( 2 )
total deaths in the whole Province. From the Cuttack district alone, 31,805
deaths were reported, of which three-fourths occurred during the months of
August, September and October, when the insanitary conditions that super-
vened on the heavy floods must have largely conduced to the spread of the
disease. The Lieutenant-Governor notices with satisfaction that the treatment
of wells with permanganate of potash was successfully adopted in many parts
of the Province and that the people are gradually learning to appreciate this
method of disinfection.
5. Plague.—There was a rise in the mortality from plague, as com-
pared with the previous year, the number of deaths recorded being 83,602,
against 59,619 in 1906 and 126,084 in. 1905. As usual, the disease was most
prevalent from January to May. More than 90 per cent. of the total number
of deaths occurred in the Patna Division, the districts worst affected being
Saran (30,007 deaths), Patna (21,858 deaths), Shahabad (10,067 deaths) and
Gaya (7,645 deaths). Evacuation of houses continued to be the measure
chiefly relied on, and most largely resorted to, by the people themselves;
but there are indications that the prejudice against inoculation is gradually
weakening, though this measure is still regarded with disfavour by the
great mass of the people. In Calcutta 3,123 persons, and in the rest of
the Province 2,766 persons, were inoculated, as compared with 101 and
1,777, respectively, in the previous year. Chemical disinfection has prac-
tically been abandoned. Rat extermination as a preventive measure was
carried on in several places with comparative success, the incidence of plague
being less severe than in other localities where no such measures were taken.
During the year the Lieutenant-Governor convened a special conference to
consider the most appropriate lines of action in view of the experience of the
last ten years; and, as a result, a special leaflet was drawn up by the
Sanitary Commissioner and distributed, after translation into the several verna-
culars, throughout the plague affected portions of the Province. Sir Andrew
Fraser was gratified to find that in the Saran district an attempt had been made
to enlist the sympathies of the people themselves on the side of remedial measures,
by taking advantage of the new Chaukidari Union System and enrolling the
Presidents and the members of these Unions as local committees for the purpose.
His Honour would like to see similar methods adopted in this respect in other
districts, with a view to working through the local leaders of the people
themselves, and in mutual confidence.
6. Fever.—The total number of deaths from fever was 1,171,540, as
compared with 1,132,579 in 1906 and 1,214,487 in 1905. Even allowing for
the tendency to report as due to fever deaths from various other diseases the
symptoms of which cannot be correctly diagnosed by the local chaukidars, this
mortality, which represents upwards of 60 per cent. of the total deaths from
all causes, must be regarded as very serious. The districts which suffered
most were Birbhum, Purnea, Palamau, Nadia, Monghyr and Murshidabad,
which recorded a mortality, respectively, of 38.27, 36.96, 33.19, 32.38, 32.02
and 31.23 per mile. Calcutta and Puri again showed the smallest proportion of
deaths from this cause. Looking to the different Divisions, Bhagalpur now
heads the list with a ratio of deaths per thousand of 30.40, while Orissa
(12.18) as usual stands quite apart with scarcely half the average ratio for
the whole Province. The spread during the year of a malignant type of fever
like a wave over the Birbhum district calls for special investigation; and the
Lieutenant-Governor awaits the result of the enquiry which is to be made by
the Deputy Sanitary Commissioner, Metropolitan and Orissa Circle, during the
ensuing fever season. The seriously high mortality that has been reported
during successive years from the Purnea district also demands the special
attention of the Sanitary Commissioner. Among urban areas, Murshidabad has
shown the highest mortality for the last three years in succession. The
Sanitary Commissioner should, during his next visit to this town, enquire
fully into the complaint made by the Civil Surgeon that no means have been
provided for draining the pits and hollows by the side of the new railway
embankment. The anti-malarial measures referred to last year continued
to be carried on in a systematic manner at Ranaghat and Jagdispur
and in certain selected areas of the North Barrackpore Municipality.
The Lieutenant-Governor is pleased to learn that several Municipalities have,