17
and the Parsi Hospital and segregation camp. Colonel Newnham-Smith has
also spoken very highly of the assistance he received from Mr. M. H. Dastur,
his executive officer, who is reported to have been instrumental in detecting a
large number of cases of plague. Sergeant Gordon, Superintendent of Conser-
vancy, and Mr. Cowasji Barjorji, bullock contractor, have also -been- specially
commended for their services.
VII.—WORK IN POONA. SUBURBAN LIMITS.
The first step taken to prevent the ingress of the plague into Poona was the
institution of a medical inspection of passengers at Poona Railway Station, which
is situated within the limits of the Suburban Municipality. This matter is
dealt with in another section of the report.
2. Towards the commencement of December the Suburban Municipality
undertook the cremation of the bodies of people dying- of plague, where caste
customs permitted such disposal of the dead. An establishment was engaged
for the cremation work and a cart was provided for removing dead bodies. For
the villages of Yerrowda, New Kirkee and Sangamwádi, which are within
suburban limits, a shed was erected about half a mile to the east of Yerrowda
for segregating the inmates of houses where plague eases occurred.
3. On an increase occurring in the number of imported cases of plague
from Bombay the Municipality engaged extra conservancy establishments to
enforce and maintain cleanliness within the Municipal district. All house-
owners were required by notice to limewash their bunglows and out-houses.
The servants' rooms and out-houses thus limewashed numbered 3,867. Printed
notices were issued to house-owners and lodging and eating house-keepers not to
take in persons arriving from Bombay and other infected areas. Printed notices
of precautions to be taken against the spread of the plague and measures to be
adopted on a case occurring were freely published and circulated. On March
21st the services of a Native medical man who had previously been employed on
passenger inspection duty at the station were retained for general work in con-
nection with enquiries into causes of death and for taking part in house-to-house
visitation.
4. As already stated in Section II of this report the Plague Committee
delegated certain of its powers to Mr. A. H. Plunkett, C.I.E., Chairman of the
Managing Committee of the Poona Suburban Municipality, who, with the Com-
mittee's concurrence, practically head the entire management of plague arrange-
ments within suburban limits.
5. Owing to the smallness of the number of the cases that occurred within
suburban limits, other than those found in the Railway Station and on the roads,
the amount of disinfection that had to be carried out was not large. The roofs
of 26 houses and rooms, in or near which cases of plague had occurred, were open-
ed and their floors dug up. Eorty-six houses and rooms were vacated and 31
were condemned as unfit for human habitation pending certain alterations.
Thirty windows were made in 11 houses to admit of more light and air. Only
24 persons were removed to segregation camps.
6. House-to-house inspection with the assistance of British troops was
commenced on the 22nd March and continued -till the 19th May. During that
period the search was carried on for three days in each week. " One non-commis-
sioned officer and 9 privates were employed on the search. They were divided
into four parties, each of which was accompanied by one or more Municipal
Commissioners. The whole of the Municipal area was searched weekly, the
work being carried on under the personal supervision of Mr. Plunkett. The
instructions issued by Mr. Plunkett for the guidance of the search parties are
given in Appendix 15. One medical man, one lady doctor and two Mahomedaa
women accompanied the search parties. No plague cases were found in the
search by the military, but it doubtless operated to prevent the concealment of
plague cases. Mr. Plunkett has brought to notice the excellent behaviour of
the British troops employed in the search. . The work that devolved on them
was performed with due regard for the caste customs and religious usages of the
people whose dwellings were inspected, and gave him entire satisfaction.
B 1121-5