APPENDIX.
R e p o r t o n t h e M e d i c a l a n d S a n i t a r y A r r a n g e m e n t s o f t h e C a m p s o f t h e D e l h i A s s e m b l a g e
other than Regimental, by DEPUTY SURGEON GENERAL J. T. C. Ross, F.R.C.S., in General
Sanitary Charge.
Appointed to the sanitary charge of the Imperial Camps at the Delhi Assemblage of
the 1st January 1877, the duties were entered upon on the 14th November.
Appointment
Preparatory
arrangements.
2. Earlier in the month information had been received that each Government Adminis-
tration and Agency had been requested to depute a medical officer to Delhi, with the necessary
appliances for the medical and sanitary charge of the native and civil camps appertaining to
their several jurisdictions ; and to instruct him to carry out all sanitary arrangements connected
with his camp under such directions as might be issued. Instructions had also been issued that
no camps were to proceed to Delhi from any place where cholera was, or had been, epidemic,
and that in the event of cholera breaking out en route, the camp was to be detained.
3. On learning the names of the medical officers who were to be in charge of
c a m p s — e v e n t u a l l y t w e n t y - s i x i n n u m b e r f r o m a l l p a r t s o f I n d i a — a c i r c u l a r w a s s e n t t o e a c h ,
asking the probable date of his arrival at Delhi ; his views as to the sanitary arrangements
he would propose to be carried out in his camp ; the number of medical subordinates
with him available to assist in conducting the medical and sanitary duties ; the number of
sweepers, and the means of removing refuse, &c. ; the organization of a conservancy police ;
the probable population of his camp ; and lastly, while en route to Delhi, to send in a
weekly report on the health of the people under his charge, reporting at once any unusual or
important occurrence.
Circulars to
medieal
officers.–
Preparatory
arrangements
with the
Executive
Committee.
4. In communication with the Executive Committee it was arranged that, in the case
of sweepers—or a sufficient number of them—not accompanying a camp, the deficiency was
to be supplied by the Committee through the civil authorities ; the same also in the case of
carts for the removal of refuse : that, where there was no responsible agency for the supervision
of conservancy details in any camp, this duty should devolve on the Police ; that all other
requirements should be arranged for through the civil power ; and that the early arrival of
medical officers to prepare their camps was desirable.
5. It was therefore arranged with the Deputy Commissioner, that the Tehsildar
should set people to work to make up mats and screens for the conservancy officers on a
prescribed pattern, and that clay-lined baskets and grass mats for huts should be made up
and kept in store to meet any demands, the latter being intended for the immediate
isolation of any epidemic cases that might occur. Fortunately, no occasion occurred for their
use, and they were mostly utilised as shelter for followers.
Preparatory.
arrangements
with the civil
authorities.
6. In these early days the camp sites were being marked out in well-defined lines
by the Quartermaster General and his Staff. Large spaces of ground were taken up so
as to avoid crowding. Levelling, road-making, and clearing away all obstructions were
going, on, and all was being set in order in advance, so that a camp could be pitched in its
allotted place on arrival.
7. Food.—A military bazar for the supplies required in the Imperial Camps was
established under the orders of the Quartermaster General, on the site of the Sudder Bazar
of the old cantonments, and an officer was appointed to superintend it. Meat, however, was
principally supplied by the butchers of the city. All their supplies were of excellent quality,
and never failed in quantity.
8 . D e p ô t s w e r e e s t a b l i s h e d b y t h e c i v i l a u t h o r i t i e s i n c o n v e n i e n t s i t u a t i o n s f o r t h e
supply of all the requirements of the camps of the Chiefs; where the camps were nea
r the city, the meat supply came from there ; further off, goats and sheep were slaughtered
at places pointed out by the sanitary officer, and in the manner laid down. A native official
was in charge of each supply depôt. As with the former supplies, there never was a complaint ;
all supplies were present and at very moderate prices.
Preparation of
sites.
Imperial
Camps.
Native Camps.
9.
Water.—After personal inspection of all the wells in the old cantonments, within the Imperial
boundaries of which the Imperial Camps were being erected, a memorandum was sent to the Camps.
Quartermaster General, the substance of which is shewn in para. 10 of memo. 71. There
were two main wells for the camps, denominated, from their position, the Madras and Ben-
-gal wells. For these, galvanised iron buckets and chains, or pumps, were suggested for the sake
of cleanliness and rapidity of delivery. The pump, selected from the catalogue of the Roorkee
workshops, was a barrel 5 inch diameter ; stroke 10 inch ; lift 20 feet ; delivery 980 gallons per
hour ; but eventually it was not considered worth while to order it.
10. Although there was some delay in the supply for the number congregating at these
wells, no real inconvenience was ever heard of. These two main wells must have provided for
10,000 people daily. The following rough measurements show the abundance of the
18th November 1876. ( Madras well, depth of water from surface 12ft, depth of water in well, 12ft.
Bengal well
,,
, , 1 5 f t
„
15ft,
,
9th January 1877.
• Madras well,
„
, ,
, 1 3 ½ f t
7½ft..
3,
it..
Bengal well,
,,
, ,
1 5 f t
, , ,,
12ft.