324
[CHAP. X.
On the 3rd January the Acting Commissioner, in order to ascertain how far the
Municipality were in a position to carry their . resolutions regarding segregation, disinfec-
tion, and notification of sickness into effect, returned to Karáchi, and on the same day,
accompanied by Colonel G. G. Bainbridge, P. M. O., Mr. R. Giles, the Collector, Lieutenant-
Colonel W. G. H. Henderson, Captain H. C. L. Arnim, Deputy Sanitary Commissioner, and
Dr. S. M. Kaka, Health Officer, made a tour of inspection through the City and found that
the Municipality had not been misrepresented. The disinfection of rooms in which deaths
had occurred was most thorough, and to Dr. Kaka is due the credit of the use of perchloride
of mercury as a disinfectant throughout the operations.
But the buildings reserved as Caste Hospitals were empty ; and it was clear that only
force would fill them. To such means, however, without first trying gentler methods, the
Acting Commissioner was unwilling to resort ; and he consequently refused his sanction to
compulsory removal. Lieutenant-Colonel Clarkson now put forward a valuable suggestion.
This was to divide the City into Wards or Districts, with a Medical Officer atttached to
each for inspection of cases, and an Inspector to discover and report them ; a suggestion
which was at once acted on. These measures were soon justified by their success.
The Hindus, no longer fearful of measures of which they neither understood the
value nor perceived the use, gradually accepted both treatment and segregation. The
Collector had meetings with the Mahomedans, and gave them four Lady Doctors, and
Mahomedan Physicians, thus gradually gaining their acquiescence to these measures.
Only one instance of resistance to authority is on record. It arose from the necessity of
disinfecting a house and burning down a hut, and occurred on the 18th of January amongst
the fisher class, a class who had on previous occasions of epidemic disease proved
troublesome.
Under instructions from Government, Railway Medical Inspection was instituted on
lines laid down by the Principal Medical Officer from the 1st January 1897. But a serious
exodus, arising from the declaration of epidemic plague, greatly accentuated the clanger of
dissemination, and from the 8th January, therefore, measures for the control of arrivals and
departures were adopted and gradually developed. Civil Surgeons and Hospital Assistants
were responsible for the inspection of travellers at Karachi and all the chief Railway Stations
in Sind. On the 10th detailed orders were issued to each District Officer, directing him to
superintend the arrangements obtaining in his District and to take immediate action to
supplement and otherewise aid this organization where necessary. From the 14th January
inspections of both Up and Down trains were held at the following Stations: Kotri, Laki,
Dadu, Hyderabad, Pad Edan, Ruk, Jacobabad, Shikárpur, Sukkur Rohri, and Reti, and
on the 23rd January the Acting Commissioner reported that the Railway Medical
Inspection throughout the Province was careful and thorough. As the exodus increased,
Commissioned Medical Officers were asked for, and on the 15th February Lieutenants
N. R. J. Rainier and A. Gwyther took over charge, the former at Karáchi and the
latter at Dadu Railway Stations.
As the epidemic grew, the people deserted the infected quarter, fleeing by rail and
road and sea ; even those who remained in the town fled to the houses of their neighbours
or their friends. To cope with this, a special Police organization was required, and the
District Superintendent of Police, Mr. C. McIver, abandoning his tour at the request of
the Collector, formed, in conjunction with the General Officer Commanding, a Police and
Military Cordon between the City on one side and the Sadar Bazár Cantonments on the
other.