NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
CONTENTS.
I. The Epidemic Diseases Act,
1897
II. Notification of the Government of India, Home Department
(Sanitary— Plague), No. 2256, dated 22nd December 1900,
delegating to Local Governments powers under the
Epidemic Diseases Act
III. Plague regulations in force outside the Presidency town
IV. Standing
Orders
Appendix A. — Memorandum on plague-preventive measures
„
B. — Plague report to be submitted to the Collector
„ C. — Half-yearly list of officers on plague duty
„
D. — Part I. — Allowances of officers deputed to plague
duty
„
„ II. — Salaries of officers temporarily enter-
tained for plague duty ...
„
E. — Pay and allowances of plague
inspectors
Index
PAGE
1
2
3
6
20
30
32
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35
37
40
THE MADRAS PLAGUE REGULATIONS IN FORCE
OUTSIDE THE PRESIDENCY TOWN.
I
THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT (III OF 1897).
An Act to provide for the better prevention of the spread of
Dangerous Epidemic Disease.
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the better prevention
of the spread of dangerous epidemic disease ; It is hereby
enacted as follows :—
Short title, extent and
commencement.
1. (1) This Act may be called the
Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
(2) It extends to the whole of British India (inclusive
of Upper Burma, British Baluchistan, the Santal Parganas
and the Pargana of Spiti) ; and
- (3) It shall come into force at once.
Power to take special
measures and prescribe
regulations as to dangerous
epidemic disease.
2. (1) When at any time the Governor-General in Council
is satisfied that India or any part
thereof is visited by, or threatened with,
an outbreak of any dangerous epidemic
disease, the Governor-General in Council,
if he thinks that the ordinary provisions of the law for the
time being in force are insufficient for the purpose, may take
or require or empower any person to take such measures and,
by public notice, prescribe such temporary Regulations to be
observed by the public or by any person or class of persons
as he shall deem necessary to prevent the outbreak of such
disease or the spread thereof, and may determine in what
manner and by whom any expenses incurred (including com-
pensation if any) shall be defrayed.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the gene-
rality of the foregoing provisions, the Governor-General in
Council may take measures and prescribe regulations for—
(a) the inspection of any ship or vessel leaving, or
arriving at, any port in British India and such
detention thereof, or of any person intending
to sail therein, or arriving thereby, as may be
necessary; and
2
(b) the inspection of persons travelling by railway
or otherwise and the segregation, in hospital,
temporary accommodation or otherwise, of
persons suspected by the inspecting officer of
being infected with any such disease.
(3) The Governor General in Council may, by general
or special order, direct that all or any of the powers conferred
by this Act may also be exercised by any Local Government
with respect to the territories administered by it.
Penalty.
3. Any person disobeying any regulation or order made
under this Act shall be deemed to have
committed an offence punishable under
section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.
Protection to persons
acting under Act.
4. No suit or other legal proceeding shall lie against any
person for anything done or in good
faith intended to be done under this
Act.
II
NOTIFICATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA,
HOME DEPARTMENT (SANITARY—PLAGUE), DATED,
CALCUTTA, THE 22ND DECEMBER 1906, No. 2256,
DELEGATING
TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND
ADMINISTRATIONS POWERS CONFERRED BY THE
EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT, 1897.
WHEREAS certain parts of India are visited by, and others
threatened with, an outbreak of dangerous epidemic disease
known as plague, the Governor-General in Council, in exercise
of the powers conferred by section 2, sub-section (3) of the
Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 (III of 1897), is pleased to direct
that the powers conferred by the said Act may be exercised,
to prevent the outbreak of plague or the spread thereof, by
local Governments and Administrations with regard to their
respective territories as follows :—
(a) All the said powers by the Governors of Fort St.
George and Bombay in Council, the Lieutenant-Governors of
Bengal, Eastern Bengal and Assam and Burma ;
*
*
*
*
2. The notifications of the Government of India in the
Home Department, No. 302, dated the 4th February 1897,
No. 834, dated the 6th March 1897, No. 1330, dated the 27th
May 1898, and No. 4614, dated the 28th November 1898, are
hereby cancelled.
3
III
The following regulations issued in G.O. No. 331 P.,
dated the 11th July 1918, embody the special powers confer-
red on officers of the Government and other persons and the
special obligations laid upon the public in connexion with
plague: obstruction of the former or breach of the latter
renders a person liable to prosecution and punishment under
the law :—
PLAGUE REGULATIONS IN FORCE OUTSIDE THE
PRESIDENCY TOWN.
