NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
APP. V.]
Measures in the City of Bombay.
295
sound sense. The measures taken may not have been so stringent
as those that would, in a European city, have gained general
support, but they are the most stringent that it was possible to under-
take without almost certainly producing a calamity more serious and
more widespread than the very terrible one that has now to be dealt
with.
9. At the same time the segregation of the healthy and the
evacuation of infected houses are recognized as desirable measures
and are being and will be carried out in so far as is possible without
leading to a general panic. '
10. My telegram No. 227-?., dated loth instant, has put you in
possession of information regarding regulations to be framed for Bom-
bay City under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. A copy of these
regulations will be sent to the Government of India as soon as they are
published.
11. The question of strengthening the building regulations and
taking enlarged powers to prevent overcrowding is one that is engag-
ing the earnest attention of Government and will be made the subject
of a separate communication to the Government of India.
No, ii.
Telegram No. 664, dated Calcutta, the 2ist February 1897.
From—The Secretary to the Government of India, Home Department,
To—The Secretary to the Government of Bombay, General Department.
Government of India having carefully considered your telegram
292-?., dated i3th, and letter 263-?., dated I2th, regarding evacu-
ation of plague-infected houses, regret that, while giving full weight
to the opinions of the Local Government in regard to the disposition
of the people, they are unable to accept view that considerations
adduced in your letter show that it is impracticable to induce people
to move from infected houses to healthy locality. This course has
been strongly recommended by the medical adviser of the Govern-
ment of India. It is only measure attacking root of evil which
appears practicable, and experience in Karachi seems to show that it
can be so introduced as not to offend the prejudices of the people
and is effectual in holding disease in check. In Bombay, on contrary,
returns show disease getting worse and worse notwithstanding large
emigration, and continuance of epidemic in its present intensity is a
standing menace to health of whole continent of India. Government
of India have previously urged that necessary preliminary to adopting
course is preparation of camp accommodation in healthy locality.
Accommodation for all native quarters of town no doubt cannot be
prepared at once, but accommodation to provide for those evicted
from some of the areas in which disease is most virulent could be
296
Measures in the City of Bombay.
[ APP. V,
quickly prepared, and fact that, as reported in your demi-official of
l0th, plague is now most prevalent in villages in north part of island,
should facilitate this being done. Governor General in Council there-
fore trusts that Bombay Government will at once take steps to provide
accommodation such as that at Karachi, and will make systematic
endeavour to remove to it people from infected houses beginning
with the worst quarters. Government of India would not desire that
measures should be taken which would cause panic or other of the
evils described in your letter, but they have no apprehension that
preparation of healthy accommodation will have any such effect, and
they think that any difficulties in inducing persons in worst quarters
to seek comparative safety in camp in healthy locality could be
removed if necessity were quietly but firmly explained. Experiment
having been started for worst quarters could then be extended.
Government of India trust that Governor in Council will earnestly
consider proposals in this telegram and will recognise that no time
must be lost in at least making a serious endeavour to carry them out.
They will be glad to be informed of the measures taken.
No 12,
No. 446-P., dated the 23rd February 1897.
From—The Secretary to the Government of Bombay, General Department,
To—The Secretary to the Government of India, Home Department.
As an ad interim reply to your wire 064 of the 21st, I communicate
following substance of a report by Snow on your similar telegram 459
of the 12th. On occurrence of plague and even previously gangs have
lime-washed places, cut off water-supply, taken off roofs, etc., hence
hundreds of houses vacated. These regularly treated and kept vacant.
Simultaneously huts have been and are being erected and every effort
made to get people into them. Huts will continue to be erected. It
will be seen that your object of removing occupants from and disin-
fecting houses has been studiously prosecuted.
Establishment of a Plague Hospital at Government
House, Parel Bombay.
No. 13.
No. 461-P., dated Bombay Castle, the 23rd February 1897.
