NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
4
III.
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 a 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 notification of the Government of Lidia in the
Home Department, No. 302, of the 4th February 1897,
the Governor of Fort St. George in Council is pleased to
prescribe under the said Epidemic Diseases Act, and in super-
session of all regulations previously issued on the subject, the
following regulations to be observed throughout the presi-
dency except the city of Madras :—
Part I.—The Passport System and other General Precau-
tionary Measures to be adopted in all Towns and
Villages outside the Presidency Town.
Infected
area.
1, The local Government, or, subject to its control, the
Collector of a district, may issue an. order declaring that any
town, village or other area is infected with plague ; and a
copy of such order shall be notified in the next issue of the
Fort St. George or District Gazette. As a rule, only places
in which one or more indigenous cases of plague have occurred
should be so notified. The Local Government may in the
same manner notify railway stations, which, from then-
proximity to infected areas, are liable to be used by persons
leaving such areas.
Surveillance
or passport
rules.
Every
arrival from,
an infected
or notified
area bound
to obtain,
a passport
and place
himself
under
surveillance
for ten days.
2, (1) Every person arriving, or suspected of having
arrived, from any place notified under the last preceding rule
shall, unless he is exempted under rules 89 and 121 or unless
he already holds a passport or a permanent pass under rules
82-84 or unless he has been detained for the full period of in-
cubation at a road or railway inspection station or in a plague
camp, before leaving the railway station at which he has
alighted, or before disembarking from, the steamer, ship or
boat in which he has travelled, or in the case of arrival by
road either immediately on reaching a road frontier inspec-
tion station or within twelve hours from the tima of arrival
5
Part I—Rule 3.]
at any other place, obtain from the officer mentioned in
Rule 3 infra a passport in the form shown in Appendix II-A
binding him to present himself for inspection daily for the
next ten clays before the local authority of the town or village
where he may be ; and he shall be bound so to present
himself.
Definition
of "local
authority ".
(2) By a "local authority" is meant any of the follow-
ing officers : —
(a) The local medical officer ;
(b) The station-house officer ;
(c) The headman of the village ;
(d) Any person appointed by the Collector of the
district for the purpose.
In places where there is more than one local authority,
the duties of local authority shall be performed by, or with
the permission of the Collector under the orders of, the officer
who stands first in the order given in this clause, .in large
towns, such as Madura, Trichinopoly, Salem, etc., the duties
of local authorities under these rules should ordinarily be
performed by a medical subordinate and should not be left to
any lower class of officer.
Penally.
(3) Any person refusing to comply with or attempting to
evade this rule may be detained for ten days at the nearest
inspection station or other place appointed by the Collector
for the purpose in addition to being liable to the penalty
prescribed in Rule 1.00.
Note—1. This rule does not apply to passengers from a non-infected or
non-notified area who pass through an infected or notified station without
breaking journey at that station.
2. Persons who make frequent or daily journeys from, an infected
to an uninf ected area may in lieu of passports be given general passes as
laid down in Eule 84 infra.
3. The Collector, or any plague officer or assistant plague officer
not below the rank of Deputy Tahsildar may, by written order, exempt
any person from personal attendance before the local authority and may
permit him to be inspected at his residence instead. For the definition of
plague officer and assistant plague officer see Rule 103.
Passport
issuing
officers.
3, The following officers are authorized to issue
passports :—
(a) To travellers alighting at rail-
way inspection stations.
(b) To travellers alighting at rail-
way stations included within
municipal limits.
;
The medical officer in charge or
other officer acting under his
orders.
uSuch medical, sanitary or other
officer as may be appointed
by the chairman with the
Collector's approval.
6
[Part I—Rule 4.
(c) To travellers alighting at other
railway stations.
(d) To travellers arriving
by
steamer, ship or boat.
(e) To travellers arriving- by road.
The stationmaster or other officer
appointed by the Collector for
the purpose.
The
medical, sanitary or other
officer appointed to examine
such travellers.
The
medical, sanitary or other
officer appointed to examine such
travellers, or if no such officer
has been appointed, the local
authority of the place of arrival.
The Collector should arrange with the railway author-
ities at which stations the railway staff shall be required to
perform the duties connected with the issue of passports and
at which stations the Collector should make other arrange-
ments. Stationmasters requiring forms or service postage
stamps should apply to the Collectors concerned, and should use
the following designation in franking covers containing corre-
spondence connected with their passport work—" Station-
master and Honorary Plague Passport-issuing officer."
Duties of
passport-
holders.
4, Every person required by these rules to take out
a passport shall declare truly his name, address, and such
other particulars as may be required by the officer issuing
the passport. He shall, unless exempted, for ten days from
the date of the issue of the passport, daily present himself
with his passport at the appointed time before the local
authority of the place where he may be for the time being, and
shall daily obtain that officer's signature on his passport in
token of his having so presented himself. If he becomes ill
or if any sickness occurs in the house in which he is or has
been residing during the said period of ten days, he shall give
immediate information of the same to the local authority.