WHEREAS certain parts of the Presidency of Madras are
visited by, and other parts are threatened with, an outbreak of
the dangerous epidemic disease known as plague, and whereas
the ordinary provisions of the law for the time being in
force in the Presidency are insufficient for the purpose of
preventing the outbreak or spread of the disease :
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 2, sub-
section (1), of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and delegated
to him under sub-section (3) of the same section by the noti-
fication of the Government of India in the Home Department
No. 2256 of the 22nd December 1906, the Governor of
Fort St. George in Council is pleased to prescribe, in super-
session of all regulations previouly issued on the subject, the
following temporary regulations to be observed throughout
the Presidency except the City of Madras for a period of five
years from the 15th of July 1918 :—
1. In these regulations
Definition.
(a) " Infected area ' means any area which is notified
under these regulations by the Governor in Council or,
subject to his control by the Collector of a district, to be
infected with plague.
(b) " A local authority " means the local medical officer
or, if there is no such officer, the village headman or any other
person appointed as a local authority for the purposes of
plague by the Collector of the district.
(c) " Plague Officer " means the District Medical and
Sanitary Officer in his district and the Revenue Divisional
Officer within his jurisdiction and includes any other person
who may be appointed by the Government or by the Collec-
tor as Plague Officer over any definite area.
Notification
of infected
areas.
2. The Governor in Council may, by notification in the
Fort St. George Gazette, declare any place or area in which
one or more indigenous cases of plague have occurred, or in
which the existence of plague among rats has been proved,
1-A
4
to be infected with plague. In similar circumstances the
Collector of the district may notify by tom-tom and by publi-
cation in ihe district gazette that any place or area in his
district is infected with plague, informing the Government
forthwith of the fact that he has done so.
Closure of
markets.
3. In an infected area or in a district adjoining an infected
area the Collector may close any existing market and may
appoint special places where markets may be held and may
prescribe limits beyond which it shall not be lawful for
persons bringing articles for sale from or to an infected urea
to pass.
Evacuation.
4. In an infected area the Collector, or a plague officer
with the previous sanction of the Collector, may order the
evacuation of infected houses and houses in their neighbour-
hood, or generally of any infected locality.
Provided that, before issuing or authorizing an order for
compulsory evacuation, the Collector shall either provide
adequate and suitable shelter within reasonable distance for
the persons evicted, together with the necessary water-
supply and arrangements for watch and ward, or shall satisfy
himself that such shelter and water-supply have been
provided by private agency. The Collector shall also satisfy
himself that the compulsory evacuation is necessary to avert
the further spread of the disease, or is in the interests of the
affected population taking account of climatic conditions.
The Collector may require all persons who evacuate their
houses voluntarily, or are evicted under this regulation, to
reside in such place as he may appoint.
Acquisition
of lands or
buildings
required for
plague pur-
poses.
5. In an infected area the Collector may enter upon, occupy
and use, or may depute any person to enter upon, occupy and
use, without having recourse to the provisions of the Land
Acquisition Act, 1894, any building or place which is re-
quired for, and is, in the opinion of the District Medical
and Sanitary Officer, suitable for any purposes connected with
plague measures ; provided that, if the building or place is
occupied, twenty-four hours' notice in. writing shall be given
to the occupier or shall be conspicuously affixed on such build-
ing or place. The owner or lessee of such building or place
shall be entitled to a reasonable rent to be fixed by the Col-
lector for the period during which the ground or building
may be used for purposes connected with plagué ; and the
Collector shall, when any building ceases to be so used, cause
it to be thoroughly cleansed and, if the owner so desires, white-
washed internally and externally.
5
Destruction
of sheds.
6. If the Collector is of opinion that the destruction of
any hut or shed is necessary to prevent the spread of plague,
he may take summary measures, for the destruction of such
hut or shed and of the materials of which it is constructed.
Inspection
of places
used for
storage of
grain.
7. The Collector may direct that any dwelling house or
any landing place or railway goods shed or any place used
for the storage of grain shall be inspected and that all rats
found therein shall be destroyed ; and to facilitate the de-
struction of rats may order the temporary removal of any
grain or other merchandise.
Inspection, of
grain in
transit.
8. The Collector may direct that at any place in his district
any consignment of grain, being conveyed by rail, road or
otherwise, shall be examined, and shall, if necessary, be un-
loaded and exposed to the sun in such manner and for such
period as he may fix.
Duty of
householders
and medical
practitioners.
9. Every householder and every medical practitioner
shall at once report to the nearest local authority any case of
plague or any case of fever with glandular swellings or any
unusual mortality among rats which may come to his notice.
Quarantine of
persons and
sun-disin-
fections
articles
coming from
infected
areas.