From—J. DEC. ATKINS, Esq., Secretary to the Government of Bombay,
General Department,
To—The Secretary to the Government of India, Home Department.
I am directed to report as follows for the information of the
Government of India. Some time ago Government House, Parel,
APP. V. ]
Measures in the City of Bombay.
297
Bombay, with its subsidiary buildings and compound, was placed by
His Excellency the Governor at the disposal of the Municipal Com-
missioner, Bombay, for any use he might think fit to put it to in con-
nection with operations against the plague. Before the house was
appropriated for any other purpose, Brigadier-General Gatacre, who
commands the Bombay District, undertook, if funds were found, to
organize and establish a hospital for plague patients therein. With
the concurrence of the Municipal Commissioner this offer was accepted
by the Bombay Government. Within a very short time General
Gatacre has succeeded in organizing and establishing the hospital
Surgeon-Major Hewett,
Army Medical Staff.
Surgeon-Captain Thom-
son, Indian Medical Ser-
vice.
Assistant Surgeon Mul-
iins.
Two Hospital Assistants.
and it is now in working order. Ward order-
lies and attendants are supplied by volunteers
from native regiments, nursing sisters from the
St. Joseph's Convent at Bandora, and the
Medical Staff as named in the margin has
been lent to the Bombay Government by the
Military authorities.
I am to express the grateful acknowledgments of His Excellency
the Governor in Council to His Excellency Lieutenant-General Nairne
for his assistance in lending the staff noted above, and I am to request
that the arrangement may be confirmed by the Government of
India.
3. The hospital will be of the very greatest use. It is already
supplied with 150 cots, and this number may be added to later. To
General Gatacre the thanks of His Excellency the Governor in
Council are in a special degree due both for the offer of assistance and
for the energy he has thrown into the undertaking. He spared
himself no trouble, and the result will be an unquestionable benefit to
the city.
4. The funds requisite for this hospital are being provided in the
first instance by the Bombay Government ; its management will be
controlled by a committee consisting of—•
Brigadier-General W. Gatacre, C.B.
Surgeon-Colonel Hughes, Principal Medical Officer, Bombay
District.
Lieutenant Farwell, R.E., Executive Engineer, Military Works,
Bombay District.
5. I am to add that His Excellency the Governor in Council
anticipates great indirect benefit from a measure which brings the
Military into touch with the Civil authorities in organizing measures
for preventing the spread of the plague, for it is not improbable that
the Civil authorities may before long be driven to seek considerable
assistance at the hands of the Military.
b 38
298
Measures in the City of Bombay.
[ APP. V.
No. 14.
No. 887, dated Calcutta, the 9th March 1897.
From—J. P. HEWETT, Esq., C.I.E., Secretary to the Government of India,
Home Department,
To—The Secretary to the Government of Bombay, General Department.
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 461,
dated the 23rd February 1897, reporting for the information of the
Government of India, the arrangements made for the establishment
and maintenance of a plague hospital at Government House, Parel,
Bombay.
In reply I am to say that the Governor General in Council is glad
to confirm the arrangements and that His Excellency in Council has
read with pleasure the acknowledgment of General Gatacre's services
expressed by the Government of Bombay.
APPENDIX VI.
MEASURES IN THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY AND SIND.
PAPER
Nos.
I.
2.
3—5-
6-7.
CONTENTS.
Report on Poona by the late Mr. W. C. Rand,
Report on.Sind by Mr. Wingate, Acting Com-
missioner.
.
.
,
.
,
.
Other papers regarding Karachi .
General Remarks on the disinfection of Houses.
PAGES.
301—357
358—410
411—417
4I9-435
APPENDIX VI.
MEASURES IN THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY
AND SIND.
*Report on Poona by the late Mr. W. C. Rand.
No. 1.
