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infected houses and remained free, Several landlords in Kumbharwada havo begun
to see at last that inoculation does render the people immune from plague, and they
have assisted a good deal in urging their tenants to get inoculated, and have also
promised to bring their housepeople for inoculation next year. Some of these men
were distinctly against inoculation at first: so it is very pleasing to see them turn
round. Next year, with luck and if no malicious people start lying rumours, we
ought to get a very large number of inoculations.
After writing the above he added :—
Since the above report was written about 000 inoculations have been done
up to 13th June and there have been five more deaths amongst the inoculated.
Out of these 5 persons (all of whom' died of plague), 3 had been inoculated over
6 months, one 4½ months and one only 9 days. The latter was a contact like
the majority of persons whom we inoculate and probably had the disease in him
when inoculated.
A. Ward.
The hard and successful work done in A Ward is well described in
an extract from Captain Lock's report:—
In August 1899 an energetic and systematic campaign was started in this
district to popularise inoculation. In addition to· the regular staff of the district
an extra medical man was engaged to devote his whole time to the work. The
greatest interest was shown by one and all. The volunteers responded gladly to the
call of the District Officer for help in this direction. In Colaba a great impetus was
given to the work by means of local public meetings in Thomas Street, Maneckjee
Street, and Victoria Bunder. At these meetings, which were held daily, speeches were
made explaining, in the vernacular, the benefits of inoculation, and volunteers and staff
came forward and were themselves publicly inoculated as an example. In the Fort the
same means were employed. In Bazaar Gate Street at the Fountain, in Frere Road,
and in Manordas Street, largely-attended meetings were held and speeches made.
From the first the hands of the staff were full, and, although not to the extent that
was hoped, numbers became inoculated, and these numbers increased every month,
until, by the end of May 1900, 33,131 had been inoculated.
Mr. Mody and Khan Bahadur Patel, on behalf of the Farsee Pancháyet, also held
public meetings in Pitha Street, Hornby Road, aud Gunbow Street. It cannot be
said that these were met with any great success, and, as a body, the Parsee community
were dead-set against the movement. In the previous year this community, not to
any great extent, however, had been the pioneers, but this year, influenced by opposi-
tion correspondence in the newspapers, priest influence, aud exaggerated reports of
mishaps said to have followed on the operation of inoculation, they as a community
•were most backward. In my opinion the real reasons were—a fear of the in-
conveniences of inoculation, an assurance of infallibility to infection, aud a careless-
ness of risk engendered by their belief, in common with all natives, in fatalism.
In addition to these meetings well-written pamphlets in Guzerati aud Maráthi
were circulated wholesale from house to house in the streets and in all tho big working
centres and factories. The Arsenal, the printing presses, the business houses, the
mills, cotton presses, hotels, Gun Carriage Factory, and Railway Workshops—to
all these pamphlets were issued, and to the Head of these departments letters were
addressed, and under their supervision meetings held aud speeches in the verna-
culars made to the employes. These Heads of Departments backed us well and
iu some establishments inoculation, was carried out wholesale. In Messrs. Volkart
Bros. Establishment, Messrs. Treacher & Co., Watson's Hotel, Gun Carriage
Factory, Colaba Land & Mill Company, and Oriental Mills, large numbers were