42
removal of the sick to the sheds would necessitate ; ' indeed/ he adds, ' there is reason to believe
that at present at least the feeling among; the townspeople would not admit of the segregation
of all cases.'
"15. This letter was written on the 30th of December, after Dr. Arnim had paid many-
visits to the town, and, coming from an officer who was strongly in favour of compulsory segregation,
it shows pretty clearly what the position was when the year 1895 ended. By that time many
of the inhabitants of the ( Old Town/ the quarter of the City which had suffered; most, had
iled, the exodus commencing after the 2Uth and continuing steadilj until some time after the-
disease had commenced to decline.
" 16. The total number of reported cases up to the close of the year was 63, of which 51
were in the Old Town quarter, and the total number of deaths 59.
" 17. On the 1st of January, when forwarding a telegram from Government, directing that
arrangements for the inspection of trains should be made, the Commissioner in Sind requested
me to go to Karachi and temporarily make my head-quarters there in order that Τ might supervise
and watch all measures necessary to prevent the spread of the disease. Accordingly, on receipt
of his letter, I proceeded to Karachi.
" 18. Mr. Wiiigate also went there, and on the 4th of January held a most important meeting
in Government House for the special purpose of considering the Municipal Resolutions referred to
in paragraph 12, and in particular the one providing for the compulsory removal of the sick to-
isolat on hospitals.
" 19. This meeting was attended by the Principal Medical Officer, the President, Secretary,
and Health Officer of the Municipality, the Civil Surgeon, the Deputy {Sanitary Commissioner
and myself ; and although opinions were not unanimous, the general sense of the meeting was
•adverse to such compulsion.
" 20. "Writing to me on the subject, Mr. Wingate in his urgent letter No. B, dated the same
day as the meeting, remarks :—' I find that something approaching to a panic exists in the town
owing to fear of compulsory removal to isolation hospitals, and I think it was the " unanimous
opin.on/· 1 i.e.) at the meeting, that such removal could not be carried out peaceably ; in fact, that
there was reason to believe that it would be opposed to the wishes of the whole population, and
serious opposition was to be anticipated. It comes, therefore, to this, that either sick people
must be dragged from their houses by force, and opposition be met by force, or else their terror
of compulsory removal must be allayed, and sympathy and conciliation take its place.'
" 21. The Commissioner, therefore, refused to sanction the rule providing for the com-
pulsory removal of the sick, his policy being to win the confidence of the people by this con-
cession, and so lead them to give immediate information of sickness, and permit the other
essential measures, viz., (1) visitation of sick and suspected persons, (2) the disinfection of houses
a,ncl (o) the destruction of infected property.
" 22. Mr. Wingate had done me the honour of consulting me on the subject prior to the
Meeting, and I expressed my entire concurrence in the above policy, and my opinion that com-
pulsory removal of the sick could not then be carried out without some risk of forcible opposition
which, however, could be easily overcome, and was a matter of comparatively little moment ;
but that involving, as it must do, the removal of so many sick atone time (15 cases were report-
ed on the day of the Meeting, and as many as 43 on the 10th of January), it would c;iuse a scene
which would be utterly repugnant to the feelings of the whole community, and would rema'n
indelibly burnt into their memories, a possible sore, which even time might never heal.
" 23. Nor, as a matter of fact, were the Municipality then prepared to carry out the entire
policy of segregation, anything short of which is, as our subsequent experience showed, of little
use ; for their proposals did not then involve the segregation of the entire household, but only of
those in attendance on the sick, nor was the accommodation provided sufficient for all.
" 24. Leaving that consideration aside, however, I am still firmly convinced that the policy
adopted was at the time the right policy; that to a very considerable extent it had the immediate
effect, which Mr. Wingate aimed at, and that, in consequence of its adoption, the people, as a
rule, readily opened their houses to» visitation and disinfection, while it is a fact that the same
conciliatory policy, continued, led the people of Karachi, who had unanimously rejected both
treatment and segregation, to accept both, so that before the end of March I was able to repoit
that every sick person was under regular medical treatment, and that every sick person and
every soul in his house, and often, of the neighbouring houses also, were removed to the hospital
and segregation sheds directly the case was reported.
"25. Armed with this concession,. I held, on the 7th of January, a Meeting o£ the leading
City Mahomedans, and spokn to them at length, promising them that the sick should remain in
their houses, provided that they would report cases of sickness immediately, and allow the sick-
ness to be diagnosed and their houses to be disinfected, should death from plague occur. This
they agreed to, and on the whole adhered fairly to their promises.
I also promised to secure
the services of a Lady-doctor to visit their ' Pardah-Nishin 3 ladle*, and a fully qualified one,
Miss Jennie Duggan, was appointed by the Municipality on the following day.
I also held a
similar Meeting on the 14th, when I promised to try and secure the services of Mahomedan.
doctors.