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requirements of the Red Sea Pilgrim Ships Act, was conducted the examination
on shore prior to embarkation of the 4,831 pilgrims for the Haj of 1897 who
succeeded in procuring passages from Bombay, before this port was closed on
31st January 1897 against pilgrim departures, and with such success that amongst
the passengers of the eight vessels which conveyed them between the dates of
8th October 1896 and the 28th January 1897 only 2 cases of Plague occurred
during the voyage to Camaran, viz., those on board the S.S. " Pekin " which left
Bombay on 28th December 1896 with 1,045 pilgrims.
The Venice Convention describes the procedure to be adopted in the case
of a vessel on which before departure a case of Plague occurs. The vessel
becomes " Infected " and is to be notified as such. This rule has been in
force in Bombay since 1884 with the difference that not merely Plague cases,
but cases of cholera, or other dangerous infectious or contagious disease such as
small-pox, yellow fever, measles and scarlatina, if found and removed from a
departing ship render the vessel an " Infected " one, necessitate its disinfection,
and cause the bill of health to become foul by an entry of the incident. Europe,
in short, has during the present year prescribed a course of treatment for India
which that country has more or less been under for years.
5. The average number of bills of health—Form Β—issued yearly since
June 1884 has been 663, and the yearly number of persons inspected for issue of
the bills 82,137. The problem, then, that Government had to solve wvas the
institution of a system of inspections sufficiently developed to cover, as events
have proved, during the six months—February to July—20,252 outward bound
vessels and 394,164 persons travelling on them.
The necessary powers were acquired under the Epidemic Diseases Act, and
the following rules became law on the 6th February 1897 :-
1. No vessel shall leave the port of Bombay until she has been
inspected by the Health Officer of the Port, and the master or person in
charge of such vessel has obtained a bill of health or certificate from
such officer that the master or person in charge, officers, crew and passengers
(if any) of such vessel are free from any dangerous epidemic disease :
* Provided that, in the case of a vessel that has called at Bombay from
a, port outside the Continent of India en route for some other port, and
which has on arrival a clean bill of health and has had no communication
with Bombay except through any person or persons who shall have
embarked there, the inspection of such vessel by the Health Officer
of the Port may be limited to the medical examination of such person or
persons so embarked, and the bill of health or certificate required by this rule
shall only certify that such person or persons is or are free from dangerous
epidemic disease, and such certificate may be in the form of an endorsement
on the bill of health furnished to the vessels at the last port of call prior to
arrival at Bombay. For the purposes of this proviso the Collector of Customs
and the Port Health Officer are empowered to decide what shall constitute
communication with Bombay "
2. Should the Health Officer of the Port be of opinion that any person
on board of any vessel so inspected is suffering from a dangerous epidemic
disease, he shall refuse to give a bill of health or certificate as aforesaid unless
and until such person is removed from the vessel.
3. After a master or person in charge of the vessel has obtained any
bill of health or certificate under the pro vision of these rules no person o"r
cargo shall be admitted or taken on board of such vessel before she leaves
the port of Bombay unless such vessel is again inspected by the Health
Officer of the Port and another bill of health or certificate obtained from
such officer by the master or person in charge of such vessel.
4. No port clearance shall be delivered to any vessel unless and until
the master or person in charge thereof shall produce the bill of health or
certificate so to be obtained as aforesaid, and it shall be the duty of Customs
Officers to refuse delivery of the port clearance without the production of
such bill of health or certificate.