NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
CHAP. XIV. ]
India enforced in other countries.
409
Examination of
persons on board.
Removal of sick.
to be infected, it is required to anchor at an appointed moor-
ing and a detailed examination is made of every-one on board.
Persons certified to be suffering from plague, etc., are, if their
condition admits of it, landed and detained in hospital. If
not, they are detained on board. Persons suffering from illness
which it is suspected may be plague are detained for forty-eight hours,
either on board or on shore, with a view to determine the nature of
Treatment of
other persons.
their illness. Other persons are permitted to land and proceed to their
destination after giving their names and intended addresses. These
particulars are communicated to the local authorities in order that the
health of the travellers may be watched for a few days. The clothing,
bedding and other articles of personal use belonging to sufferers from
Disinfection.
plague, etc., are disinfected or destroyed. The ship is disinfected,
and any articles that may probably be infected (other than those
mentioned above) are disinfected or destroyed. The medical officer
Change of water.
may direct the bilge-water and water ballast to be pumped out
before the vessel enters the dock or basin, and when a fresh
supply of drinking and cooking water can be provided, he may
direct all casks and tanks containing such water to be emptied and
cleaned. The medical officer may, at his discretion, direct that the
precautions regarding passengers, and bilge and drinking water,
shall be carried out in the case of healthy vessels arriving from an
infected port.
During the period of the epidemic in the Bombay Presidency,
special inspections were made by officers of the Local Government
Board of all ports in England and Wales which are used by vessels
employed in trade with India.
FRANCE.
Alarm and severe
restrictions.
The regulations imposed in France were for a time most severe
and prevented passenger steamers from India from calling at
French ports. In Marseilles the population were much alarmed and
excited, and some vessels which arrived from Bombay were prevented
from landing their passengers. On the 4th January the French
General rules of
January.
Government issued a Decree prescribing a set of general regulations
to prevent the infection of exotic epidemic diseases being brought
into French ports. These regulations were based on the Sanitary
Conventions of Venice, 1892, and Dresden, 1893. The measures
actually taken went far beyond the regulations.
Later orders.
The most stringent provisions of the regulations were applied both to
southern ports in communication with the East and to northern ports in
communication with Plymouth by orders issued in the middle of January,
52
410
Regulations against arrivals from
[ CHAP. XIV.
Passengers
eventually
allowed to and
at Marseilles.
Early in February the port of Dunkirk imposed four days' quarantine on
healthy arrivals from infected ports, and nine days' quarantine on infect-
ed vessels. Later in the month the landing of passengers from infected
ports was prohibited at all ports except Pauillac, Saint-Nazarre, Havre
and Dunkirk, and disembarkation was permitted only after eight days'
observation at Pauillac and Saint-Nazarre, and four days' observation
at Havre and Dunkirk, and after disinfection of baggage. In
the middle of March orders issued permitting passengers to land at
Marseilles after medical inspection and the disinfection of their
baggage, but about the 12th April further orders required all vessels
coming from infected ports in India to undergo thirty-six hours'
quarantine. In the end passengers were allowed to land at Marseilles
from healthy ships with the restriction that their soiled linen, etc.,
must be disinfected before being brought on shore.
ITALY.
Onerous
restrictions.
In Italy, also, during the height of the epidemic and before the
framing of the Venice Convention, vessels arriving from Bombay,
Karachi and other infected ports were only permitted to land passen-
gers under regulations with respect to disinfection, etc., so onerous
that ships of the Peninsular and Oriental Company merely landed the
Later
regulations
based on the
Convention.
