Page 499 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

TOR TIIK YEAR 1010. 75
jongCr than tho direct road, has the advantages of bcin{* near the sea and away
^•al«T at frequent stages, enabling repair parties and lino inspectors to move
'vith greater ease along the line. The Kuwait Telegraph Oflice was opened
for Government business on 4th December 191G, and has since been opened to
the public who are making corsidcrablc use of it. The people are now eagerly
anticipating a railway to Basrah, and lhat would undoubtedly ensure the
futuro of tho town and place it beyond the rivalry of all other ports on tho
poreian Gulf trading with the interior of tho peninsula.
Tho Post Office has been doing a large and increasing business in money
orders, remitting thus over lakhs of rupees in the last quarter of 1916.
phis demand for money orders is duo to tho difficulty of remitting specie by
steamers, as formerly, and to the fact that there has been a dearth, of drafts
on Bombay.
Out-patients only are treated in the Charitable Dispensary.' The prevail­
ing diseases were those of the eye and
Public Health.
digestivo systems.
98 vaccinations were performed.
There were 87 cases of malaria; the small total due no doubt to the
scarcity of water and extreme dryness of the climate. Cases mostly occurred
among arrivals from Basrah and Bahrain. Tho quarantine arrangements are
worked in conjunction with the Shaikh. 30 ships called at the port, one only
being in quarantine with a case of small-pox.
One case of bubonic plague occurred in town early during the year
which recovered.
When a ship is in quarantine, the passengers to he landed aro placed in
boats near the Customs House, as there is no proper quarantine ground.
No epidemics occurred during the year.
The number of out-dcor patients treated was 2,823 as compared with 2,831
in 1915.
The attendance of sick in the dispensary has been steadily declining on
account of the competition of the American hospital and dispensary.
Eye diseases are probably spread by filth and the presence of flies
which infest the town during six months in the year. Tuberculosis is common,
among children and the mortality high : parents do not as a rule avail them­
selves of medical aid, except in cases of injury or accidents.
There is no idea of systematic conservancy. Those who live near the
sea-shore use it for the purposes of nature,, the inhabitants of the outskirts use
the open desert and those of the central quarters their house-tops, or pits dug
on the roadside.
Here, refuse matter is allowed to collect and rot, until sufficiently dry to
be removed for building walls and making bricks. Only the extreme dryness
of tho climate and scarcity of water would seem to prevent the natural
consequences on the health of the people of such an entire absence of
sanitary arrangements.
All drinking water is brought by sailing boat from the Shatt-el-Arab some
70 or 80 miles distant.
The rate of exchange varied considerably during the year with a gradual
appreciation of the dollar and lira. The
rates in December 1916, were:—
Rs. a. t.
Maria Ther^se dollars at • 152 0 0 per 100.
Turkish Liras »• • 16 15 0 per lira.
English sovereigns ,, • 16 12 6 per £•
The relations of tho Mission with Shaikh Jabir were quite satisfactory
and might be summed up in the phrase
Minton of (be Reformed Church of America.
“benevolent neutrality." The Shaikh
himself
was under the missionary physician’s care during tho month of
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