He shall report similarly any change in his residence occurring
within ten days from the date of the issue of the passport, and
if he changes his residence, he shall, before departure, get the
entries under headings 11 and 12 of his passport altered by
the local authority. On the expiry of the said period of ten
days, lie shall deliver up his passport to the local authority of
the place where he may then be.
Intimation
of issue of
passports.
5, Every officer issuing a passport shall immediately send
the triplicate copy of it by post, or "by special messenger
or in any other manner which the Collector may direct, to
the local authority of the place of destination of the person
passported. If the local authority of the place of destination
is not known, the triplicate copy of the passport shall be sent
7
Part I—Bule 6.]
to the tahsildar concerned for transmission to the ' local
authority. Intimation of the issue of passport need be
telegraphed only in urgent cases.
Change of
residence
during
surveillance.
6, The following procedure shall be followed in respect
to passport-holders who change their residence within the
Madras presidency within ten days of their arrival :—
(a) The local authority of the original place of arrival
shall send the triplicate copy of the passport to the local
authority of the new place of destination after noting there-
in the number of days during which the passport-holder
has been observed.
(b) If the new place of destination is in another
district, the change of residence shall also "be intimated
direct to the district medical and sanitary officer of that
district, and through the tahsildar or municipal chairman
concerned to the district medical and sanitary officer of the
original place of arrival. The intimation should contain
the following particulars :—
Passport number, date and station of issue.
Passport-holder's name and father's name.
How long observed and where.
New place of residence—District, taluq, village, street, and
number or name of the house.
The forms should be printed at the District Presses.
Duties of
local
authority
or passport
examiner.
7. The local authority of the place of destination shall
keep himself promptly informed of all arrivals from infected
or notified areas, shall report to higher authority every
arrival who is not passported, and shall see that, on the
arrival of a passport-holder, he is observed daily for ten days.
Any case of illness or death in the house in which such
passport-holder is or has been residing shall be forthwith
reported with full details to the nearest plague officer or
assistant plague officer or to the nearest medical officer.
Particular attention should be paid to eases of fever accom-
panied with acute affection of the lungs, as these symptoms
may indicate the existence of pneumonic plague. The
appearance of glandular swellings even though attended by
constitutional disturbance so slight as not to prevent the
patient moving about, the occurrence of abortion amongst
women, of convulsions amongst children and of sudden death
in the aged should be regarded as suspicious and should be
reported. After ten days, the duplicate passport shall be
recovered from the passport-holder and sent to the tahsildar.
8
[Part I—Rule 8.
9
Part I—Rule 11,]
destination, when their names may be entered in one slip.
One set of copies should be forwarded at once to the respective
destinations and the other kept for reference at the inspection
station. No such intimation is necessary in the case of
persons exempted from the passport rules under Rule 89 as
the officers to whom they arc immediately subordinate arc
responsible for their observation; but it should he forwarded
in the case of inoculated persons from infected areas who
hold valid certificates, as they are liable to be observed at their
own houses. The intimation forms will bo supplied by the
Superintendent, Government Press, to Collectors on indent,
if the guards of the trains and other railway subordinates
do not carry out the instructions given to them with regard
to the transmission oí: the names and addresses of pass-
engers, they may be prosecuted. The object of sending inti-
mation oí: arrivals from infected parts to che district medical
und sanitary officer is not merely to inform him of the move-
ments of such persons, but to enable him to see that the pass-
port-issuing officers, the local authorities, and the tahsildars
respectively carry out their duties under the passport rules.
He should maintain a register of all intimations received by
him and should see that all persons mentioned therein are
duly accounted for.
Intimation
in respect to
other
travellers.
11, In the case of persons coming from an infected or
notified area and not passing through a railway frontier
inspection station, the duty of recording the information
mentioned in Rule 9 (excepting items 7 and 8) and of
communicating it to the district medical and sanitary officer
shall devolve on the officer issuing the passport. The form
in which the information referred to should be recorded is
prescribed in Appendix II—I. Copies of the form are
supplied by the Superintendent, Government Press.
Duties of
district
medical
and sanitary
officer and
tahsildar.
12. The district medical and sanitary officer shall
forward the reports referred to in Rules 6 and 9 to the
tahsildar concerned, within whose jurisdiction the place of
destination lies, and it shall be his duty to see that the
persons mentioned in the reports are duly observed, and that
any case of sickness or death in the houses occupied by them
is promptly reported, and to bring to the Collector's notice
all instances of omission to issue passports and all attempts to
evade these regulations.
