35
was therefore seldom far away from any of the parties under him. In the case
of the fumigation and limewashing divisions the supervision was not so close, as
the exigencies of their work often compelled the parties of a division to work at
a distance from each other. The limewashing and fumigation parties were
however visited from time to time in the course of their morning's work by the
officer commanding them. A statement of the orders issued to the troops from
time to time regarding their work and conduct will be found in Appendix 59.
6. During the first few days of the work of the troops in the city many
applications, written and verbal, relative to the operations, were, as might be ex-
pected, made to myself and the other members of Plague Committee. Most of
these related to inconveniences or losses alleged to have been caused to indivi-
duals by the work of the troops. Some of the inconveniences pointed out were
inseparable from the operations which we were conducting, while others we were
able to prevent the recurrence of by the issue of standing orders. When com-
plaints of theft were made and the information necessary to trace the culprits
was not given, the applicants were referred to the Police. As our rules got to
be understood by the people of Poona and our organization got more perfect,
the number of applications diminished, and during the latter stages of the
operations comparatively few complaints were received by us regarding the
work of the troops. In order to check the making of false and frivolous com-
plaints and at the same time to facilitate inquiries into complaints that might
be well founded, we published a notification on March 26th (vide Appendix 4)
to the effect that all complaints relating to the behaviour of the men employed
on searching, fumigating and limewashing should be made on the spot to the
officers commanding the divisions to which the men complained against belong-
ed. The officers have been alive to the necessity of maintaining a high stand-
ard of conduct among their men, and it has never been alleged to the Com-
mittee that an officer has failed to inquire into a reasonable complaint which
had been made to him.
7. The offences brought home to the troops engaged on plague duty are
specified in Major Paget's report. The complaints made to the officers com-
manding search divisions which were unproved or were found to be false in-
cluded three of theft. Besides these a few minor complaints of such matters
as entering god-rooms and cook-rooms unnecessarily were made to the officers,
but where the men had offended the prejudices of the people in this way they
appeared to have done so through ignorance. One unproved complaint of
theft was made to the officer commanding a fumigation division and another to
the officer commanding the main picquet. Some complaints of the needless
destruction of property as rubbish were made against the lime washers to the
officer commanding the division, but they were generally found by him to be
untenable. The orders passed to prevent needless destruction of property have
already been referred to. It was a matter of great satisfaction to the members
of the Plague Committee that no credible complaint that the modesty of a
woman had been intentionally insulted was ever made either to themselves or
to the officers under whom the troops worked.
8. The troops at the plague duty camp were under the medical charge
of Surgeon-Lieutenant Kiddle. The men were paraded daily before they left
the camp for plague duty, and men found not to be in thoroughly good health
were not allowed by the Medical Officer to proceed. The health of the troops
is reported by Surgeon-Lieutenant Kiddle to have been excellent, a result which
is no doubt due to regular hours, good feeding and the careful supervision
which he exercised. Not a single case of plague occurred among the troops
employed. The total number of admissions to hospital from March 12th to
May 19th was among British troops 70 and among Native troops 19. The
majority of the admissions were due to minor ailments, and only 19 cases (12
among British and 7 among Natives) were of sufficient importance to call for
the transfer of the patients from camp to a regular hospital. The only case
that ended fatally was one of heat-apoplexy. The victim was a man of the
Royal Irish Rifles who is believed to have contracted his illness through his
own imprudence.
9. I have much pleasure in acknowledging on behalf of my colleagues on
the Plague Committee as well as on my own account the valuable assistance