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CHAPTER III.
THE PERIOD (FEBRUARY AND EARLY PART OF MARCH) FROM
THE PASSING OF THE EPIDEMIC DISEASES ACT TILL THE
CONSTITUTION OP THE FIRST PLAGUE COMMITTEE.
SECTION 1.
Rules framed under Act III of 1897.
The Act was communicated to the Bombay Government on the 4th February,
and without delay telegrams were despatched to all Commissioners and to the
Collector of Thána—the only district in which plague had become widely epidemic—
informing them that Government could confer extensive powers on their officers
and asking what powers they considered necessary. Their replies were received
on the 8th and 9th of February, and on the 10th sanction was provisionally
accorded to all their proposals. The substance of these proposals was embodied
in the following draft rules prepared by the legal advisers of Government and
issued on the 20th February:
"RULES UNDER ACT III OP 1897,
Whereas certain parts of the Presidency of Bombay are visited by or threatened with
an outbreak of a dangerous epidemic disease, namely, bubonic plague, and whereas the
Governor of Bombay in Council is of opinion that the ordinary provisions of the law for
the time being in force are insufficient for the purpose of preventing the spread thereof in
parts other than the City of Bombay, pursuant to the provisions of Section 2, sub-sections
(1) and (2), of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and in exercise of the powers in this
behalf conferred by the Governor General in Council under Section 2, sub-section 3, of the
same Act, the Governor of Bombay in Council is pleased to empower the officers hereinbelow
mentioned to take the measures hereinafter specified to prevent the spread of bubonic plague,
and is further pleased to prescribe the temporary regulations hereinafter set forth to be
observed by the public and all persons concerned.
1. In every local area where there is danger of plague the District Magistrate, subject
to the general instructions of the Commissioner, may appoint special officers, either by name
or by virtue of office, to devise and carry out, under the District Magistrate's general direc-
tions, all measures necessary to prevent the spread of the plague.
2. The special officers appointed for any local area under these rules may be known as
plague authorities and may be selected from the following:
(1) Assistant Collectors within their charges.
(2) Mamlatdárs, Mukhtiárkars, Mahálkaris and Head Kárkúns within their charges.
(3) Municipal Commissioners within municipal limits.
(4) Health Officers of Municipalities within municipal limits.
(5) Secretaries of municipalities within municipal limits.
(6) All Medical officers holding Her Majesty's commission.
(7) Medical officers in charge of Government or State-aided medical institutions.
(8) Any Medical officer employed by a municipality not lower in grade than a Hos-
pital Assistant and such officers on pension.
(9) Police officers not lower in grade than a Chief Constable.
(10) Station Masters for their stations.
(11) Customs officers not lower in grade than a Sarkárkún for the bandars under
their charge.
(12) Any other officers or persons specially selected by Government or by the Com-
missioner of the Division, or in Sind by the Commissioner in Sind.
3. At any railway station or bandar to which no Medical officer has been or may be
specially appointed for inspection duty under rules sanctioned by Government concerning
the inspection of travellers by rail or boat, any plague authority who may be present on
duty, if he reasonably believes or suspects that any person alighting or disembarking from a
train or boat is suffering from bubonic plague, may detain any such person for the purpose
of medical examination, and shall (if he be not himself a Medical officer authorized under
these rules) without delay give information of the detention to the nearest Medical officer so
authorized. Any Station Master at a railway station where no Medical officer has been
posted on inspection duty may forward to the nearest station at which such a Medical officer
is posted any person who is or is suspected by him to be suffering from the plague.