stretched out with thin rope on a metal frame which is painted white. These beds are put up in lines of which there are usually two in a house. Each line has two rows (one on each side of the supports) and each row has three tiers.
Frame with Canvas tied
in.