10. The chairman of any municipal council or union
panchayat, or the headman of any village in which there is
no panchayat, may prevent any person suspected of coming
from an infected place from entering the town or village for
a period not exceeding two days unless his clothing and per-
sonal effects have been thoroughly exposed to the direct rays
of the sun for not less than six hours. He may also prevent
any consignment of grain from entering the town or village
until the bags have been removed from the carts and every
side of each bag has been exposed to the direct rays of the
sun for not less than two hours.
Plague staff
entitled to,
and bound
to give, oue
month's
notice.
11. (1) In the absence of a written contract to the contrary
every inspector, maistri, peon, watchman, coolie, scavenger
or other menial servant employed to do duty in connexion
with plague, shall be entitled to one month's notice before
discharge, or to one month's wages in lieu thereof, unless he
is discharged for misconduct or was engaged for a specified
term and is discharged at the end of it. Similarly every
supplier of coolies shall be entitled to one month's notice
before his coolies are discharged.
(2) No such inspector, maistri, peon, watchman, coolie,
scavenger, or other menial servant shall, in the absence of a
written contract authorizing him to do so, and without reason«
able cause resign his employment or absent himself from his
duties without giving one month's notice or shall neglect or
6
refuse to perform any of his duties. In like manner no sup-
plier of coolies or other menial servants shall withdraw his
coolies or servants without giving one month's notice.
Award of
compensation
for damage
or loss.
12. When in consequence of the exercise of the powers
conferred by or under these regulations any property is
damaged or destroyed, the Collector shall pay to the owner
by way of compensation such sum as he may consider suffi-
cient to cover the cost of repairing the damage or replacing the
property destroyed.
Penalty for
breach of
regulations.
13. Any person disobeying or contravening or refusing to
submit himself to any of these regulations, or obstructing any
measure taken under the authority of these regulations, shall
be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under
section 188 of the Indian Penal Code and shall be liable on
conviction to imprisonment of either description for a term
which may extend to six months or fine which may extend to
one thousand rupees or both.
Notes.—(1) The Plague Regulations being orders formally made and issued by
Government under the Epidemic Diseases Act, no sanction, is required as a condition
precedent to prosecution for disobeying them (Judgment of the High Court in
Criminal Appeal No. 561 of 1899).
(2) By Command Order No. 687, dated 18th November 1898, all ranks in the
Madras Command have been directed to obey the Plague Regulations, and any in-
fringement of them is punishable as a military offence. Military pensioners have
been warned (Superintendent's Circular No. II, dated 14th December 1898) that any
disobedience or wilful neglect of the regulations or obstruction offered to any official
on plague duty will be treated as a breach of the good conduct required by Govern-
ment as a condition of the continuation of their pensions, and that any pensioner being
guilty thereof will be liable to have his pension stopped forthwith and the same
reduced or permanently withdrawn.
IV
STANDING ORDERS.
The following are departmental instructions for the
guidance of officers dealing with plague :—
General
control of
plague
measures.
The general control of all measures connected with plague
is vested in the Collector of the district, unless the Govern-
ment in any case otherwise direct ; and all officers of
Government, of local boards and of municipalities, and all
plague officers must obey and carry out the Collector's
orders. With regard to the measures to be taken in any
particular town or locality the Collector has a wide discre-
tion and may associate with himself a small committee
including the District Medical and Sanitary Officer and the
chairman of the municipality or the president of the district
or taluk board.
7
In a cantonment the military authorities are immediately
responsible for carrying oat plague measures and the
Collector should appoint a representative of those authorities
to be a plague officer for the cantonment.
Preventive
measures.
2. A memorandum on plague preventive measures, drawn
up by the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of
India, is printed as Appendix A to these Standing Orders.
The greatest importance is attached to what may be called
permanent preventive measures, which consist in making the
people understand that the presence of rats in their houses
and godowns is dangerous, and in persuading them to protect
themselves from the risks involved in the presence of rats in
places used for human habitation, and their property from
the loss and destruction caused by these animals at all times.
It is possible by making it difficult for rats to enter houses
and godowns and by making it difficult for them to find food
when they do enter, to bring about a very great reduction in
the number of rats. Rats are found in great numbers in
markets and places used for the storage of grain ; if grain
godowns were constructed in the manner set forth in Part II
of the memorandum they would harbour much fewer rats
than at present and none would stay in them long. The
municipal councils of towns liable to plague infection should
see that all godowns in their own markets are constructed on
the lines laid down so as to be rat-free. The councils can,
under the existing law, impose conditions with regard to the
construction of new buildings and they should do so in
respect of those intended for the storage of grain ; when the
law is amended, it is proposed to lay down that no person
shall store grain or deal in grain wholesale without a licence
and it will be possible then for a council to insist that grain
shall be stored only in rat-free premises. In ordinary houses
if foodstuffs are shut up in receptacles to which rats cannot
obtain access and no garbage or refuse is allowed to lie
about, there is less likelihood of rat infestation. At present
few people take any precautions at all. Every endeavour
should be made to warn all of the danger of allowing rats to
share their habitations. In some places lectures and leaflets
may be useful but more can probably be done by the personal
influence of both officials and non-officials and both should be
urged to do all that they can to educate the more ignorant
sections of the population.
