2
Observation camps.
from that side. The principle followed in the case of
the observation camps was that all passengers from
infected areas, the observation of whom after arrival could not effectually and
with certainty be carried out otherwise, were detained under observation in the
camp for a period of eight days. The names and addresses of the remaining
passengers were taken and inquiries were made daily at their houses. The
practical result of the rule was that all third class and some second class pass-
engers were detained. No attempt was made to deal in the same way with the
road traffic within the district.
The Sholápur camp was opened on 11th February and the Bársi Road and
Mohol camps on the 22nd idem. They were closed on 31st May. The total
number of persons detained was 2,800. Among these plague developed in only
one case at Bársi Road.
In Sholápur two detached dharmshálas, one near the Railway Station and
another near the Siddeshwar Tank, were utilized as places of detention. The
dharmshálas were guarded by a party of civil police who also conveyed the per-
sons detained from the Railway Station to the dharmshálas. The Municipality
supplied two kárkuns who attended each train and kept a register of passengers
arriving from infected areas. The Hospital Assistant signed this register, and
those who were to be detained were conveyed to the observation camp. The
names and addresses of the others were reported to the Municipality who
arranged that the ward inspectors should make daily inquiries about the new
arrivals for a period of eight days. Those in the camp of observation were
made to wash their clothes on arrival. Two servants were attached to each
dharmshála to attend to the wants of those detained who were not allowed other-
wise to communicate with those outside. If any one under detention! bad not
the means of procuring food, subsistence money was allowed. The Civil Surgeon
inspected the camp daily.
At Mohol and Bársi Road the arrangements were in charge of the Assistant
Collector. The accommodation provided consisted of a number of tents sur-
rounded by a fence. They were well removed from the village and placed under
the shade of trees. A Hospital Assistant had medical charge of the camp, and
an establishment, consisting of a Camp Superintendent, water carriers and village
watchmen, was also appointed. These two camps were intended more parti-
cularly to protect the towns of Pandharpur and Bársi,
The system of observation camps lost much of its force by the facility with
which the rules could be evaded. It was impossible to have a camp at every
station in the district, and even had that been possible the check would have
been ineffective without similar camps at all stations before the Railway enters
this district. Observation was evaded by the passengers getting clown at
stations before the observation camp was reached and either re-booking or
completing their journey on foot. In spite of this there is every reason to
believe that the observation camps were useful safe-guards in so far as they
imposed a check on the rush of the people from plague-stricken areas, especially
from Poona. By reducing the passenger traffic they lessened the chance of the
importation of the disease.
Plague Kárkuns.
The posting of plague kárkuns at the Railwav Stations was intended to
supplement the camps of observation. These men took
the names of the passegerers and of the villages to
which they were proceeding. They then sent post-cards to the Pátils of the
villages who were instructed to keep a watch on the new arrivals for a period
of eight days and to report the result to the Mámlatdár. The kárkúns sent to
the Mámlatdár separate lists of arrivals with which the Pátil's reports were
checked. The Pauls and villagers were made fully alive to the clanger of the
importation of the disease, and it is satisfactory to note that in every case where
necessity arose they acted promptly and enforced segregation of their own
motion.
Yátras.
Special steps had to be taken to prevent the relictious fairs from becoming
centres from which the disease might be disseminated.
For the November fair at Pandharpur arrangements