NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
42 •
[Part VI—Rule 126.
126. The following reports and returns are sent by the
Government of Madras to the Government of India : —
(a) An ordinary telegram every Monday showing
separately the number of seizures and deaths
from plague during the week ending with the
previous Saturday (i) in the presidency town,
(ii) in towns of 50,000 or more inhabitants, (iii)
in the rest of the district, and (iv) in all ports of
the presidency.
(b) Special telegraphic reports whenever plague extends
to any new district or important place.
(c) A monthly return showing daily plague seizures and
deaths in each district during the previous month,
to be despatched with a brief narrative of any
events of importance in connection with plague,
so as to reach the Government of India not later
than the 7th of each month.
(d) A special report by letter when a district or town of
over 50,000 inhabitants previously included in the
weekly returns is considered or declared to be
entirely free from plague. Copies of this report
are circulated to all Local Governments and
Administrations and all Political officers.
127. To enable the Local Government to prepare the
monthly narrative required by the Government of India,
Collectors of districts affected with indigenous plague will
forward on the 25th of every month a concise report on plague
in their districts, showing whether the disease is increasing
or decreasing, what measures have been taken to suppress it
and with what degree of success, the attitude of the people, the
readiness with which they permit segregation of the sick and
contacts, or with which they evacuate houses of their own
accord, whether they accept treatment or desire inoculation,
what steps they are taking to help themselves and any other
matters of interest. This report should reach Government not
later than the 27th of the month to which it relates. When-
ever a place previously included in the list of infected areas
is considered to be entirely free from plague, the Collectors
concerned should report the fact to Government so that it
may be removed from the list. This report should state
the date of the last case and should certify that no plague
patients remain under treatment and that all necessary
measures of disinfection have been taken.
Part VI—Rule 128.]
43
128. Each Collector should keep in his office a plague
record, to which officers on plague duty in his district should
be requested to contribute brief notes on any matter they may
consider of importance in perfecting measures a.gainst the
disease, or desirable of being placed on record with a view to
adding force to theories already assented to, or controverting
them from(l) an administrative, (2) medical, or (3) sanitary
point of view. Weekly extracts from this record of the
portion bearing on sanitation should be sent to the Sanitary
Commissioner.
129. In the event of recrudescence of plague in any town
or village which has been free from the disease for any length
of time, particular efforts should be made by the local officiais
to ascertain whether any definite facts bearing on the probable
cause or source of re-infection are available, and a special
report should be submitted by the Collector to Government
through the Sanitary Commissioner. Information sufficiently
reliable and relevant to be of value will be communicated to
the Government of India.
130. The amildars and deputy amildars in charge of
taluqs and sub-taluqs of Mysore which border on British
districts are required to give immediate information of the
occurrence of plague within their jurisdiction direct to the
tahsildars of the neighbouring British taluqs, and deputy
commissioners have been requested to keep the Collectors of
adjoining British districts promptly informed of the occurrence
of plague in the neighbouring districts in Mysore. Collectors
of British districts bordering on Mysore should arrange to
give similar information direct to the officials of the darbar.
Similar arrangements are in force with regard to districts
bordering on the Nizam's Dominions. A system of inter-
communication among the Sanitary Commissioners of the
various provinces has been sanctioned by the Government
of India with regard to news about the progress of plague.
Under this system, the appearance of plague should be
telegraphed at once by the Sanitary Commissioner in whose
area cases occur to the other Sanitary Commissioners on
receipt of a report of a first case in taluqs and important
towns.
Plague
correspond,
ence.
131. All correspondence about plague should be addressed
to the Secretary to Government, Local and Municipal depart-
ment, and should be marked with the word ' Plague ' in red
ink on the outside covers and on the left-hand corner of the
papers. Telegrams should be addressed to " Madras ; Plague,"
44
Part VI-Rule 132
All communications, except reports or returns on printed
forms, should be forwarded with a docket, sheet, copies of
which are supplied by the Superintendent, Government Press.
132. All references regarding account matters should
be addressed to, or forwarded through, the Accountant-
General.
133. Plague correspondence should be entered in a separate
current register, and the papers shown against a new item
' Plague ' in the quarterly business returns. A separate series
of numbers should be given to the disposals, and the question
of destroying or retaining them should be dealt with in
accordance with Board's Proceedings, 'No. 101, dated 18th
April 1898. As regards passports, however, they are of
no use after the expiration of the ten days' period of observa-
tion and may then be destroyed except in cases where they
are required or likely to be required in connection with any
prosecution or for any special purpose. In Appendix II—P
is given a list of plague records showing when each item may
be destroyed.
