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General remarks with regard to work of Volunteers.—" The work which lay ber
" fore the Volunteers was by no means easy or free from difficulty. They had to deal
" with a fatalist population, a great portion of which does not believe in the advantages
" of the Plague measures. Many Volunteers and influential men personally inclined
" to be useful could not actively or openly do much on account of the prevailing con-
" ditions of the society in which their lot was thrown, where advancement towards
" enlightened ideas is slow, and it will not be for a long time that a true appreciation
"of their efforts is likely to be accorded. There are a good many instances of long
"enjoyed influence being lost on account of active assistance rendered in Plague
" measures. I shall mention a few prominent cases, and could add several more.
" A learned gentleman who passed among the Mussalmans as a religious
" dignitary and as a native physician of perhaps the largest practice, loyally and
" most sincerely assisted General Gatacre and Sir James Campbell, invariably
" accompanying them in their rounds. He brought to notice many plague cases, and
" in consequence lost nearly all his influence and more than half of his practice.
" Another gentleman whose influence had been unbounded among the Julahas has
" for his ready and true assistance during the last two years' epidemics, been hated
" by them more than he was popular before, and more than one other has for his
" honest endeavours in recent years to help the plague authorities reaped a harvest
" of hatred and abuse.
" So difficult sometimes is the position of the Volunteers rendered that the
" best of them on occasions do not desire that the assistance given by them in some
" matters be made known, and amusing instances not infrequently occurred of influ-
" ential Volunteers using the most careful endeavours to avoid any open recognition
" of their assistance.
" Even among the medical profession and among men of learning and wide
" worldly experience there are people who do not believe in the usefulness or neoes-
" sity of the Plague measures. We should, therefore, expect among the masses a large
" majority who are not satisfied with them but who only submit to authority.
" Among such people the part of the Volunteers is undoubtedly a difficult one, and
" we have to place much value on the assistance they have given us under these circum-
" stances. If they have shown any shortcomings they should be closely looked into,
" and a good measure of them will be found to be due to causes over which they have
" not got full control. Whatever they have done has required from them the exercise
" of much tact, good temper and patience, the expense of time and personal trouble
" in the task of persuasion or inducement, and they have come forward to our assist-
" ance at no small amount of risk to their person, popularity and social relations.
" Through them we have worked smoothly and with reasonable efficiency. It is
" not a little gratifying that through their agency the measures of Government have
" been very much less unpopular in the eyes of the general public."
The great assistance rendered by the Volunteers was brought to
the notice of Government, and their services were appreciated in Resolu-
tion No. 3733-P., General Department (Plague), dated 7th June 1899,
which is printed below :—
RESOLUTION.—This report very fully justifies the hopes entertained by His
Excellency the Governor-in-Council in March 1898, and shows how ready has been
the response to his appeal for co-operation from all public-spirited citizens.
2. The list appearing below does not by any means comprise the names of
all who have joined in the campaign against plague, but to many Government
have in other ways conveyed approval of the good work they have done.