The tahsildar should file together
the reports received from the district medical and sanitary
officer (or Collector). No separate register need be maintained
by him. As soon as a passport is recovered from the
10
[Part I—Eule l8.
passport-holder under Eule 7, it should be forwarded without
delay to the district medical and sanitary officer after the num-
ber of the item in the report has been noted on it and after the
fact that the passport has been recovered has been noted
against the corresponding entry in the report.
Incapacitated
persons find
minors.
13, Tu the case of incapacitated persons and persons
who are under twelve years of age, the obligation to take out,
passports for them, to present them for daily inspections to
report truly their names and addresses, to intimate any
change in their residence, and to comply otherwise with the
requirements of these regulations shall rest on their legal
guardians or on any person in whose charge they travel
or who receives them at the railway station of destination.
Tahsildar's
duties may be
performed by
municipal
chairman
and those of
district
medical and
sanitary
officer by
Collector.
14, The term "tahsildar" in these regulations includes
deputy tahsildar. In municipalities, the tahsildar's duties
under these regulations shall be performed by the municipal
chairman. The duties of the district medical and sanitary
officer under Rule 12 may be performed by the Collector
in districts where this course is found convenient. In such
cases, the intimations referred to in Rules 6 and 9 should be
sent to the Collector.
Note.—Rules 82-90 also relate to the subject of passports and should be
referred to.
Notice io
railway
carriages
regarding
passports.
15. Every railway administration shall put up in a
conspicuous place in every railway carriage a copy of the
following notice in English and in the principal vernacular
language of the country through which the railway line
passes :—-
Notice.
The Madras plaguo regulations require all passengers arriving from
plague-infected parts to take out passports at the station where they
alight, or
(1) in the case of passengers proceeding to Madras by the North-
East line of the Madras Railway, at Bitragunta ;
(2) in the case of those arriving at Madras by the other lines of
the Madras Railway, at Perambúr ; and
(3) in the case of passengers proceeding to Méttupálaiyam or to
stations on the Nilgiri Railway, at Coimbatore.
Persons infringing the regulations render themselves liable to
prossecution,
11
Part I-Bule 16.3
Copies of Rules 1—4 shall also be hungup in English
and the vernacular in all railway stations.
Inspection
of railway
passengers.
16. (1) At or near any railway station which has been
appointed by notification in the Fort St. George Gazette to be
an inspection station, any medical officer appointed in this
behalf may detain any train and require every person travelling
therein to alight and submit himself to such medical examina-
tion as the medical officer may direct, and may for this
purpose, with the assistance, if necessary, of the police,
use such reasonable force as may be required in order to detain
such passenger either on the railway premises or in some
other suitable place which the Collector shall provide for the
purpose.
(2) All inspecting officers, male and female, at railway
inspection stations, and clerks employed at important sta-
tions such as Jalarpet should always carry with them a
note-book of a special conspicuous colour with the words
Government of Madras Plague officials' notebook " printed
on the back. A copy of the appointment order should be
attached to the note-book. Copies of the book may be
obtained from the Superintendent, Government Press, through
the Surgeon-General.
17. Every passenger shall be bound to submit himself to
examination and shall furnish the information referred to in
Eule 9 supra and any other particulars which the medical
officer or any person acting under his orders may demand.
Any person refusing to comply with this rule may be
detained for such period as may be necessary, and shall also
be liable to the penalty prescribed in Rule 100.
18. All passengers should be required to quit their carriages
and should be examined on. the platform or other suitable
place, suspicious cases being removed for more careful investi-
gation to a place reserved for the purpose. Care must be
taken that the carriages are locked before the arrival of the
train at the inspection station, and that no passenger is
permitted to leave his carriage until the arrangements for
such examination are complete.
19. Rail way administrations are required to instruct their
staff to give every assistance to the medical officers conduct-
ing the inspection in order to minimise the detention of the
trains, and to detain the trains until the medical inspection is
over. Railway ticket collectors may be allowed to accom-
pany the plague inspecting officers, if this course is found to
12
[Part I-Rule 20,
economize time. The table given in Appendix II—J shows
the time within which medical officers are required ordinarily
to complete plague inspection, and every endeavour should bo
made to complete the inspection of trains within the timo
there mentioned. If, on special occasions, the time is
exceeded, a report explaining the delay should be imme-
diately sent to the Collector for his information and for such
action as he may think necessary.
20. It is the duty of railway authorities assisted by the
platform police to see that passengers alighting at a railway
station do not leave the premises except by the proper exit,
and to afford every facility for the working of the plague
regulations. Ticket collectors should be. required to stop
all passengers holding tickets issued at infected or notified
stations until their names and ad dresses have been taken down
and passports issued to them either by the plague official ap-
pointed for the purpose, or at smaller stations, by the station
staff.
