NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
40
should be ordered to join. Such applications shall always be
accompanied by an intimation whether the officer should bring
horses with him.
II. The Government of India will then address the
Adjutant-General in India, who will issue instructions under
the orders of the Commander-in-Chief to one or more Com-
mands to supply the officers wanted, the Government of India
being at the same time informed of the instructions issued.
III. On learning from the Adjutant-General's depart-
ment from what Command the officers asked for will be
supplied, the Government of India will inform the Local
Government or Administration concerned, and all further
correspondence in reference to the individual officers detailed
by Commands, or their replacement, should they for any
reason revert to military duty, will be conducted between the
Local Government or Administration and the Lieutenant-
General Commanding.
IV. When the officers selected have joined their appoint-
ments, the Lieutenant-General Commanding will communicate
their names to the Adjutant-General's department, and their
services will then be placed at the disposal of the Govern-
ment of India.
V. It is not considered desirable that a military officer
should remain absent from his regiment on plague duty for
more than a year at a time. The Lieutenant-General Com-
manding has therefore instructions to arrange with the Local
Government for the relief by a substitute of any such officer
who has been employed on plague work for over a year.
VI. When an officer's services are no longer required, he
should be directed by the Local Government or Administration
to rejoin his regiment, the Lieutenant-General Commanding
and the Government of India being at the same time informed,
and the latter will then replace the officer at the Commander-
in-Chief's disposal.
108. No officers of the Indian Medical Service or the
Royal Army Medical Corps lent for plague duty should be
permitted to revert to military duty without the previous
sanction of the Government of India.
Troops.
109. The use of troops for plague purposes should be
avoided as far as possible and their employment should be
confined to disinfection when local labour is not available.
Before being sent on plague duty, the sepoys should be
inoculated and each of them should be supplied with two suits
of white drill, one pair of boots, and two white turbans ; they
should not wear military uniform or carry arms while so
4Í
employed. The sanction, of Government should be obtained
before requisitioning them,but where the employment of troops
has once been sanctioned, tlie men may be changed without
reference to Grovernment, arrangements being made for the
relieving detachment to be inoculated before being despatched
to plague work.
Plague
measures in
Canton-
ments.
110. In Cantonments, the militarj authorities are imme-
diately responsible for carrying out the plague measures, and
Collectors should delegate to them the necessary powers under
the plague regulations.
Breach of
plague
regulations
by troops
and
pensioners.
111. By Command Order, No. 687, dated 18th November
1898, all ranks in the Madras Command have been directed
to obey the plague regulations, and any infringement of them
is punishable as a military offence. Military pensioners have
been warned (Superintendent's circular No. II, dated lath
December 1898) that any disobedience or wilful neglect of the
regulations or obstruction offered to any official on plague
duty will be treated as a breach of the good conduct required
by Government as a condition of the continuation of their
pensions, and that any pensioner being guilty thereof will be
liable to have his pension stopped forthwith and the same
reduced or permanently withdrawn.
Duties of the
railway staff.
112. The following are the duties of the railway officials ]
under the plague regulations :—
]
(1) To prevent passengers from infected areas from
alighting at any station other than an inspection station, and
to insist on their proceeding to the inspection station if it is
suspected that the passengers are evading inspection by so
alighting.
(2) To see with the aid of the platform police that
passengers alighting at a railway station do nob leave the
premises except by the proper exit.
(3) To see that the railway tickets issued in an infected
area and the fresh tickets issued to persons from infected
areas who re-book are punched or clipped as prescribed.
(4) To "stop all passengers presenting plague-punched
tickets from infected or notified stations until their names and
addresses have been taken clown and they have been given
passports either by the plague official appointed for the purpose
or at smaller stations by the station staff themselves.
(5) To disinfect railway carriages from infected areas
and carriages in which persons suffering or suspected to be
suffering from plague have travelled.
42
(6) To take steps for tracing and destroying rats that
may arrive from infected areas concealed in the goods
imported.
(7) To put up a notice in all railway carriages intimating
that passengers from infected parts should take out passports
at stations of destination.
(8) To lock the carriages before the arrival of the train
at the inspection station.
(9) To detain the train until the medical inspection is
over.
(10) To see that no passenger is permitted to leave
his carriage until the arrangements for his examination are
complete.
(11) To give every assistance to the medical officers
conducting the inspection in order to minimise the detention
of trains.
(12) To carry out the instructions regarding the
transmission of the names and addresses of passengers.
(13) To afford every facility towards the working of
the plague regulations generally.
Plague staff
entitled to,
and bound to
gi-ve, one
month's
notice.
113. (1) In tue absence of a written contract to the
contrary,» every inspector, maistri, peon, watchman, cooly,
scavenger or .other menial servant employed to do duty in
connection with plague shall be entitled to one month's notice
before discharge, or to one month's wages in lieu thereof,
unless he is discharged for misconduct or was engaged for a
specified term and is discharged at the end of it. Similarly
every supplier of coolies or other menial servants shall be
entitled to one month's notice before his coolies are dis-
charged.
(2) No such- inspector, maistri, peon, watchman, cooly,
scavenger or other menial servant shall, in the absence of a
written contract authorizing him so to do and without reason-
able cause, resign his employment or absent himself from his
daties without giving one month's notice, or shall neglect or
refuse to perform his duties or any of them. In like manner-
no supplier of coolies or other menial servants shall withdraw
his coolies without giving one month's notice.
