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held charge of Old Sukkur, but the plague had long since died out and the only work left
to be done was the ' re-occupation' work, which will be presently described.
The people of Old Sukkur, if they did not assist the authorities, at least showed no
opposition to the measures of the Plague Committee, and there is no reason to suppose that
any of the cases discovered had been wilfully concealed.
Statement No. A contains details of the cases that occurred. The first case occurred
on 9th March and the last on 13th May. There were 19 cases (all imported) in March,
27 in April, and 5 in May, 51 in all. The largest number of cases that occurred on any
one day was 3, and this figure was reached four times.
The last case of plague occurred on 18th May, but Old Sukkur had been practically
free from plague some time before then ; and, thanks to the rigorous way in which both
inmates of the house and neighbours had been segregated, as each case occurred, the town
had never been badly infected.
At no time was more than one quarter of the population absent from Old Sukkur, and
in April when the plague had become local, people only left with the written permission of
the Plague Superintendent, and did not move far away. There never was any real exodus.
So on 25th May the Plague Committee issued a notice permitting the people to come back
to their houses after putting in 3 days under observation either at the health camp or
under the trees on the bank of the Sukkur Canal, and after their persons and effects had
been disinfected. This notice was readily responded to. After the 9th June, as the
Sukkur Táluka was known to be free from plague and the Old Sukkur fugitives were close
at hand, they were allowed to re-occupy their houses after being detained only so long as
the process of disinfection lasted.
Rao Bahadur Chandumal supervised the disinfecting arrangements. Old Sukkur was
full by the end of June.
Measures taken to prevent in-
fection spreading from Sukkur to
the Punjab and elsewhere and to
prevent the infection of Sukkur.
12, (a) Police Cordons.—Besides the posting of police at all the railway bridges on
the roads between New and Old Sukkur to prevent communi-
cation between the two towns, all the roads leading from New
Sukkur into the adjoining country were from the 7th March
1897 vigorously guarded by police, and no sick or suspicious &
person was allowed to leave or enter Sukkur. This cordon
was maintained until 4th of May, when plague had practically died out in Sukkur. The
Lansdowne Bridge and the ferries were closed from 31st March to 6th July, and all
communication between Sukkur and Rohri forbidden except by passes issued by the Plague-
Committee. Until the end of April the object of this was to prevent infection being
carried from Sukkur to Rohri, while afterwards when Rohri had become thoroughly infected
it was to prevent the reinfection of Sukkur. As a case came to notice of a person avoiding
the police guard on the foot-way by following the permanent-way and thus crossing the
bridge, a guard was furnished at, night by the detachment of the Wiltshire Regiment. On
6th April the Plague Committee issued orders forbidding any person to leave Sukkur by
road except under a pass from the Superintendent of the quarter of the town in which he
resided. Persons leaving under passes were to be disinfected at the camp cauldrons,
These orders, though somewhat relaxed in practice towards the close of April, remained in
force until the police cordon was taken off.
From 12th April all the River Indus ferries between Rohri and Shahpur and Rohr
and Madeji were closed so as to save the Rohri side from being infected by Sukkur fugi-
tives. Subsequently this measure protected the Sukkur side from the Rohri side.
(b) Disinfection of persons arriving at and departing from Sukkur by train.—Surgeon-
Major Corkery describes the arrangements as follows :
' Up to the 15th April the disinfection of clothing of arrivals and departures by
trains was carried on in the ordinary manner by boiling, large cauldrons being
utilized for this purpose and some disinfectants being usually added to the water!
This process, though effective, ruins the coloured clothes and dyes all white things,
causing great complaints, while books, boots and other articles could not possibly be
boiled but only syringed over with some antiseptic solution. The boiling process was
superseded by that of steaming. On the 15th April a locomotive not in use was placed
in position near the railway siding and connected by a steam pipe with a large iron
tank, but as this gave only a pressure of 7 or 8 lbs. and a corresponding temperature
of 230° or 233° and this did not satisfy the requirements of the Government of India,
the Railway Locomotive Department kindly altered the arrangement and supplied a
more powerful tank, capable of supplying 20 to 25 lbs. pressure, with a corresponding
temperature of 250° and above, and this was in working order after 3 days' suspension
by the 5th May. The disinfection is immediately under the supervision of Sergeant
Brady, Railway Inspector of Police, and a staff' of 1 Jemadar and 4 coolies and the
whole is generally supervised by a Commissioned Medical Officer. There is no confu-
sion and seldom or ever any complaints. While the kit is being disinfected and boiled,
the passengers are accommodated in sheds close by and have a disinfecting bath. Thé
clothes corne out practically dry and the smaller article in a compressed bundle comes
put heated to such an extent, that it is not comfortable to handle. The steaming lasts