21. The inspecting officers should not only thoroughly
examine passengers aiicl passenger vehicles, but should also in
spect guards, drivers and firemen and their vans and engines,
so that no person may escape inspection. No distinction
should bo made between railway employes and others, and
before any train, whether carrying passengers or goody, leaves
the inspection station, a thorough search should bo made to
discover if any persons have concealed themselves with the
object of evading inspection.
22. If the absence of any symptoms showing a passenger
to be suffering from fever, if: is unnecessary to examine his
person for the purpose of finding out whether buboes are
présent. This practice, if it is at present enforced anywhere,
should be discontinued.
23. female passengers should, under no circumstances, be
required to be examined by men. For their inspection, one
or more nurses are attached to each inspection station.
24. After examination, all persons shall be allowed, to
proceed to their destination except—
(a) those suffering from, or suspected to be suffering
from, plague or those who have so recently
suffered from plague as to be possibly in. an
infectious state ;
(b) pilgrims or persons belonging to any other class who
appear for any reasons to be specially dangerous
13
Part I—Rule 26,3
whether travelling singly or in numbers, or
persons who cannot be depended upon to present
themselves daily for medical examination for ten
days on arrival at their destination, or to give
information should plague occur among them.
Persons coming under class (a) shall be detained until
they are cured or as long as the infection or suspicion
of plague remains. Information of such cases shall be sent
urgently to the Collector and the district medical and sanitary
officer of the district. All contacts shall also be detained for
a period of ten days from the occurrence of the last case of
plague among them.
Persons coming under class (b) may be detained at
the discretion of the medical officer till the full period of
incubation (i.e., ten days) has elapsed since they left the
infected area, or if that date is not known, for ten days.
25. Care should be taken that inspection stations are not
converted into detention camps. Any attempt at wholesale
detention will only produce evasion of inspection. Unless a
passenger shows symptoms of plague or cannot be trusted to
observe the passport rules, he should not be interfered with.
This rule applies also to road frontier inspection stations.
26. Officers in charge of plague camp should give a certi-
licate in. the form shown in Appendix JI—K to every person
discharged from the camp. In order to enable such persons
to resume their railway journey they should take the certi-
ficates to the Stationmaster and get them endorsed by him.
27, ...
28. Any person arriving ab, or passing through., an
inspection station may, at the discretion of the inspecting
medical officer, be compelled to obtain a passport in accord-
ance with Rule 2 supra and to undergo surveillanco for ten
days.
29. The inspecting medical officer may also require any
passenger to deliver up his ticket, in order that the prescribed
mark indicative of his having arrived from a plague-infected
locality or an area -notified under Rule I and therefore of
his being liable to obtain a passport at the station of desti-
nation may be impressed thereon ; and such passenger shall
be bound to deliver it up accordingly.
30. The mark thus used is a hole four-tenths of an
inch square punched in the long side of railway tickets,
14,
[Part I—Rule 31
It should be made only on the tickets of those passengers
who come, or are suspected to come, from plague-infected
areas or from places notified by Government for the pur-
poses of the passport rules. The special mark should be
made at the first inspection station at which the passenger
arrives. It is not necessary to punch his ticket again at any
subsequent inspection station through which he may pass.
but he must be medically examined nevertheless. Tickets of
persons who come from an uninfected area, or who, though
corning from an infected area, have been detained for ten days
at one of the observation camps established in the Madras
presidency, need not be so marked.
31- Care should be taken that the plague punches are
not used except by responsible persons and that they are kept
in safe custody when not in use. The officers in charge of
railway inspection stations will be held responsible for the
safe custody of the plague punches, and under their orders the
punches may be used by their assistants, but under no
circumstances by the police. The wrong punching of tickets
should be specially guarded against, as the annoyance caused
thereby and the consequent liability to take out a passport is
very great.
32. In cases where a passport has been wrongly issued
owing to erroneous plague-marking of the railway ticket, or
otherwise, the municipal chairman or any revenue officer not
below the grade of deputy tahsildar is authorized to cancel
the passport on satisfactory proof that it was wrongly issued,
33. The passport rules should be worked in such a
manner as to cause the minimum of inconvenience to gosha
women, and persons belonging to that class should, whenever
it is possible to do so, be exempted from attendance at the
hospital or elsewhere and be inspected at their own houses.
The examination of gosha women should alwavs be conducted
e/
by females, who, when not trained or duly qualified, should
work under the instructions of the local medical officer. No
fee should be charged for the inspection of passport-holders
at their own. houses.
34, With a view to facilitate the working 06 the passport
rules, railway employes holding periodical railway passes
and Government officials holding standing passes should be
required to provide themselves before departure with certifi-
cates signed by the stationmasters concerned showing the
places from which they start,