4
important point, as he correctly observes, is to bring home to the villagers themselves
the extreme danger of the disease spreading when once it appears among them,
and to explain to them the preventive measures which they should take. He has
written for translation into the vernacular a pamphlet on the subject, and this
will be printed and distributed widely in all the affected districts and the dis-
tricts adjoining them. He proposes to use the provisions of the recently passed
Epidemic Diseases Act to compel certain precautions, but this proposal is not recom-
mended by the Principal Medical Officer, and the Chief Commissioner is unable to
accept it. The principal recommendation put forward is that the people of affected
villages should be enccuraged to move their houses to new sites during the cold
weather months, when the disease is at a minimum. The suggestion that, in order to-
facilitate the removal of village sites when affected by kalá ázár, Government should
remit the revenue on the new site in the year of removal (when revenue will be payable
on the old site) and the year following, seems reasonable, and orders will be issued to
District Officers accordingly. Mr. Cotton trusts that the measures proposed by Dr.
Rogers will be of use in hinderirg the further spread of the disease, but apart from
this, he thinks that there are grounds for believing that it has now reached its limit.
Between the inhabited portion of Kowgong and Sibsagar there is a stretch of many
miles of waste and jungle, and although this is traversed by the trunk road, intercourse
is rare, and communication infrequent. Moreover, the villages in Sibsagar differ
much from those of the western districts. There are no special village sites where
the houses are closely built, but each man makes his house wherever it suits him, and he
readily moves it, often for no very obvious reason, to some new site on his land. The
houses of the different villagers are thus well separated, and a communicable disease
would, therefore, not spread so freely as in the more crowded villages of Lower Assam.
As regards the Tezpur subdivision, the comparative sparseness of the population and the
fact that, except in Mangaldai, katá ázár has never spread much on the north bank of
the Brahmaputra seem to afford reasons for thinking that it will not suffer very severely.
11. The Chief Commissioner accepts Dr. Rogers' suggestion, which is supported
by the Principal Medical Officer and Sanitary Commissioner, That the heading Anchy-
lostcmiasis and the sub-head Beri-beri should be omitted from the return of deaths, but
that kalá ázár should continue to be shown separately.
12. In conclusion, Mr. Cotton desires to express his obligations to Dr. Rogers for
the thoroughness with which he has conducted the investigation entrusted to him, often
at great personal inconvenience, and for his interesting report. He has followed up
all branches of the enquiry, except possibly that of microscopical examination of the
blood, with exemplary diligence, and has stated the facts ascertained and the conclusions
arrived at by him with great fullness and lucidity. The Chief Commissioner is also
indebted to Surgeon-Colonel Stephen, che Principal Medical Officer of the province
for the able review with which he has submitted Dr. Rogers' Report.
By order of the Chief Commissioner of Assam,
E. A. GAIT,
Offg. Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam.
A. S. P. O. (Genl.) No. 308—500—3-10-97.