Healthy vessels.
mails at Brindisi and then carried their passengers to England. The
Italian Government issued regulations based on the Venice Sanitary
Convention on May 8th, 1897. Under these regulations healthy
vessels are allowed free pratique after a satisfactory medical inspec-
tion subject to the following precautionary measures: disinfection
of the wearing apparel and personal belongings of the persons on board
either before embarkation, during the voyage, or on arrival; pumping
out the bilge-water after disinfection ; and the substitution of fresh
drinking-water for the water stored on board. Rules for the treatment
of suspected and infected vessels were also laid down in accordance
with the Venice Convention, but it never became necessary to bring
them into force. It is the treatment accorded to healthy vessels which
is the crucial point. To facilitate the execution of the prescribed
Arrangements
to facilitate the
precautionary
measures,
measures, the Italian Government made arrangements to appoint
medical officers at Port Said on application to any vessel bound for
an Italian port. This doctor is entrusted with the general sanitary
surveillance of the ship during her passage from Port Said to the
Italian port. Within forty-four hours of arrival he is required to as-
certain that the disinfection of soiled articles of wearing or domestic
apparel has been carried out, and to make a medical examination of
CHAP. XIV.]
India enforced in other countries.,
411
all persons on board. On arrival he lodges with the harbour autho-
rities a statement certifying to the sanitary condition of the vessel,
and if everything is satisfactory free pratique is at once granted.
BELGIUM.
Royal decree of
1895 enforced.
The regulations imposed in Belgium were from the outset more
moderate. On the 18th January the royal decree of 1895 relating to
cholera was applied to arrivals from plague-infected Indian ports. The
decree of 1895 was based on the Dresden Convention of 1893 and
classed vessels as healthy, suspected and infected in accordance with
the regulations prescribed by that Convention. More detailed orders
issued on the 6th February for the treatment of vessels at Antwerp.
Treatment of
healthy vessels
at Doël.
The detention of vessels for one tide at the sanitary station of Doël
was permitted for the purpose of medical inspection, disinfection of
such portions of the ship as was considered necessary, and change of
water, etc. On the 3rd April a decree was issued requiring healthy
Regulations
based on the
Venice
Convention.
and intected ships to be treated in accordance with the regulations of
the Venice Sanitary Convention of 1897. The Belgium Government
enquired what portion of India should be considered as infected for
the purpose of the rules, and, in accordance with information supplied
by the Government of India, they declared the whole of the Bombay
Presidency and Sind, except the extreme east of the latter province,
infected with plague.
BRITISH MEDITERRANEAN DEPENDENCIES.
The British dependencies in the Mediterranean were quite as
stringent in their regulations as foreign European countries.
Malta.
Severe
restrictive
measures.
In Malta a series of regulations were issued of gradually increasing
severity. At the end of December orders were issued refusing pratique
and the disembarkation of passengers in the case of vessels on which
there was a case of fever. Early in January two days' quarantine was
imposed on arrivals from Indian ports; in the middle of the month the
period was raised to twenty-one days, and shortly afterwards the
disembarkation of passengers from Indian ports was absolutely pro-
hibited. Vessels were only permitted to take in provisions in quaran-
tine. Afterwards these prohibitive regulations were to some extent
relaxed.
Partial
relaxation.
Early in February regulations issued permitting healthy vessels
from India to land passengers at Comino Island ; the passengers were
then subjected to twenty-one clays' quarantine and their clothing and
linen were disinfected. Towards the middle of May the restrictive orders
were confined to arrivals from ports on the West Coast of India. On the
412
Regulations against arrivals from
[ CHAP. XIV.
22nd May further regulations were published, in accordance with which
vessels from Bombay and Karachi were permitted to coal and take in
provisions in the quarantine harbour, and passengers from Bombay
and Karachi were required to undergo quarantine in the lazaretto for
a period not less than seven days and sufficient to complete a period
of thirty days from the date of departure. On the 9th of July
pratique granted in a Mediterranean or Adriatic port was recognised.
Revised regulations, issued at Malta early in November 1897, require
passengers from Bombay and Karachi to be detained for eight days
in one of the quarantine establishments. At the time these orders
issued Karachi was a healthy port within the meaning of the Venice
Convention.
Gibraltar.
The question of quarantine at Gibraltar was complicated by the
fact that if rules were enforced less stringent than those which prevailed
in Spain, Gibraltar might be put in quarantine by the surrounding
country—a circumstance which would give rise to the utmost incon-
venience. At first all vessels from India were refused pratique and
neither passengers nor goods could be landed. Vessels were permitted
to land mails and specie, and to coal and take in provisions in quarantine.
Subsequently the measures were restricted to arrivals from ports on
the West Coast of India.
