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Bombay Tramway Company.
A letter was forwarded to the Managing Director of the Bombay Tramway Company giving in¬
formation of an outbreak of Surra in Gujarat in 1893, and a more extensive outbreak in 1894 in the
district from which the supply of hay for the Tramway horses was obtained, viz., on the black soil
from Gujarat.
Upon receipt of this the Hay Superintendent in that district was communicated with, who sup-
plied the following information, which accompanies a letter from the Managing Director of the Bom-
bay Tramway Company, extracts of which are here subjoined :—
" I note your warning as to the care necessary in the selection of hay. I communicated at once with the
Superintendent of our Hay Department, who is now in Gujarát, and I attach hereto copy of an extract from his reply.
I will forward you the two samples of soil as soon as I receive them.
" I long ago regarded the green grass grown around Bombay—and most of which is raised on swampy land—as
a possible source of infection, and have entirely excluded it from our stables the past four years. We also now import
the whole of our lucerne supply from Poona.
" The whole of our dry hay is imported from Gujarát, and is grown chiefly in the Dakore District. It is com-
posed chiefly of the variety of grass known as Zinjva, which does not like a very moist soil.
"We have lost this year to date 15 horses from Surra : 11 at our Parel Stables, and 4 at our Colába Stables—
fortunately mostly old and infirm animals."
Extract from our Hay Superintendent's letter.
" On receiving your letter I at once made enquiries in the villages near about, and from that gather that early in
September last a sort of a fatal disease was prevalent in the district among cattle and all sorts of animals. The first to be
attacked were mostly buffaloes which died in a considerable number. Then it spread among cattle but not to a very great
extent, and then it passed on to horses and asses. There are not many horses in the district, but several were affected and
died. Among cattle and buffaloes the course of disease ran for only about 24 hours and ended fatally. The chief symptom,
they say, was a swelling in the throat. As for the horses, the symptoms described, no doubt, indicate ' Surra '. The
people here have no particular name for it. But with the advent of the cold season the disease has disappeared. It appears
that such was the case almost everywhere in Gujarát. Kurim informs me that Kim District was also not free from it.
" As for the Kurans from which we obtain our hay, they are not of a swampy nature, nor are they liable to inundation.
In this respect I think them to be better than Asudla and Bhal land. To give you some idea of the nature of the soil, I
send per railway parcel samples of it taken from the Kuran. That marked No. 1 is the surface soil which is from 1 to 3
feet deep and that marked No. 2 is the subsoil.
" The spread of the disease was not confined to any one locality or district but was prevalent everywhere in Gujarát
and in Káthiáwár also, and all kinds of animals fed or all sorts of fodder grown on all varieties of soil were affected by it.
It also died out on the advent of the cold weather without the people taking any precautionary or preventive measures
whatsoever, who consider it a visitation from an angry goddess. It is this year that the animals are largely affected. The
season before last during the same period a virulent type of fever was prevalent among men, playing sad havoc in many
places. All these make one incline to the theory that it is due more to climatic influences than to anything else, more so
because for the past three years the seasons have been abnormal. Not only there is excessive rainfall during the monsoon, but
during the cold weather too not a single month passes without there being a shower. I read to-day in one of the Gujaráti
papers that on Wednesday last there was a heavy shower at Gogo at about 4 P.M. for an hour followed by hail-storm, an
unusual occurrence there."
Dated Darkin, 23rd December 1894.
The following is an extract from a letter received from the Managing Director of the Bombay
Tramway Company, dated the 7th December 1897, in which certain interesting points are brought
forward as reasons for the late appearance and few cases of Surra during 1897 :—
" For several years past " Surra " cases have commenced in our stable in September, and we have had a few cases each
month until the end of the year. This year we had no cases in September, October, or the first three weeks of November,
and began to hope that we should escape any visitation of the disease. The last week of November we had, however,
two horses (both Australians) attacked at our Parel stables, and another Australian attacked there this week. We have
had so far no cases at our Colába or Tárdeo stables, at both of which we have had cases in previous years. In looking for
the reasons of this immunity I have been inclined to attribute it to one of two causes, viz., either (1) the fact that the
bubonic plague infected and killed almost all the rats which up to this year have infected our premises, or (2) the very fre-
quent and drastic disinfection of the soil of our stables with chloride of lime, carbolic acid powder, &c., which we have
resorted to in consequence of the prevalence of the plague in city.
" Our own experience entirely confirms what you write as to the uselessness of forage and water precautions to
insure immunity from the disease. The filtering of all the water used at our Parel stables, through a Berkefield filter,
appeared to have no effect. The stoppage of green food also showed no result. This year we have not filtered the water
and have given our horses liberal rations of lucerne.
" The particulars you give of the mortality amongst the Naini Tal Dâk ponies are very interesting. They certainly
go to support the view that the disease is greatly influenced by climatic conditions.
" I note, with much interest, your remarks on flies as propagators of the disease. We make it a rule to destroy
immediately every horse, in which we find the specific microbe. Flies abound at our Parel stables, owing to the immediate
neighbourhood of a large market ".
The following charts give full details regarding the animals attacked in the Bombay Tramway
Company's stables during the years 1893—1897 inclusive, in addition, meteorological charts of the
city of Bombay showing the climatic conditions for the years 1893—1897, inclusive, during which the
previous Surra cases occurred :—