I have the honour to submit, for the information of Government,
a report on the measures that have been taken to suppress and prevent
the spread of bubonic plague within the limits of the City and Suburban
Municipalities of Poona and the Poona Cantonment. The operations
against the plague are not concluded at the time of writing this report,
which deals with the measures taken up to May 2oth, 1897. My
report is divided into 16 sections, the contents of which are specified
below :—
I.—Introductory.
II-The plan of campaign.
III.—Work of the military search, disinfection and segrega-
tion parties in Poona City.
IV.—Plague work performed by Municipal agency in
Poona City.
V.—Conservancy in Poona City.
VI.—Work in Poona Cantonment.
VII.—Work in Poona suburban limits.
VIII.—Work in villages round Poona.
IX.—Hospital.
X.—Segregation camps.
XI.—Plague and mortality statistics and death registration
arrangements.
XlI.—Inspection of in-comers and out-goers.
XIII.—Inoculation.
XIV.—The troops employed.
XV.—Financial.
XVI.— Conclusion.
* The Appendices to this Report have not been printed.
302
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ APP. VI.
I.—INTRODUCTORY.
The outbreak of bubonic plague with which I have to deal in this
report is the first that has occurred in Poona within the memory of
living man, while of the occurrence there of a similar epidemic in
former times I am not aware of any authentic record. At the time
of the present outbreak the disease was quite unknown to the inhab-
itants of this part of India.
2. There is little doubt that the primary cause of the plague
epidemic from which Poona has suffered was the introduction from
Bombay into Poona of plague-infected passengers and property.
The causes which enabled the disease after its introduction to take
a firm root in Poona were—
(1) the existence of insanitary condition which enabled the
disease to find a home ;
(2) the omission to take in due time the measures necessary to
stay its progress.
3. I possess no reliable information of the date of the first
coming of the plague to Pocna. The first cases reported were those
of two passengers from Bombay who were found at Poona railway
station suffering from plague on October 2nd, 1896. Though persons
suffering from plague may have and probably did come-to Poona
before that date, there is no reason to suppose that they came in
considerable numbers, and for practical purposes the disease may be
deemed to have first appeared at the beginning of October 1896.
The first indigenous cases of plague which are known to have occurred
were reported in Poona City on 3oth December 1896. The disease
spread rapidly over Poona in January 1897, by the end of which
month it had taken a firm hold of the city.
4. The first measure adopted for the protection of Poona from
the plague was the appointment of a medical man on September 3oth,
1896, to watch passengers from Bombay at the Poona railway
station. At the same time sheds were erected near the Sassoon
Hospital for the reception of plague patients. There was at that time,
however, no legal means of compelling sufferers to go to the sheds
against their will. From October special attention was paid to the
general conservancy of Poona City, but till January 1897 no applica-
tion was made by the City Municipality for special powers to deal
with the disease. At a meeting held on January I3th, 1897, the City
Municipality took, into consideration the question of obtaining special
powers under section 73 of Bombay Act, VI of 1873, for the suppres-
303
APP. VI. ] Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind.
sion of the bubonic plague, and regulations under that section were
finally sanctioned by the Commissioner, Central Division, for Poona
City on January 29th. An Assistant Health Officer had in the mean-
while been told off for plague duty on the 25th of that month. At the
beginning of February the Sanitary Commissioner for the Government
of Bombay directed Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones to proceed to Poona
and take charge of the office of the Deputy Sanitary Commissioner,
Central Registration District, as he considered that an officer of some
standing was required to assist and guide the Poona City Municipality
in their efforts to put an end to the outbreak. His proceedings were
approved in Government Resolution No. 689 of 9th February 1897,
General Department, Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones having in the
meanwhile arrived at Poona on February 8th. From that day till my
arrival he exercised a general control over such operations as were
in progress.