Cyprus.
In Cyprus fifteen days' quarantine was imposed against all arrivals
from Indian ports.
OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
Holland.
Spain.
The regulations enforced in the ports of other European countries
were framed on the same lines as those already described and need
not be examined in detail, Holland imposed ten days' quarantine
on arrivals from India. Spain first imposed three days' quarantine
against all arrivals from India and later required a fourteen days' qua-
rantine of passengers landing from healthy vessels from Bombay.
Portugal.
Russia.
In Portugal passengers were admitted at Lisbon after quarantine
and disinfection of baggage. Russia declared the whole of India
infected. Vessels were only allowed to enter at certain ports where
quarantine arrangements had been made and were then detained in
Roumania.
quarantine for ten days. In Roumania vessels which had undergone
quarantine in an Ottoman port were admitted at Constanza after satis-
factory medical inspection. Other vessels from India were admitted
only at the port of Sulina and after the execution of sanitary pre-
Turkey.
cautions. Turkey first imposed ten and later fifteen days' quarantine
against healthy arrivals from India, and repulsed all vessels in which
a case of plague had occurred. If a case broke out while the ship
CHAP. XIV. ]
India enforced in other countries.
413
Temporary
closure of the
Dardanelles to
Indian ships.
was detained in the lazaretto, stringent quarantine and sanitary pre-
cautions were enforced, Early in March the Ottoman Government
prohibited ships from India from passing through the Dardanelles,
unless they had been detained for fifteen days in an Ottoman or other
quarantine station. Protest was raised against this regulation and it
was rescinded by the Porte in the beginning of April.
PERSIAN GULF.
Restrictions in
Asiatic
countries.
Turkish Arabia.
In Asia the group of countries lying round the Persian Gulf have
first to be noticed. Early in October twenty-one days' quarantine was
imposed at Bussorah in Turkish Arabia against arrivals from Bombay.
Bussorah lies at the head of the Persian Gulf. The general regulations
of the Ottoman Empire which imposed first ten and then fifteen days'
quarantine against all arrivals from India and which repulsed vessels on
which a case of plague had occurred were enforced in Turkish Arabia.
Early in August the quarantine period was again reduced to ten
days. In the middle of February fifteen days' quarantine was
imposed at Bagdad on passengers from India, and all ships com-
Persia,
ing from Indian ports were repulsed. Persia imposed quarantine
against all arrivals from India in the middle of October. In Febru-
ary orders were issued absolutely excluding infected and suspected
vessels, except that they were allowed to land their mails. In
the case of healthy vessels five days' quarantine was imposed on
passengers and cargo at Bushire and seven days at ports nearer
India, Early in July the period of quarantine was reduced to three
Muscat.
days. The Sultan of Muscat issued orders imposing quarantine
against arrivals from Bombay and Karachi in the beginning of Feb-
ruary. A set of regulations for the control of the arrangements at the
port of Muscat was subsequently published. All arrivals from Indian
ports were placed in quarantine and medically inspected. Healthy
vessels were granted free pratique and allowed to discharge
cargo into lighters brought alongside the vessels. Passengers for
Muscat were landed under supervision and detained under obser-
vation for nine days from the date of departure of the vessel. The
baggage was disinfected before landing. Infected vessels were pro-
hibited from communicating with the shore except for the purpose
of landing mails.
Regulations for
the Persian Gulf
in the l-'aris
Convention,
1894.
A set of quarantine regulations for the Persian Gulf and a list of
sanitary posts to be established were prescribed by the Paris
Sanitary Convention of 1894. The arrangements there laid down were
considered open to grave objections for commercial and other rea-
sons and Her Majesty's Government in ratifying the Paris Convention
414
Regulations against arrivals from
[CHAP. XIV.
In the Venice
Convention,
1897.
reserved this portion of the regulations from assent. The Venice
Convention of 1897 also contains regulations for the control of quaran-
tine in the Persian Gulf, which differ considerably from those
prescribed in the Paris Convention and remove the main objec-
tions. Under the Venice Convention regulations healthy vessels
reaching Ormuz before the expiration of ten days since they last
touched at a port infected with plague must either complete that
period at Ormuz or may, after medical inspection, continue their
voyage up the Gulf or the Shatt-ul-Arab, provided they do so in
quarantine for such term as is required to complete the ten days.
