2
filtered water throughout the Jharia field has been administratively approved
by Government and a Mines Board of Health has been constituted for the
area. It is hoped that these measures will result in a great improvement
in the local sanitary conditions and in the public health. His Honour in
Council observes with pleasure that the use of permanganate of potash as
a preventive measure for disinfecting wells has generally become popular, and
he trusts that the use of this single and effective remedy will continue
to be encouraged.
(ii) Small-pox.—The rate of mortality from small-pox in 1913 was slightly
higher than in the previous year, but considerably below the average of
the last decade. The rise was more noticeable in urban than in rural areas,
the town which suffered most being Bhagalpur. The death rate was high-
est in the Monghyr district (.49).
The triennial report on vaccination for the years 1911-12, 1912-13,
1913-14 shows that, in spite of a large and unexplained decrease in the
number of revaccinations, which only represented 2.51 of the total number
of operations, the average number of operations performed in each year was
13,11,674 against an average of 12,76,909 in the three preceding years.
Bengal Act V of 1880, which provides for compulsory vaccination, is
now in force in the municipal towns of all districts in the province except
Sambalpur, where the Central Provinces Municipal Act gives the neces-
sary powers of compulsion. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council has
announced his intention of extending the Act to Sakchi, the settlement of
the Tata Steel and Iron Works Company in the Singhbhum District, and he
will also be glad to receive a further report from the Sanitary Commissioner
on the advisability of extending it to the Jharia Coal-field and to rural
tracts in the Patna Division. His Honour in Council notices with much
pleasure the remarkable progress in vaccination reported from the Orissa
Feudatory States, and he endorses the suggestions of the Sanitary Commis-
sioner that the attention of local bodies should be drawn to the success attend-
ing the employment in some of the states of female vaccinators to vaccinate
women of the upper classes.
The buildings of the new Vaccine Dopôt at Nankum near Ranchi are
now nearing completion, and it is hoped that the supply of vaccine for use
in Bihar and Orissa next season will be prepared there.
(iii) Fever.—The number of deaths from fever during 1913 was 6,23,556
or 18.18 per mille of the population, which is below the average of the previous
year and of the previous decade. Although no doubt credited with a large
number of deaths due to other causes, "Fever" still claims a larger number
of victims in Bihar and Orissa every year than any other of the chief causes
of mortality. The highest death rate (25.51) was in Purnea, followed by
Bhagalpur with 24.65. Gaya headed the list of towns with a death rate of
27.22 in the thousand.
During the year two Sub-Assistant Surgeons, who had been specially
trained to deliver lectures in simple language on the etiology and treatment
of malaria, were deputed to Purnea and Shahabad respectively. The Sanitary
Commissioner reports that they met with a very favourable reception, and he
anticipates that much good will result from the deputation. The sales
of quinine showed a considerable increase and it is hoped that the new system
of selling the drug in " treatments " instead of in pice-packets and bottles of
tablets will further advance its popularity.
The experiment of distributing quinine to Government servants drawing
less than Rs. 10 a month in Purnea has been discontinued in its original form,
because the absence of any serious attempt to supervise the distribution or to
co-ordinate the results obtained rendered it impossible to deduce conclu-
sions of any value as to the success of the system.