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3. Concealment of cases is also practised in order to avoid the inconveniences
and petty expenses of disinfection, destruction of clothing, &c. Here also much
can be done to remove the objections of the poor and to gain at least their acquies-
cence. Government fear that too little attention has been given to the payment of
prompt compensation and to the grant of a trifling sum to cover, in the case of the
working classes, the petty expenses incidental to a temporary vacation of the house.
Compensation for articles destroyed or damaged must be paid by the officer on the
spot and may be calculated not only with regard to the value of the article, but also
with regard to the cost of replacing it.
4. The objections to the temporary removal to a camp are usually of a similar
nature. The removal involves interruption to work or the loss of wages or exposure
of children to cold, or expenses of transit, and so forth. This is particularly the case
with weavers. The officer must make careful inquiry in each case and use his
discretion how far to afford relief.
5. The class of expenditure which has been indicated in the foregoing para-
graphs may be described as Discretional Belief. The Plague Commissioner, subject
to the sanction of Government, will place distinct sums from time to time at the
disposal of particular officers, Civil or Military. The officer concerned will report
weekly the amount spent and the place where he has spent it, and the countersignature
of the Plague Commissioner will be accepted by the Accountant-General as a
sufficient voucher for the expenditure. Subject to the sanction of Government in
each case, the Plague Commissioner may also subsidise any hospital which he is
satisfied is in need of such assistance,
6. In Bombay City the Plague Commissioner is authorized to place a sum at
the disposal of the Municipal Commissioner and elsewhere at the disposal of the Col-
lector of the District where such assistance appears to the Plague Commissioner to be
necessary. This money must be regarded as quite distinct from advances or grants
made on account of ordinary plague charges, and no funds held on the one account
should under any circumstances be used for expenditure on the other. No officer
to whom a grant has been made for plague expenditure generally is on any account
permitted to disburse from it sums properly debitable to Discretional Relief, and no
outlay on Discretional Relief is to be incurred from Government funds under any
circumstances without a prior grant having been sanctioned by the Plague Com-
missioner. The names of the officers entrusted with advances for Discretional Relief
and the amount of each advance must be approved by the Plague Commissioner.
The sums advanced will be taken into consideration in determining the proportion of
plague expenditure to be borne by Government and the amount of aid to be given
to Local Bodies when the accounts are finally adjusted.
7. For the due control of this expenditure the Circular and Forms appended to
this Resolution, which have been prepared by the Municipal Commissioner, Bombay,
and which have been modified to suit requirements elsewhere, are approved. The
Forms have been made as simple as possible with a view to minimise the labour
involved to the officers concerned while maintaining a record of all that it is
necessary to know. The account of the Deputy Commissioner for Plague Operations
in Bombay with the Plague Commissioner, and the District Officers' accounts with
the Deputy Commissioner, will be kept up in the Chief Accountant's Office in
ordinary account form. Elsewhere those accounts will be kept by the Huzur
Deputy Collector. A receipt must be given by every officer for each sum advanced
to him. The Plague Commissioner will inform the Accountant-General of every