7
18. The system of punch-marking railway tickets issued at stations in
infected areas with the object of facilitating the surveillance of travellers from
such areas has remained in force during the period under review, but it is
now impracticable to secure the observation of travellers at the places of their
-destination and the punch-marking system is doing no good in the Punjab, while
it gives subordinate Railway officials opportunities of harassing and blackmailing
travellers. The Government of India has under consideration the question of
discontinuing the system.
19. The Lieutenant-Govern or in 1902 came to the conclusion that conveni-
ence and advantage would result from the employment of steam disinfectors
at inspection posts and large towns, and it was finally decided to purchase
10 machines of the Bowman pattern. There was unfortunately some delay
in carrying out the orders in this matter, but all the machines were received
in the Punjab by the end of March 1903. They have proved most useful
at inspection posts, but their advantages are not yet sufficiently appreciated
in the large towns to which they have been sent, and His Honour trusts
that every endeavour will be made to popularise them.
20. Some attention was paid during the years under review to measures
intended for the killing-off of rats. The people are opposed to such measures, and
no successful method has yet been devised for wholesale rat destruction. The
Lieutenant-Governor has now decided that it is undesirable to incur any consider-
able expenditure in further experiments.
21. The distinctive feature of the plague measures adopted in 1902-03
was an attempt to protect the people by very extensive anti-plague inoculations.
This attempt was decided on in consideration of the success which had attended
inoculations in the Punjab during previous epidemics. Inoculations were intro-
duced into the Province directly after the plague broke out. In 1897-98 and
1898-99 they were confined to the limited areas in the districts of Jullundur
and Hoshiárpur which were then infected, and the numbers inoculated were not
large, being 3,918 in 1897-98 and 9,184 in the following year. But under the
plague system then in force a close watch was kept on the results of the
inoculations and accurate statistics. were obtained regarding them. These
statistics as a whole and individual instances of immunity conferred by inocu-
lation indicated its value as a prophylactic. The Punjab figures for 1897-98
were passed under review by the Indian Plague Commission, but though they
were not regarded as conclusive they as well as other evidence collect-
ed outside the Punjab led the Commission to recommend inoculation as a
valuable plague measure. In 1899-1900 inoculation was again offered to the
inhabitants of infected villages, which were still confined to Jullundur and
Hoshiárpur. 30,829 persons were inoculated during the epidemic of the spring
of 1900 and chiefly in evacuation camps among the people of infected places.
These inoculations also were shown to be beneficial by statistics collected
regarding them and particularly by their results in individual instances such
as those of disinfecting gangs and of the villages of Nawashahr, Khatkar
Kalán, Kahma and Mangowál. The plague-infected tract was still limited in
area and the people were willing to co-operate in an attempt to deal with plague
by inoculation, and in the summer of 1900 endeavours were made to inoculate
the whole of the people of the tract in question in the hope that this would
prevent a recrudescence. The proportion of the people inoculated was remark-
ably large. From the end of May to the end of September, and mainly in June,
July and August 1900, 231,970 persons were inoculated. Of the total number
inoculated in 1899-1900 222,244 were residents of the infected tract which
had an area of 500 square miles and a population of 345,220. The hope,
however, that inoculation would stamp out plague was not realised. Plague
re-appeared in the spring of 1901. It is, nevertheless, remarkable that the first
cases of the 1900-01 epidemic were reported outside the inoculated area, and
there is reason to believe that inoculation considerably delayed the re-
appearance of plague in this area and that it very favourably influenced
the severity of the disease there when it did re-appear. On this re-appear-
ance inoculation was again offered to the people. In Jullundur and Hoshiarpur