13
were examined by Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones personally in Raviwár Peth.
He found in the course of his inspections that the Municipal staff was very in-
adequate ; cess pools were not emptied for days in some cases, drains were clog-
ged and almost all side lanes formed a combined dust-bin and public latrine.
There was little supervision over the Municipal subordinates.
6. During January and February the health establishment was consider-
ably increased. On February 16th Doctor Benjamin Solomon was engaged as
an additional Assistant Health Officer, while shortly afterwards Doctor Bhau
Vithoji was engaged in a similar capacity. Four European Inspectors were
taken on, while the numbers of Native Inspectors, mukádams and sweepers
were largely increased.
7. On February 25th the city was under my orders divided into two sec-
tions for purposes of plague work, one section being placed under Surgeon-Captain
Lloyd Jones and the other under Surgeon-Captain Beveridge. This arrangement
continued till March 11th, when other duties being assigned to Surgeon-Captain
Beveridge, Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones resumed charge of the Municipal plague
operations throughout the city. The work of searching for plague cases was
then divided between the three Assistant Health Officers, each of whom, had cer-
tain peths assigned to him. To the European Inspectors were assigned the
duties of fumigating and disinfecting houses, where cases of plague were dis-
covered by Municipal establishments, and of opening up houses that were badly
lighted or ventilated. All houses in the following peths—Somwár, Mangalwár,
Rástía, Kasba, Ganesh, Bhawani ; Ganj, Vetál, Sukrawár and Budhwár—have
been examined by the Inspectors and opened up where necessary. Details of
the work done by the Assistant Health Officers and Inspectors are shown in
Appendices 11 and 12.
8. It will be gathered from Appendix 11 that the Assistant Health Officers
were far more successful in their search for plague cases from 13th March, when
the military house-to-house inspection commenced, than they had been previous-
ly. The reason of this is that when search by the military commenced, many
persons voluntarily gave information of plague cases to the Municipal Authori-
ties. Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones reports that the Assistant Health Officers
and Inspectors have worked excellently and specially mentioned Doctors Solo-
man and Dhamdhere, Inspectors Curtis and Ryan and Mukadani Kalu.
9. I am of opinion that the work carried out under Surgeon-Captain Lloyd
Jones' supervision had been very satisfactorily performed, and that this result is
chiefly due to the zeal and conscientiousness he has himself shown in the dis-
charge of his duties. The value of such work as the removal of 608 cases to
the plague hospitals is obvious, while the improvement that has been effected
in the ventilation of dwelling houses should have a lasting effect upon the health
of the city.
10. Of the Municipal Commissioners the majority have rendered little
service in connection with the plague operations. On February 16th, 1897, the
Municipality resolved that the wards of the city should be distributed among
the members who should form. Committees to induce the public to send patients
to hospital. This resolution had, however, no practical result. On March 16th,
1897, I, as Chairman of the Plague Committee, wrote to the President of the
Municipality asking him to request the members to enrol ward visitors in the
wards to which they belonged. The duties proposed for the ward visitors were—
(a) to obtain information of the occurrence of plague cases in their
wards ;
(δ) to induce the friends of plague patients to remove them voluntarily
to hospital ; and
(c) to accompany military search patients on days when the parties
worked in the wards to which the visitors belonged.
Unfortunately nothing came of this suggestion.
The names of those gentlemen who rendered assistance to the military
search parties are mentioned elsewhere. I may note here that Sardár Khan
B 1121—4