56
[chap. I., ΡT. V.
"General Department (Plague). No. 0294/6496-p. ·
Bombay Castle, 17th November 1898.
" Letter from the Government of India, Finance and Commerce Department, No. 4547-A.,
dated the 15th October 1898 :—
'In continuation of the telegram * from this Department, dated the 26th September
1898, sanctioning a grant of Rs. 10 lakhs to the Municipality of Bombay, I am directed
to say that the Accountant-General, Bombay, will be authorized to place at the disposal
of the Municipal Commissioner of Bombay for expenditure independently of the Munici-
pality on plague camps in and near the city, such further sums of money, not exceeding
in all one lakh of rupees, as the Government of Bombay may from time to time direct.
The Accountant-General will also be authorized to pass expenditure against this grant on
receipt of a weekly statement countersigned by the Plague Commissioner, showing the
total expenditure incurred. The expenditure will be adjusted in the Government books
as expenditure on plague camps by the Municipal Commissioner, for which a sub-head
will be opened under the head ' 24—Medical.'
'2. I am also to sanction a further grant for the whole of the Presidency of three
lakhs of rupees for expenditure on 'Discretional Relief, " to be incurred in the form of
grants placed at the disposal of selected officers under the authority of the Government
of Bombay. These grants will be accounted for by the spending officers in statement
countersigned by the Plague Commissioner and submitted to the Accountaut-General.
It is understood that the Government of Bombay intend shortly to issue a Resolution
laying down the definition of the expenditure and the procedure, and I am to request
that a copy of this Resolution may be furnished to the Government of India as early as
possible to enable them to communicate further instructions to the Accountant-General.
3. An additional grant of 4 lakhs of rupees during 1898-99 is sanctioned for the
purposes indicated in paragraphs 1 and 2. I am to request that in order to bring the
expenditure incurred on the accounts according to the time when it is actually incurred,
the sums issued may not take the form of large lump grants, but may be restricted to
the amounts likely to be required for expenditure during short periods.
'4. I am further to add that in modification of the orders contained in the letters
from this Department, No. 2764-A.c., dated the 21st June 1898, and No. 3183-A., ‡dated the
20th July 1898, the Government of India have been pleased to decide that expenditure
on account of the salaries, etc., of officers of Government· in various departments, including
doctors and nurses procured from England, who have been specially deputed wholly or in
addition to their own duties to plague duty, should be met after September entirely out of
the Government funds, and should not be charged directly upon the funds of Munici-
palities or Local bodies. The Accountant-General will be instructed to adjust the expen-
diture in the Government books under appropriate heads.
5. Lastly, I am to explain that the orders issued in this letter arc meant to be
independent of the consideration of the ultimate distribution of the expenditure between
General and Local and Municipal funds. The sum now sanctioned in paragraph o and the
expenditure incurred under puragraph 4 will be taken into consideration in determining the
proportion of plague expenditure to be borne by Government and the amount of aid to be
given to Local Bodies when the accounts referred to in the Government of India's letter of
22nd August are finally made up.'
Memorandum from the Financial Department of the Secretariat, No, 5028, dated the
2nd November 1898—
Forwards the above.
RESOLUTION.—The attention of the Municipal Commissioner for the City of Bombay
should be invited to paragraph 1 of the letter from the Government of India and he should
be asked to note the request made by that Government in their paragraph 3. "Very great
importance is attached to the evacuation, for longer or shorter periods according to circum-
stances, of infected houses and localities, but it is not intended that the whole of the one lakh
of rupees should be expended at once. The Municipal Commissioner should report what
* Fide Government Resolution, General Department, No. 5799, dated the 18th October 1898.
† Embodied in the preamble of Government Resolution, Financial Department, No. 3834, dated the 26th August
1898.