77
3. But the requirements of the case do not end with hospitals. If we are really to
check this epidemic, to prevent it wandering wherever chance may take it, we must try to
watch, in some way, all those who are in special danger of being attacked ; those for example
who have lived in the same room with or in close attendance on a plague patient. There is
a danger that such persons may have contracted the disease. We must watch them so that
at the first indication of illness the patient may be brought under treatment. By this means
we shall secure for him the best chance of recovery and on behalf of others the least scope
for infection.
4. Very briefly put these are the measures on which I mainly rely for a successful
fight against the plague. To carry them out most effectively it is necessary to appoint a
small Committee, not to consult and advise but to work : a Committee that will divide the
whole scheme of work, apportioning certain branches to each member. It is desirable to
include in this body a Medical man and an Engineer. But as the Committee is to be a
working not an advising body, it must be as small as possible. We have come to the,
conclusion that what we need will be secured by a Committee of four, and to form that
Committee we have selected General Gatacre as Chairman, Mr. Snow, the Municipal Com-
missioner, Dr. Dimmock and Mr. James, one of the Engineers of the Corporation. They will
be subordinate only to Government: this is essential, both because it is Government alone
by exercising the powers very recently conferred under the Epidemic Diseases Act, that can
call the Committee into being ; and for another reason that I will now explain.
5. Unhappily this epidemic has spread beyond Bombay: it has attacked certain
places in the Thána District and Poona severely, and reached to other places. As people
move from infected places to others they may take the plague with them ; its tendency
is to spread. Our efforts require to be widespread, far-reaching and systematic; they
must, wherever they may be, be directed, controlled and harmonised. We cannot have
one practice pursued in Bombay and a materially different one elsewhere ; our methods
must be consistent and complete, and beyond everything we must, if possible, be successful
before the rains.
6. So individual efforts, whether of Municipalities, of Local Boards or of local officers,
must all be made systematic and co-operative, and this can only be done by Government ;
they must take the control absolutely into their own hands. To do this is no slur on local
bodies ; it is no blow to local self-government ; it is simply an Imperial necessity.
7. With the earnest hope that the necessity for the action of Government will be
apparent to all, and that the co-operation of all the citizens of Bombay may be secured,
I am, dear Mr. President, yours faithfully,
SANDHURST.
To COWASJI HOrMuSJI, Esq., President of the Municipal Corporation of Bombay."
SECTION 5.
Sketch of Plague Administration in Karáchi in February and up to the
date of the appointment of the Karachi Plague Committee.
The following paragraphs are quoted from the report of Mr. R. Giles,
Collector of Karachi :
55. On the 3rd of February the municipality held a general meeting, when their Plague
Rules were finally revised, all being embodied in the Commissioner's Notification No. 439,
dated the 5th February last.
56. After the appointment of the Plague Superintendents, informal meetings were held
by me in the early morning at the Max. Denso Hall, which adjoins the place where all of
them used to meet in order to collect their gangs before commencing work. The municipal
officers attended also and numberless matters especially as regards the changes of Superinten-
dents and their charges were disposed of promptly and without correspondence.
57. Thus on the 11th February at one of these meetings two fresh charges were created,
Mr. Crouch, the Public Prosecutor, and Mr. Cumming, Secretary of the Port Trust, having kindly
offered their services ta the municipality. On the 15th it was decided to place Sardar Khán
Bahadur Mahomed Yakub in sole charge of the Trans-Lyari Mahomedans with Khán Sáheb
Rassulbux as his assistant and three Mahomedan supervisors. Three Mahomedan doctors were
already working there who strengthened the Sardar's hand greatly and did excellent work.
58. It should be mentioned that the services of Sardar Khán Bahadur Mahomed Yakub,
the Deputy Collector of the Nara Valley, who recently distinguished himself in the suppression
of the Thar and Párkar dacoities, and of Khán Sáheb Rassulbux, a selected Mukhtyarkar, had
been placed at my disposal on the 3rd of February by the Commissioner in Sind, with a view to
carrying out the policy referred to in paragraph 6, and managing the Trans-Lyari Mahomedans
B 1135-20—