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" Now evacuation invites the thief, both professional and casual, and burglaries..of
varying degrees of seriousness were numerous."
Two other difficulties are also noticed by Mr. Maynard. He writes :—
" It is not always easy to induce people to stay out long enough. Two or three days
without a fresh case encourage them unduly, and there was one very melancholy instance
of premature return, when a village which had turned out cheerfully and escaped very
lightly in consequence went back too soon and was decimated.
" Again, under the permissive system there is almost always a minority which declines
to leave an infected site ; and there are always individuals who continue to revisit their
homes or keep their cattle there. The people outside are very nervous about those who
stay in, and suspect them of pilfering. The recalcitrant minority creates two 'other difficul-
ties. There is no real isolation of the people outside, and evacuation loses part of its effect
and becomes discredited. Moreover, as the disease continues among those who stay in,
or revisit the village, those who stay out do not get the full benefit of their sacrifice . and
become disheartened by long delay."
That evacuation was beneficial in checking the outbreaks of plague will be evident
from what has been recorded above : its efficacy varied in accordance with the thoroughness
with which it was carried out.
Cordons and guards.
{h) Of the employment of guards for
evacuated villages the Deputy Commissioner
notes :—
" In one or two instances the people themselves contributed for extra watch and ward.
When.I realized the position I sanctioned the payment from District Funds of one extra
chaukídar for every fifty vacated houses in partially evacuated villages, but more than this
should be done, if money can be spared, and arrangements should be made to supply
police on payment-"
Segregation of sick and contacts.
(i) As in the case of evacuation, the extent to which segregation of sick and contacts
was observed varied very greatly. Hindus were
generally speaking much more careful in this
respect than Muhammadans. Mr. Maynard notes :—
" The Muhammadans of the towns prided themselves on showing the complete-
ness of their trust in God by associating closely with infected persons. In the Ambala
City I was assured that they at one time decided to ostracise any of their number who
showed caution in this respect."
In the villages, Mr. Maynard writes :—
" There was very wide divergence of practice. In some places the
panic was so severe that one family would hardly venture near another, and in one place
I found the improvised shelters of the refugees scattered broadcast over miles of country.
Each man feared his neighbour. In other places it was impossible to disentangle the sick
from the health camps."
Disinfection.
(
) The following remarks concerning disinfection are abstracted from Mr. Maynard's
report. It should be stated that the opinions
expressed by Mr. Maynard are supported by
Captain James. It should also be added that when chemical disinfection was adopted it was
carried out in accordance with the directions contained in the Memorandum on Disinfection,
the green in 1000 solution of perchloride of mercury being used for the disinfection of
houses and phenyle I in TOO for personal effects. Special gangs of disinfecting coolies were
employed, who worked under the supervision of an Assistant Surgeon.
Attitude of the people towards disinfection.
The attitude of different classes towards disintection will appear from the extracts
given below, but it may be remarked here that
where persuasion failed, orders were usually
successful in inducing objectors to accept chemical disinfection. On this point Mr. Maynard
notes : —
" After the resources of persuasion had been exhausted, I passed a good many formal
orders in Ambala town requiring people to facilitate disinfection on pain of prosecution.
Most of them needed but a gentle push to send them over the line of submission ; but till
the push came there was a good deal of trouble and delay, which impeded and restricted
the operations.
Extent to which chemical disinfection was 'adopted.
Review of the measure.
" In the Rupar Tahsil, 33 villages were disinfected completelv and ten oartially. and
in Kharar 14 were completely disinfected. In
the city of Ambala 807, and in Rúpar town
1,143, houses were disinfected, the number in
the latter case making up nearly the whole
of the town. Many houses in the towns of Jagádhri and Kalka underwent the process, and