The same provision will apply to suspected vessels, that is, vessels
on which there has been a case of plague, but no fresh case for
twelve days, subject to submission to certain processes of disinfec-
tion, etc., at Ormuz ; and infected vessels will, after landing their
sick, together with those persons who have been in actual contact
with them, and after disinfection of that part of the vessel deemed
to be infected, likewise have permission to proceed on their voyage
in quarantine. The final arrangements as to the sanitary station
at Ormuz are to be a matter of agreement between the Turkish and
Persian Governments, and until these arrangements are completed,
a temporary sanitary station is to be established on one of the
islands in the Straits of Ormuz.
CEYLON.
Owing to its proximity to the infected area and its peculiar
position as a general port of call, the Government of Ceylon consi-
dered it necessary to adopt very stringent precautionary measures
with respect to arrivals from India.
Fifteen days'
quarantine.
Tuticorin, in the extreme south of the Madras Presidency, is
the port in closest and most constant communication with Colombo,
but there is also frequent communication between Colombo and the
principal ports on the West and East coast of India. Early in the
epidemic fifteen days' quarantine was imposed on all arrivals from
Western Indian ports. On the 2nd of March a set of general
quarantine regulations were issued by the Colonial Government
under which the fifteen days' quarantine was still maintained.
As an additional precaution, passengers recently arriving from
an infected district on a steamer from a healthy port were not
permitted to land, though the vessel herself was not quarantined.
An account has been given in Chapter XI of the measures adopted
by the Madras and Ceylon Governments in co-operation to prevent
infected persons crossing from Tuticorin to Colombo. The Colonial
CHAP, XIV. ]
India enforced in other countries,
415
Regulations
based on the
Venice
Convention.
Government issued on the 23rd of July a set of regulations based on the
Venice Convention of 1897 and enforced the most stringent regula-
tions authorised by the Convention. The period of quarantine of
healthy vessels was limited to ten days from the date of departure
from an infected port. The Colonial Government reserved to itself
the right to impose precautions beyond those permitted by the Con-
vention if this course were deemed advisable.
OTHER ASIATIC PORTS.
Goa.
Goa, the principal Portuguese possession on the West Coast of
India, lies immediately south of the infected area. In the middle of
October the Goanese authorities imposed five days' quarantine against
arrivals from Bombay and southern ports. A number of cases were
detected and detained in the lazaret, but. so far as is known, the
Netherlands
India-
disease never became epidemic in Goa. The Netherlands India
Government first imposed ten days' quarantine against arrivals
from Bombay and Karachi and subsequently reduced the period to
Siam.
nine days from the date of departure. In Siam vessels from Bombay
were inspected at Pakanam before being permitted to proceed to
Bangkok.
EGYPT.
African
countries.
The regulations enforced in African countries have next to be
considered. The arrangements for the passage of the Suez Canal,
first under the Egyptian plague regulations of 1894 and then
under the Venice Convention of 1897, has already been described.
Vessels bound for Egyptian ports were dealt with under the same
Plague
regulations of
1894.
Healthy ships.
Suspected
ships.
regulations. Under the 1894 regulations, as modified by the Egyptian
Sanitary. Board, healthy vessels were granted free pratique after satis-
factory medical inspection and the disinfection of dirty linen, etc., etc.
The rules for suspected vessels with a healthy passage of less
than fourteen days required a forty-eight hours' detention of the
ship for the purpose of disinfecting the vessel, the baggage and
the susceptible cargo. Passengers were also to be detained forty-
eight hours on shore and their baggage disinfected. The rules for
Infected ships.
infected vessels seeking free pratique in Egypt required seven days'
detention from the date of the last case and the usual disinfection, etc.
Regulations
based on the
Venice
Convention.
Healthy
ships,
The regulations issued by the Egyptian Quarantine Board in con-
formity with the Venice Sanitary Convention grant free pratique to
healthy vessels after ten days from the date of departure, and such
medical inspection and disinfection of clothing, etc., etc., as may be
416
Regulations against arrivals from [ CHAP. XIV.