5. By Government Resolution No. 1134 of 10th February 1897,
Revenue Department, I was appointed to be Assistant Collector,
Poona, and to have charge of the operations against plague in Poona City,
I assumed charge of my appointment on February 19th. My first duty was
to ascertain the extent to which the disease had already spread. On
examining the current death register of the Poona Municipality and
the mortality returns for previous years, I discovered that the mortality
of the city had been growing at an alarming rate since the beginning
of January. I learnt that there was no abnormal sickness in the
city other than plague, and I came to the conclusion that the epidemic
was far more widely spread than the municipal returns of plague
attacks and plague deaths indicated. In my letter No. 3 of 2oth
February 1897, to the Collector of Poona, I suggested that Collectors
and Political Agents in the Bombay Presidency should be informed
that bubonic plague was firmly established in Poona with a view to
their dissuading persons residing in their charges from visiting that
city. On the same day in my letter No. 6 to the Collector I pointed
out that Poona had become a very dangerous plague centre and
suggested the making of additional arrangements for the examination
of passengers proceeding by rail from Poona to unaffected parts of
India. Orders for the examination of passengers by rail at Dhond
and Rajewadi were finally issued by Government in Government
Resolution No. 1235/728-P of 6th March 1897, General Department.
6. After bringing the dimensions of the epidemic to the notice
of higher authority, I engaged in the preparation of a scheme for
eradicating the plague from Poona City, in which task I was assisted
by Surgeon-Captain VV. W. O. Beveridge, A.M.S., who was posted to
304
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ APP. VI.
Poona as my special assistant for plague purposes by Government
Resolution No. 1009/480-P._ of 24th February 1897, and joined his appoint-
ment on 23rd February 1897. Up to the time of Surgeon-Captain
Beveridge's arrival, the use of anything but civil agency for dealing
with the epidemic had not been considered. That officer, however,
who had had considerable experience of the plague in Hong-kcmg
and the methods adopted there for stamping it out, formed a decided
opinion that the help of soldiers would be desirable in Poona, espe-
cially for the purposes of searching for sufferers from the plague, their
removal to suitable hospitals, and the disinfection of plague-infected
houses. His views were embodied in a report dated 25th February
1897, which I forwarded to Government with my No. 54 of 2yth
February 1897. At the same time I submitted to Government a draft
set of rules under Act III of 1897, which I considered would be needed
if the plague was to be effectually dealt with in Poona City. The
advisability of employing British soldiers to make house-to-house
inspection in the cantonment as well as in the city was brought
to the notice of Government in the Collector's No, 2465 of 28th
February 1897. In that letter Mr. Lamb expressed the following
opinion :-—
The aid of the soldiers is needed because the men are available, they are
disciplined, they can be relied on to be thorough and honest in their inspection,
while no native agency is available, or could be relied on if it were.
7. It was finally decided that volunteers should be called for
from the British and Native armies to assist in the work of stamping
out the plague, and a committee was appointed by Government
Resolution No. 1272/765-P. of 9th March 1897 for the purpose of carrying
out under the orders of Government the measures to be taken to
suppress and prevent the spread of bubonic plague within the limits
of the City and Suburban Municipalities of Poona and the Poona Can-
tonment. Powers to enable the Committee to perform the duties
entrusted to it were conferred by the same rules. Additions to and
modifications in these rules have been subsequently made by Govern-
ment Resolutions Nos. 1810/126-P.of 2nd April-21*- of 2 4 th April, 2396/1861-P.
of 3rd May, and 2501-A./1388-P. of I2th May 1897. The Committee as con-
stituted on March 9th consisted of myself as Chairman, and Lieuten-
ant-Colonel C. R. Phillipps, I.S.C., and Surgeon-Captain W. W. O.
Beveridge, A.M.S., as members. On June 3rd, 1897, Lieutenant-
Colonel Phillipps who had been obliged by ill-health to take leave to
England, ceased to be a member of the Committee (vide Government
Resolution No. 3081/2293-P. of 3rd June 1897).
3*93-*.
.,•
APP. VI. ] Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind.