134, Copies of printed Government orders relating to
plague matters need not ordinarily be supplied to medical
subordinates, sanitary inspectors or chairmen of unions, or to
each member of a municipal council. Where necessary, district
circulars embodying the purport of the Government orders
should be issued to subordinate officers. Spare copies of
Government orders are at present distributed in accordance
with the statement printed as Appendix II—Q.
135. Copies of all important orders passed by the Govern»
ment in regard to the prevention and suppression of plague
will be supplied from the Government office to the Deputy
Adjutant-General, Madras Command, and the General officers
-Commanding Districts, who should also be furnished by Collec-
tors with similar orders issued by themselves.
136. The Superintendent, Government Press, should
supply all Collectors with the required number of copies
of notifications of lists of piague-infected areas for circula-
tion with District Gazettes. Yernacular translations of these
notifications may be prepared and issued by the Collectors
themselves.
Plaguo
appoint-
ments.
137. All appointments on account of plague require the
sanction of Government. In the case of appointments which
are added to an existing establishment in consequence of
extra work occasioned by plague, and the cost of which is
under the standing orders debitable to the ordinary service
Part VI—Rule 188.]
45
heads, the application for sanction should be forwarded with
the prescribed proposition statement through, the head of the
administrative department concerned. No proposition state-
ments are necessary in the case of temporary appointments
which are not additions to existing establishments and which
have been created solely on account of plague. Appointments
sanctioned without reference to limit of time require renewal
of sanction every six months.
138. Collectors should submit every month a printed list
of officers of all classes, including troops, employed on plague
duty, in accordance with the instructions contained in Plague
Commissioner's Proceedings, No. 762, dated 22nd November
1898, No. 1047, dated 28th December 1898, and G.O., No.
1504-P., dated 17th October 1899, and No. 656, dated
7th March 1899. The Inspector-General of Police should
prepare similar lists of all police engaged in plague work,
and the Surgeon-General should also submit a return showing
all medical officers on plague duty and all temporary doctors
obtained from England, with their stations, pay and allow-
ances. The lists should be submitted not later than the 5th
of each month and should be distributed as follows :—
One copy to the Chief Secretary to Government,
Financial department.
Three copies to the Secretary to Government, Local and
Municipal department.
Two copies to the Accountant-General,
One copy to the Sanitary Commissioner.
The lists need not be reprinted every month, any minor
alterations being made in manuscript.
Allowances.
139. The charge of plague operations in an infected district
must be regarded as part of the general duty of an executive
officer. No encouragement should be given to an impression
that duty connected with the plague involves greater risks or
is deserving of more favourable treatment than attendance in
the infectious wards of a hospital or in a camp afflicted with
cholera, which is accepted as part of the officer's ordinary
duty. Save in exceptional cases no recommendation should
be made for the grant of special salary, allowance or pension
for plague duty.
140. The Government of India have, however, author-
ised the grant of special allowances to medical officers for
plague duty performed in addition to their ordinary work
in cases where it is sufficiently arduous to deserve special
remuneration. The Local Government may also sanction
46
[Part
VI—Eule 141.
local allowances to officers of other classes provided their plague
work lies entirely outside the ordinary and legitimate duties of
their offices. The Secretary of State has also sanctioned
the grant of extraordinary pension to the families of police
men who die of plague contracted in the execution of their
duties in plague-stricken localities, provided such duties entail
imminent risk from plague.
141. The special allowances given to certain classes of
officers for plague duty and the salaries attached to specia.
temporary appointments created on account of the plague
are shown in Appendix II—E. and II—S. All questions
relating to the grant of such allowances should be referred
for the orders of Government.
Plague
expedniture
and accounts.
142. No expenditure in connection with plague establish
ments or for the carrying out of works shall be incurred
without the previous sanction of Government. Collectors
are, however, authorised to incur, subject to the existence
of budget provision, expenditure on the following items in
connection with plague preventive measures :—
(1) Petty repairs to sheds up to a limit of Es. 250 in
each case.
(2) Compensation for destruction of grain, clothes,
roofs of houses, &c.
(3) Entertainment of temporary servants on daily
wages for short periods for disinfection purposes
or for attendance upon stray plague cases in
out-of-the-way places.
(a) Purchase of fuel and tacks for disinfecting
machines.
143. All Collectors, the Surgeon-General, the Inspector-
General of Police, and the Sanitary Commissioner
are required to submit quarterly estimates of plague ex-
penditure. These estimates should be forwarded direct to
the Financial department so as to reach their destination
not later than the 5th of the first month of each quarter.
