CO885-(20-21) — Page 658

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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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During the day the beds fold up towards the central supports so as simply to make two thin partitions in the The bed framework is easily removed from the support, and once every week frame and canvas is taken outside, put in an iron tank, boiled, scrubbed, and then rinsed, dried, and returned.

room. central

Side View.

AND

End View.

111. Food-This is all arranged for by the Commissariat Department of the Commission.

Mess houses are provided at all stations for gold and silver employés at which good meals are supplied at a fixed

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moderate rate. Married officers have their meals in their own houses but all others use the mess houses.

Stores, each having a refrigerator, are provided at each station for the use of employés only, who buy by coupon, 110 money being accepted. These stores are supplied from Colon (where all stores are landed) whence a train runs daily at 4a.m. and delivers ice, meat, fish, vegetables, and general articles at each store along the line.

Bread is also made by the Commission bakery and supplied. Fresh food and vegetables can be obtained in the local markets.

112. Markets.-At the main stations markets have been built at which chiefly meat and vegetables are sold. These are large sheds with galvanized iron roofs and concrete floors, the sides being closed by wooden palings 6 to 8 feet high.

The parts set aside for the sale of meat have all been made mosquito-proof by wire gauze protected on each side by small mesh wire netting. The customers enter this part through the usual outward-opening door, make their purchases and out again. This arrangement is very much appreciated both by the butchers and customers, and the enclosure is not close as might be anticipated.

The stalls are let at about $2 a month.

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All cleaning is done by Commission employés as it has been found to be the most satisfactory method.

113. Laundry. The Commission arranges for the washing of household linen by providing a steam laundry to which it

may be sent and where it is washed at a fixed rate.

114. Water Supply.-There is a pipe-borne water supply at every place of any size, and nearly all places along the line. The Rio Grande reservoir supplies Panama and places

at the west end of the Canal, and two other reservoirs on the castern side of the watershed supply the places on the eastern part.

All houses of the Commission and all others, except those of such small size and poor condition into which it is not worth while to put it, have a water supply of their own, and for the remainder standpipes have been put up.

These are furnished with spring taps which when let go spring back so as to cut off the flow.

Bath-rooms, which are small compartments with a sloping cement floor and a spray fixed in the ceiling, are in all Commission houses, and in the case of labourers' dwellings, are in separate buildings which are divided up into these compartments. In connection with the very poor class of