305
8. Prior to the appointment of the Plague Committee, a General
Plague Hospital had been erected at the Sangam to which the plague
patients at the Sassoon Hospital had been removed. Considerable
progress had been made in the construction of a general segregation
camp on the Shankarshet Road and sanction had been accorded to the
construction of plague hospitals by members of the Hindu and
Musalman communities, and in the case of the latter community of a
segregation camp as well. Surgeon-Major J. P. Barry, who had
been appointed by Government Resolution No. 876/346-P. of 17th Febru-
ary 1897, to do duty in the city of Poona, had arrived on the 27th of
that month and had been placed by me in charge of the general
conservancy of the city and also entrusted with the supervision of
segregation camps and plague hospitals.
9. As already stated the Plague Committee was invested with
authority over Poona City, Poona Suburban Municipal district and
Poona Cantonment. The area and population of each of these is given
below :-—
Name of district.
Poona City
...
...
Poona Suburban limits
Poona Cantonment
...
TOTAL
Area in square
miles.
4'9
375
4'25
I2'9
Population (by
Census of 1891).
118,790
7.506
35,094
161,390
REMARKS.
Includes persons trav-
elling by rail.
In the accompanying map (Appendix 1) the boundaries of these
three districts are shown, and the situations of the principal places
connected with the operations are indicated.
II.—THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.
Before describing the measures taken by the Plague Committee
to perform its appointed task, measures which were perhaps the most
drastic that had ever been taken in British India to stamp out an epi-
demic, it is advisable to give some account of the circumstances which
in the Committee's opinion rendered them necessary.
2. By the end of February 1897 the bubonic plague had got a
firm hold of the city of Poona. Spreading from Bombay where it had
originated in September 1896 or earlier, it had established itself in
Karachi, Bandra and other places as well as in Poona. The measures
taken to dislodge it from places where it had once obtained a footing
had been everywhere unavailing. In none of these places had the
b 39
3°6
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ APP. VI.
compulsory segregation of the sick, much less of the apparently healthy,
inmates of infected houses been systematically enforced. On the
other hand, the large cities of Surat and Ahmedabad had been kept
almost entirely free from plague, though they had been flooded with
refugees from Bombay just as Poona had been. In Surat and Ahmed-
abad, however, the segregation of the plague-stricken had been enforced
as far back as October 1896. There was, it is true, no Indian
example of the suppression by strong measures of an epidemic of
plague which had established itself in a large town, but the possibility
of so suppressing the disease had been demonstrated at Hong-kong in
1894. It was certain that if the plague was not to be allowed to run
its course but was to be stamped out of Poona, stringent measures
would have to be taken.
3. It was moreover palpable to every one that the measures so far
taken in Poona had been utterly unavailing to stay the course of the
epidemic. The state of the city was one of panic. A large propor-
tion of the leading men of the place had already left or were preparing
to leave Poona on account of the outbreak. Several of the Municipal
Commissioners and Honorary Magistrates were among the deserters.
The majority of the Gujrathi and Marwadi traders were closing their
shops and returning to their native countries. The mass of the
people were as a natural consequence of their ignorance opposed to
segregation either of the sick or of apparently healthy persons who
had been exposed to infection. Most of the influential men left in
the town declared themselves in favour of the principle of segregation,
but their ideas on the subject were generally crude and few if any of
them were reconciled to the application of it to persons of their own
position in life. Another fact to be reckoned with was that a section
of the Brahmin community, including some of the most influential
men in the city, were disinclined to support any measures that eman-
ated from an official source, and were more likely than not to work
against any operations that might be set on foot by Government to
deal with the emergency.
4. An important factor too in the situation was the state of the
labour market. Many labourers were leaving the town on account of
the epidemic, and, owing to the panic that prevailed, those who
remained could not be relied on to work regularly especially if there
was an element of danger in the work to be done. It was therefore
difficult to carry on limewashing and other measures of disinfection
on a large scale with private labour. Under these circumstances it
would have been unsafe to attempt to carry out any extensive opera-
tions against the plague without a disciplined and reliable agency. It