The estimate submitted by the Surgeon-General should
include provision for all medical officers, nurses, &c. (if any)
who have been sent out by the Secretary of State and are
temporarily attached to hospitals, &c., in Madras prior to
their being posted to duties in connection with plague work.
144. In order to enable Government to obtain an approxi-
mately correct revised estimate of plague expenditure for
inclusion in the preliminary edition of the civil budget
estimate which is forwarded to the Government of India, the
Part VI-Rule 145.]
47
estimate for the third quarter shall be submitted so as to
reach its destination on the 5th November instead of the 5th
October and shall show (1) actual expenditure up to the
31st October, (2) estimate for November and December, (3)
estimate for the last quarter of the official year, and (4) total
estimate for the year. This estimate shall be accompanied
by an estimate for the ensuing official year based on the
conditions existing at the time of framing the estimate.
This latter estimate need not provide for each quarter of
the year separately.
145. The estimates shall cover all plague charges—direct
and indirect—under provincial, local, municipal, and canton-
ment funds. Provision shall be made therein for require-
ments based on conditions existing at the time of framing
the estimates.
146. Collectors, chairmen of municipal councils and other
officers should see that plague expenditure is kept as near as
possible to the latest plague estimates sanctioned by Gov-
ernment. If they find that their estimates as passed by
Government are inadequate, it is their duty to apply for extra
grants at once. It should be clearly understood by all
officers that expenditure can be incurred only against the
quarterly allotments passed by Government, and that although
it is not the intention that plague operations should cease
because it is found that the allotment is being exceeded in
any quarter, the officer concerned will be held responsible
that proper supervision is exercised over the expenditure and
that application is made for a further grant immediately it
becomes apparent that funds are becoming exhausted. In
any case, therefore, where the expenditure is found to exceed
the latest sanctioned estimate, the officer concerned should
report the fact to Government and should state also whether
the amount exceeds the provision made in the annual budget.
Balancea arising from the fact that the quarterly estimates
do not utilize fully the allotments existing in their sanctioned
annual budgets shall not be utilized for non-plagno purposes.
147. Collectors can themselves effect transfer of funds
from one detailed head to another under the same minor head,
and, subject to budget provision, they may also sanction all
deviations and excesses in estimates previously sanctioned by
Government up to a limit of 5 per cent, of the total amount
of each estimate. In the case of urgent works and repairs
costing us. 25 or less, estimates may be dispensed with pro-
vided the bills are passed by the Collector, and the usual
48
[Part
VI—Rule 148,
certificates are furnished by the officers responsible for the
work being properly carried out.
148. Forms of estimates will be printed and supplied
by the Accountant-General. No changes shall be made in the
form without the approval of the Financial department. The
figures for each municipality shall be given separately.
149. Bach municipality shall bear its own plague charges.
As regards district boards, the measures adopted in frontier
districts proper, i.e., those districts which adjoin plague-
stricken areas outside the Madras presidency, not only benefit
those districts themselves as being nearest the seat of infection,
but also protect other portions of the presidency as well.
This condition is also fulfilled, in some measure, by districts
in which railway inspection stations have been established
by notification in the Fort St. George Gazette. Expenditure
incurred by district boards in such districts on plague
preventive measures is therefore distributed by Government
in the ratio of one-third in frontier districts proper and of one-
fourth in railway inspection districts against the district in
which the expenditure is incurred, the remaining two-thirds
or three-fourths, as the case may be, being contributed by
the other districts of the presidency rateably to their annual
receipts as shown in their budget estimates for the year. The
budget estimates shall, however, provide for the gross
expenditure to be incurred by each district board, credit
for the contribution being taken subsequently on advice from
the Accountant-General.
150. Many district board or municipality finds its funds
unequal to the burden of plague charges, it shall revise its
budget by omitting all avoidable expenditure, and in the last
resort may apply for an advance from provincial funds or for
a loan from the Government of India. Care shall be taken
that advances granted by Government to local bodies to meet
plague expenditure are applied to the precise purposes for
which the advances were made, and are not utilized to relieve
their ordinary funds of expenditure on sanitary, medical and
other objects.
151. The clothing specified in Rule 109 will be supplied
to the troops regimentally ; and as soon as it has been issued,
and the bill countersigned by the Collector, the military
department will debit the cost to the civil department
in the exchange account rendered by the Controller of
Military Accounts to- the Accountant-General, who will make
Part VL-Rule 152.]
49
the necessary adjustments and recover the amount from the
local body concerned.
152. The Accountant-General shall submit monthly state-
ments of charges—direct and indirect—under provincial and
local (audited) and under municipal, and cantonment
funds, together with summaries under each head show-
ing totals to date and the latest grants for each district.
