36
DARJEELING CIRCLE.
Ex-inoculators
work.
Fifteen ex-inoculators also submitted returns of 4,062 operations, with a percentage of
success of 95.61, which however is unreliable. Many ex-inoculators I know were at work,
but sent in no returns, some from inability to write them. Out of the returns I got a few
more taken down by word of mouth, with all details of caste, sex, and age of course wanting.
To the above sums may be added 6,926 operations by the Dinagepore rajbari vaccin-
ators, making a grand total for the Darjeeling circle of 114,499, less than half the birth-rate.
Sex, caste, and age
of those vaccinated.
Table showing the percentage of sex, age, and caste in the 97,757 persons vaccinated by the
Government vaccinators.
Male ... ...
Female ... ...
Under one year ...
Above one year ...
53.64
46.35
4.53
95.45
Christian...
...
...
Hindoo ...
...
...
Mussulman
...
...
Other castes
...
...
.0007
2185
75.58
2.54
Inspection by
superintendent.
12. Inspection of the superintendent and deputy superintendent.—My cold weather
inspection tour began on the 1st November and ended on the 5th April. Every day during
this time I either marched or inspected. My inspection was, as last year, conducted as
ordered by the Surgeon-General in his letter No. 583 of 23rd August 1872 to the Secretary to
the Government of Bengal. The plan adopted was that introduced by Mr. Powell into
the Metropolitan circles, and which seems from the last report to have already fallen into
disuse there. In the subjoined table no case is entered which was not compared with the
entry in the village return.
From the arrangement of the different gangs, so that one could be reached as quickly
as possible from the other and no time uselessly lost in marching, I have been able to verify
a much greater number of cases than the year before, or than is ever probable I shall be
able to do again as new areas of operation lie more out of the direct routes of travel.
The method adopted is no doubt a good one in circles differently organized, but under
the imperfect arrangements of the Darjeeling circle I find my usefulness much crippled by
it. I again desire to place on record that as long as it is in use I can never hope to bring
about the results that it is my desire to do. A maximum of 5,000 verified cases is as much
as should be required until the gangs are concentrated in one zillah and the supeintendent
lives with his men. To enable me to show a well-filled table, I was obliged to leave Maldah at
a time when it was very necessary I should have remained there a month, during which
period I should most likely not have verified more than 500 or 1,000 cases, and the table
below been consequently a meagre one.
Under Mr. Powell's plan I find that I must inspect from sunrise to sunset every avail-
able day, after which the work of the office has to be got through at night. This after
eight or ten hours out in the sun is not likely to be very efficiently done. Then again, the
superintendent is cut off from almost all personal communication with the civil officers of
districts, which is a serious evil. During three years in which operations have been carried
on in Purneah, I have never yet had time to visit the civil station, and I have not yet even
seen one of the magistrates. Lately the magistrate wrote saying he wished to see me about
the instruction and employment of inoculators, but it is hard to say when I shall find
time, under the present system to meet him. Under it the superintendent, instead of being
an administrative, is turned into a statistical officer.
The plan, too, is greatly objected to by many of the villagers; so much so, that it is often
after great delay and much forbearance that cases are produced. The people in one village in
Maldah treated me with the greatest insolence, and it took me from 11 o'clock in the day till
3 to verify about fifty cases. This is not a position in which a public servant should be placed.
It is a mistake to suppose that the inhabitants of many parts of this circle are quiet
and peaceful; they are prepared to resort to violence on very slight provocation. I had to
abandon the inspection of one village in Rungpore after being detained in it two hours. It is
necessary, if this plan of inspection is to be continued, that magistrates be instructed to direct
the rural police to assist in collecting the people, which they often refuse to do. though they are
warned the day before of my coming and the object of my visit. Many chowkidars after receiv-
ing notice absent themselves, and women also are sent off to other places to be out of the way.
Inspection return
Inspection Return for 1873-74 of Superintendent.
Seen after 16th day. ...
„
from 13th to 16th day ...
„
„ 9th to 12th „ ...
„
„ 5th to 8th
„ ...
„
„ 1st to 4th
„ ...
Vaccination in two points,
of which were successful.
2
19,551
2,627
2,110
1,812
26,100
1
1,155
134
189
265
1,743
Failed
108
31
75
182
396
Doubtful.
13
19
48
73
153
Compared
with
register.
20,827
2,811
2,422
2,332
1,362
29,754
Total.
20,827
2,811
2,422
2,332
1,362
29,754
Absent.
1,336
104
47
55
31
1,573
Grand
Total.
22,163
2,9156
2,469
2,387
1,393
31,327