Inspection
and sun-dis-
infection of
grain,
clothing, etc.
3. Under existing conditions much can be done to prevent
the spread of plague from one place to another. Under
regulation 8 the Collector has power to order the breaking of
8
bulk of any consignment of grain in transit and under
regulation 10 the municipal or village authority may simi-
larly ensure that no consignment of grain shall enter a town
or village until bulk has been broken and the grain has been
exposed to the sun. The mere breaking of bulk and the
disturbance caused by the unloading of the bags will gene-
rally be enough to get rid of any rats they contain ; but a
bag may contain rats which are perhaps too young or too
sick to move and it may be necessary to empty out bags of
grain coming from infected places in order that such rats
may be destroyed before the grain reaches its destination.
Exposure to the sun will kill fleas either in the personal
effects of travellers or in bags of grain, and to obtain this
exposure it is not generally necessary to empty the grain
bags, since fleas, when separated from rats, are not likely to
burrow deeply into the bags. If the weather is cloudy, the
fleas cannot be killed in this way but rat-fleas are not likely
to remain long either in bags of grain in which there are no
rats or in the clothing or on the persons of human beings
and the regulation provides that, in case exposure to the
sun cannot be arranged for, travellers and grain may be
prevented from entering the town or village for two days.
Rat, destruc-
tion.
4. Where adequate measures have not been taken to
exclude rats from houses and godowns, other steps should
be taken, when there is a danger of plague, to reduce the
number of rats by trapping and poisoning. If rat destruc-
tion is to do any good, it must be undertaken on as large a
scale as possible and under reliable supervision. The catch-
ing or killing of a few rats in a locality can have little or no
effect on the total number and is mere waste of money ;
unless the operations are intelligently and honestly super-
vised, there will be little rat destruction, though the reports of
the staff employed may indicate great activity. Difficulties
have been experienced in securing the co-operation of the
people in rat destruction ; baits are sometimes removed
before the rats have had an opportunity of taking them and
various devices have been adopted to prevent rats getting
into traps ; but there is reason to believe that the obstruction
met with is often due to fear of the steps which may be taken
by the plague authorities if infected rats are found. It
should therefore be explained carefully that the chief object
of the operations is to destroy the rats before they become
infected.
The best time to start a campaign against rats is the
season when there is no plague, generally the hot weather ;
9
but rat destruction is also useful when plague is present.
The finding of infected rats then among those caught should
not be allowed to cause the apprehension that special
measures will be taken in regard to the particular houses in
which they are caught.
5. When an area is actually infected or is imminently
threatened, inoculation should be encouraged in every possi-
ble way. In the office of every District Medical and Sanitary
Officer there should always be kept a sufficient number of
syringes. Haffkine's vaccine need not be kept in stock but,
as soon as there are any signs of an epidemic, such as rat
mortality or an indigenous human case, a sufficient supply—
say 1,000 doses—to provide against a sudden rush for inocu-
lation, should be ordered by telegram from the Bombay
Bacteriological Laboratory at Parel; and if there are indica-
tions that people are likely to take to inoculation, further
supplies should be ordered without delay.
Inoculation.
Where it is specially necessary to encourage inoculation,
the Collector may grant subsistence allowances at rates not
exceeding four annas a day for an adult and two annas a day
for a minor who may be temporarily incapacitated for work
as a result of inoculation. Such an allowance should not be
paid to any one individual for more than three days.
6. When the existence of plague in a town or village has
been established, the lives of many of the inhabitants can be
saved if they leave their houses and take up their residence
beyond the reach of infected rats. In villages and smaller
towns the people usually evacuate their houses voluntarily
on the appearance of plague and camp in the neighbourhood
and the practice should be encouraged. In larger towns
there is not the same readiness to evacuate, owing to the
difficulty of finding suitable camping grounds not too far
away from the places where the people have to work, to the
absence of water-supplies and to other inconveniences;
while the poorer inhabitants are often unable to provide
themselves with adequate shelter. On the other hand there
is a danger that, if no steps are taken, a panic will set in
when the number of cases of plague becomes large, and the
people will scatter to neighbouring villages and, by carrying
with, them infected fleas or merchandise containing rats,
disseminate infection. Under regulation 4 the Collector
has power to order the evacuation of any house or group of
houses in an infected area, but the power should be used
with discretion and all reasonable assistance should be given
Evacuation.