23
Sáwantwádí.
17. In Sáwantwádí vaccination this year has been making steady safe progress, as
indeed it has been for some years past. The vaccinator
employed here has been devoting his attention a good
deal to the subject of re-vaccination, and under this head he exhibits a total number of 1,078
operations, of which number 770 or 72.9 per cent. are reported as successful. Taking the
primary and re-vaccinations together, a total number of 4,769 operations are exhibited as the
result of the year's work, and if the excess operations 121 be taken from this, it will be found
that there have been 4,648 persons operated on during the year. This quantity of work
amongst a population estimated under 1,60,000 speaks for itself as to the interest taken in
vaccination by the authorities here, and shows how universal such interest can make the
operation amongst the people.
Small-pox.
18. Small-pox showed itself in some villages of the Tháná Collectorate this year, and
in one it raged to some considerable extent, and would
have continued to rage, or probably spread unchecked, had
its presence not been discovered by Mr. Winter, Assistant Collector, when on tour. As soon
as I received notice of the presence of the disease, I directed the Assistant Superintendent
for the Tháná Collectorate to proceed to the scene of its appearance—the village of Kandas,
in the Karjat Táluká—and there take the usual precautions against its spread. He, with the
aid of the táluká vaccinator, vaccinated a considerable number of people in the surrounding
villages, and from what I can gather from subsequent reports, I believe they were able to
confine the disease to the village where it first appeared. After the outbreak had subsided
I received a report from the Assistant Superintendent with reference to it, in which he states
there were altogether 191 persons attacked, and of this number 7 died. There was only one
person previously vaccinated amongst the number attacked, and in his case the disease pre-
sented itself in its mildest form. Small-pox was also reported to have appeared to some
extent in the Kalián Táluká, and a return of it I have received from the Mámlatdár states,
that there were altogether some 544 attacked, and that out of this number 37 died; 49 of the
persons attacked had been previously vaccinated, and amongst these 49, 7 casualties are
said to have occurred. I leave the fact to speak for itself, and to any one who possesses a
knowledge of this subject, it will demonstrate clearly the amount of importance that can be
attached to these returns. Small-pox also appeared in the Mahád and Mángáon Tálukás, in
the Kolábá Collectorate, but the disease did not assume any great dimensions here, and was
easily got under. The only part of the Ratnágirí Collectorate, from which the presence of
small-pox was reported, was the Vingurlá Pethá, and here only 9 cases occurred. Altogether,
with the exception of the Karjat and Kalián Tálukás, in the Tháná Collectorate, the Circle
may be said to have enjoyed a comparative immunity from small-pox this year.
Inoculation.
19. I have received no report this year of inoculation having been practised in this Circle,
but the fact of my not receiving such report is not by
any means to be taken as evidence of its absence. The
comparatively few people amongst the Musalman population who avail themselves of vac-
cination, gives me the impression that their old practice of inoculation has not altogether
disappeared from amongst them, and that they still receive it in private. If Government
would only adopt some measures for its prohibition, I have no doubt that we would find
more of the class of people I have just alluded to seeking the protection of vaccination.
Tour.
20. From the 1st of November, the time I started on tour, up to the 31st of March
or the close of the official year, I visited a good portion
of each of the three Collectorates comprising this
Circle, together with the Native State of Janjírá. The particulars of how I was employed
during that time are given in the Summary of Employment Return, so that I need not