These statements shall also include all expenditure incurred
in connection with the plague which has not been brought to
hook as direct or indirect, e.g., the emoluments of officers and
establishments forming part of existing departments or ser-
vices and not replaced by substitutes, but exclusively engaged
on plague duties, and shall reach Government early in the
month succeeding that in which the accounts are received by
the Accountant-General.
153. Appendix II—T shows the proper classification of
charges commonly incurred in connection with plague :
(i) " Direct" plague expenditure means expenditure
exhibited in the Government accounts under the head 24-D.
MEDICAL—Grants for Medical Purposes-Expenses in connec-
tion 'with Bubonic Plague. "Indirect" plague expenditure
means extra expenditure due to plague but brought to account
ander the ordinary appropriate service heads.
(ii) The amount of indirect plague expenditure is
therefore not ascertainable from the ordinary provincial and
incorporated local fund accounts and special statements are
prepared in the course of audit by the Accountant-General
in the case of expenditure from general revenues and by the
treasury officer in the case of expenditure from incorporated
local funds.
(iii) To facilitate the preparation of these statements
all officers who draw bills for indirect plague expenditure
should write conspicuously at the head of each such bill,
beside the account head, the word PLAGUE in red ink.
If only some of the items in a bill are indirect plague
charges, the word PLAGUE should be written against each
such item instead of at the head of the bill.
(iv) It is to be noted that pay and allowances of officers
and establishments forming part of existing departments or
services whose employment 011 plague duty does not involve
the payment of salaries to other persons for the performance
of their legitimate duties (even though they may be exclusively
engaged on plague duties) and not receiving extra allowances
on account of plague, do not constitute indirect plague
G
50
[Part VI.—Rule 154.
charges (and oí course are not direct plague charges) because
they do not involve extra expense. A statement should be
forwarded to the Accountant-General by the 20th of each
month showing the pay and allowances, drawn in the
previous month, of officers and establishments so employed.
(v) From the above it will be seen that the distinc-
tion between direct and indirect plague expenditure affects
the accounts of incorporated local funds expenditure and
provincial expenditure. As regards excluded local funds
this distinction is unnecessary and all extra expenditure, i.e.)
expenditure which would not have been incurred but for the
occurrence or imminence of plague may be shown under the
head Plague.
(vi) Contingent expenditure on account of plague, e.g.,
stationery, postage, telegrams, office furniture and such like
should be charged against the heads of account to which tbe
salaries of the officers incurring such expenditure are debited.
In regard to establishments newly entertained to deal with
plague, the principle that officers of superior grades should
be charged to PEOVINCIAL, and those of inferior grades to
LOCAL, should be applied. With regard to establishments
dependent on officers newly entertained to deal with plague,
the principle that the charge should follow the pay of the
officer on whom the establishment is dependent should hold
both in regard to establishments and contingencies. The
cost of tents supplied to officers on plague duty will follow
the debit of the pay of the officers.
154. Fines recovered in prosecutions under the plague
regulations should be credited to fines under Law and
Justice.
51
APPENDIX 1.
NOTES ON CERTAIN MATTERS CONNECTED WITH PLAGUE.
(1) General Remarks.
1. In dealing with an outbreak of plague, a combination
of the following measures is likely to produce the maximum
of good :—
(a) The prompt discovery and isolation of every case
of plague.
(b) The thorough disinfection of the personal effects,
clothes, and houses of patients.
(c) The segregation and inoculation of contacts.
(d) The removal and destruction by burning of plague-
infected rats, and the disinfection of the houses in which
they are found.
Of these four measures the first is the most important
because it is only at the commencement of an outbreak that
the remaining three measures can be carried oat with success
and with reasonable expenditure. When once the plague
has obtained a footing in a large place or has spread to a
number of villages it will be found very difficult to apply the
measures of isolation, disinfection and segregation. The
policy to be adopted at a particular place will depend, on its
physical features, the season of the year, the general senti-
ment and state of education of the people in regard to plague
measures, the strength of the staff available 5 and the influence
of the local authorities.
2. In the larger places, i.e., towns with a population of
more than 10,000, the measures that will be found most
applicable are disinfection, inoculation, the evacuation of
specially infected quarters, and (so long as infection has not
spread through the town) the isolation of the sick. In villages,
the chief measure to be relied on is evacuation, but inoculation
and chemical disinfection should also be resorted to so long as
there is sufficient staff to supervise those measures. Evacua-
tion in both towns and villages should be conjoined with an
opening up of houses sufficient for the admission of sunlight