Suspected ships. considered necessary. In the case of suspected vessels which have had
a healthy passage of less than fourteen days, the rules require both the
ship and the passengers to be detained for a period sufficient to com-
plete ten days, and the usual measures of disinfection, etc., are
Infected ships. prescribed. Infected vessels seeking free pratique in Egypt must be
detained at Moses's Wells up to ten days from the date of the last
case, and must undergo the usual procedure of disinfection, etc.
OTHER AFRICAN PORTS.
Algiers,
Morocco,
Madagascar
and Natal.
The regulations for France applied also to Algiers. Under orders
issued early in February, Morocco repulsed all ships from Indian ports.
Similar prohibitive orders were issued for Madagascar. At Natal
twelve days' quarantine was imposed against arrivals from Bombay.
AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA.
American
countries.
Notwithstanding the great distance of American ports from India,
arrivals from countries in the Western Hemisphere issued regulations
United States.
against arrivals from India or varying severity, The United States
applied the Treasury Quarantine Cholera Regulations, which require
Brazil.
fifteen days' detention of exposed persons. Brazil declared all ports in
India and Burma infected and required vessels to proceed to the
Peru.
quarantine station at Ilha-Grande. Peru imposed ten days' quaran-
tine against arrivals from infected ports.
Australian
colonies.
The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Companies' Agents
at Bombay stated that the regulations imposed in the Australian
colonies were so onerous that they were obliged to cease booking
passages to them.
Regulations regarding Merchandise.
In Chapter II it has been explained that although the infection
of plague may be readily carried in objects that have been in contact
or in close proximity to plague patients, there is no reason to appre-
hend that the infection is spread by ordinary articles of commerce.
In Chapter XI an account has been given of the regulations
regarding merchandise contained in the Venice Convention and of the
measures adopted in India to prevent the spread of the disease by
articles likely to carry infection. It now remains to notice the
treatment accorded in other countries to merchandise arriving from
India during the epidemic.
CHAP. XIV. ]
India enforced in other countries.
417
In the first place it will be convenient to recapitulate the articles Venice
classed as susceptible by the Venice Convention. They are the c onvention.
following :—
(1) Used body linen, clothes, bedding, and other personal effects.
(2) Rags, including rags compressed by hydraulic pressure and
transported in bales-as merchandise.
(3) Used sacking, carpets, and old embroidery.
(4) Raw and untanned hides and skins.
(5) Animal refuse, claws, hoofs, horsehair, hair of animals
generally, raw silk, and wool.
(6) Human hair.
It will be remembered that the articles included in this list may be
refused entry at the option of the Government concerned, and that
disinfection may be prescribed before admission in the case of
susceptible articles and any other articles with regard to which the
precaution may be considered necessary by the local sanitary authority.
The following list shows the principal articles of the Indian staples of the
merchandise foreign export trade, and the average annual value of I ndian export
the trade in each (in lakhs of rupees) for the five years 1891-92
to 1895-96*:—
I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
JO.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
Grain and pulse
...
...
Cotton, raw ...
...
Jute, raw ...
...
...
Seeds
...
...
Opium
Cotton, yarn and cloth ...
...
Tea
Hides and skins
„.
Indigo
Jute, manufactures
Coffee
Lac
Wool, raw ...
...
Provisions ...
...
...
...
Dyes (other than indigo)
Wood and timber
...
...
Oils, including paraffin wax
Sugar
Silk, raw
Spices
Saltpetre
20.19
11,92
8,78
12,90
8,87
7.37
6,81
6,16
4,33
3,63
2,08
1,15
1,19
83
83
67
66
61
60
48
42
" Susceptible "
articles of
Indian trade.
Only three of these articles fall within the susceptible list, namely,
hides and skins (No. 8), raw wool (No. 13), and raw silk (No. 19).
The trade in hide and skins is much the most important of
the three. It is mainly concentrated in Calcutta.
* Review of the Trade of India in 1895-96 by J. E. O'Conor, Government of India
Statistical Bureau.
53