32
[CHAP. I., ΡT. III.
from the experience recently gained by the evacuation of the town and the residence of the
population outside in sheds and other temporary accommodations, Camp-life has been proved
to be much healthier than that of the infected locality of the town."
Ahmednagar :— *
"The general health of the population (apart from plague) after evacuation both in the
Districts and in the Cantonment and the City of Nagar had considerably improved by living
out in the open.
2. Camping out in the open in very cold weather must have been uncomfortable, but
there can be very little doubt that for one person injured thereby, nine must have been benefited.
Even persons suffering from chronic affections are said to have improved in health ; and my
own experience is that one is less likely to catch colds in the open than in houses."
Sholápur :— †
" Dr. Muat reports that though he is of opinion that the general health of the popula-
tion of Sholápur after evacuation improved, yet he cannot support his opinion by statistics.
In general terms all that I find it possible to say in answer to the question is, that,
under suitable and favourable circumstances, Camp-life is more healthy than house-life ;
pure air, free light and ventilation, and comparative cleanliness and sanitation being the
operative factors."
Also—
" In my experience the general health of the people in Camps has been good, with the
exception of the period of the rains, about July and August, when the death-rate amongst
women in child-birth was excessively high in some villages."
Thána: — ‡
"I have consulted those officers in this District who know most about evacuation, and
they tell me what I should have thought was the case that during the latter half of the
cold and the whole of the hot season, life in the fields has proved healthier for the people
than life in the villages. They suffer, it is true, discomfort from cold and heat ; but in the
vast majority of cases their health is not injuriously affected. It is, on the contrary, improved
by their breathing a purer air than exists in their dirty stuffy houses."
Panch Maháls :— §
"In my experience, which is confirmed by the views of the divisional and táluka officers
in whose charge plague has been prevalent in this District, the general health of the population
(apart from plague) after evacuation has been consistently good. Life in Camps or in Huts in
the fields has proved as healthy as life in the villages, probably indeed more so, except that
the cold this year, which has been more severe than usual, must have been a good deal felt ;
however, it does not seem to have proved specially prejudicial to the public health in
evacuated villages."
Kolaba :— ||
"As far as my information goes, people enjoy better health in huts in the fields than they do
in the villages. I shall be much mistaken if one permanent effect of the plague epidemic is not a
considerable movement towards a more open Hie and a desire to build and occupy houses in
the fields instead of in towns."
Broach :— ****
"It will be seen from the figures of mortality that Camp-life is less healthy than life in the
villages. But the facts that mortality is generally heavier during a plague epidemic, and that
these villages were evacuated at a time when malarious fevers and other kindred diseases were
prevalent, can, to a certain extent, account for the high mortality."
Sávantvádi:— **
" From the experience gained at Shirwal, I am able to say that none of the persons
removed to the Segregation Camp suffered from any ailment, and that those not stricken by
plague were as healthy in the Camps as they were, or could have been, in their own village."
* Collector of Ahmednagar's No. 993 of 2nd February 1899.
† Collector of Sholápur's No. 658 of February 1899.
‡ Collector of Thána's No. P 272 of 9th February 1899.
§ Collector of Pauch Maháls' No. 589 of 9th February 1899.
*** Collector of Kolaba's No. B. P./991 of 11th February 1899.
**** Collector of Broach's No. 638—P. of 11th February 1899.
** Political Superintendent, Sávantvádi's No. 494 of 10th February 1899.