Detention of
public
servants.
114. -AH officer not being on leave who is prevented from
discharging his duties through segregation on account of
plague may be treated as on duty on full pay. In the case
of an officer who is segregated while returning from leave and
43
thus overstays his leave, tlio period of detention may be
treated as duty on half-pay. Officers who are suffering from
plague should be dealt with in accordance with the ordinary
rules.
Mode of
disinfection.
115. Whenever disinfection is prescribed by any of these
regulations, it shall be carried out in accordance with the
general principles laid down by Government and such subsi-
diary instructions as may be issued by the Sanitary Com-
missioner or, in respect to management of hospitals, by the
Surgeon-General with the Government of Madras.
115-A. For the purpose of effecting the disinfection
prescribed by Rule 57 (2), 69, 71 (7) or 72 (8), the Collector,
or any officer who may be generally or specially authorized by
the Collector in this behalf, may, at any time during daylight,
force open any closed house which, in his opinion, requires
disinfection : provided that a notice calling upon the owner
or tenant of such house to open the house before a specified
time shall have been served on him, or posted on some
conspicuous part of the building, and the house has not been
opened accordingly ; and provided also that as little damage
as possible shall be caused to the house in the act of opening.
Locked receptacles insi'.le the house may be forced open by
the same officers or officers similarly authorized.
Compensa-
tion.
116. When in the exercise of the powers conferred by or
under these regulations any damage or loss is caused, no
person shall be entitled as a matter of right to claim any
compensation, but the Collector of the district or any person
authorized by him may award compensation at the cost of
local, municipal or provincial funds as the case may be, and
shall do so when the loss would fall upon people in very poor
circumstances, to whom it would be a great hardship to bear
it, or may, in such cases, provide other necessary articles in
the place of those destroyed or damaged and debit the charge
to the proper funds.
Supersession
of district
board or
municipality
by Collector
in emergen-
cies.
117. The Collector of a district may, in case of emergency
or to save delay, provide for the execution of any work or the
doing of any act which a district board or municipality is
empowered or required to execute or to do in accordance with
these regulations, and the immediate execution or the doing
of which is in the said Collector's opinion necessary for the
safety of the public, and may charge the expense of executing
the work or doing the act to the local board or municipality
concerned,
44
Contents of
certificates,
passes, &c.
Their im-
proper use
prohibited,
118. Any certificate, passport or pass granted under these
regulations .shall contain an accurate description of the person
named in it to prevent, so far as possible, its being used by
another person ; nor shall such a certificate or passport or pass
given to any person to enable him to go from one place to
another or for any purpose be used by any other person or for
any other purpose.
Segregated
or detained
persons
bonnd to
obey direc-
tions given to
them.
119. Every person segregated or detained under any of
these regulations shall obey the directions issued to him by the
officer in charge of the place of segregation or detention and
shall not leave such place except with the written permission
of the said officer, who may take such steps as may be neces-
sary to enforce this prohibition.
Canal boats,
subject fco
same
regulations
as buildings.
120. (1) A canal boat shall be subject to all the regulations
applicable to buildings ; and passengers by a canal boat shall
be subject to interrogation, inspection and detention in the
same manner as passengers by railway.
(2) In order to prevent the spread of the infection of
the plague either by or to a canal boat, the Collector of the
district or any officer generally or specially empowered by him
in this behalf may require such boat to alter its moorings or to
stop during its passage and moor in such position as such
officer may indicate, or may direct that it desist from plying
until such time as may be stated in a notice placed on a
conspicuous position of the boat.
Privileges
granted fo
inoculated
persons.
121. (1) Persons who hold certificates that they have been
successfully inoculated by M. Haffkine's process, shall be
entitled to the following privileges, provided such certificates
bear a date not earlier than four months and not later than
ten days previously :—
(a) Unless suffering from, or suspected to be suffer-
ing from, plague, tbey shall not be liable to detention at any
railway or road observation camp when travelling, except for
such period as may be required to disinfect their baggage and
clothes, if those are considered suspicious.
(5) They shall not be liable to take out passports and
present themselves daily for observation for ten days after
arrival from a plague-infected place, or from any place notified
by the Governor of .Fort St. G-eorge in Council for the
purposes of these rules ; but they may be observed at their
own residence and shall, with this view, be bound when
required by any plague officer to give their names and addresses
for the next ten days.
(c) Inoculated persons who have been living in an
infected house or have otherwise been exposed to plague
45
infection shall not be liable to be segregated, but may be
required to evacuate the infected house and to have their
clothes and personal effects disinfected. When, however, all
the occupants of a house have been inoculated, neither the
patients ñor the other inmates of the house shall be required
to be segregated, provided arrangements are made to the
satisfaction of a plague officer for the disinfection of the house
and its contents, and for the prevention of the spread of plague
to the neighbouring dwellings.
(2) The inoculation certificate shall be in the form
shown in Appendix II-F. But when in a certificate issued
under authority, the thumb impression has not been taken,
other satisfactory evidence of identification may be accepted.
Inoeulatad
persons
bound to
produce their
inoculation
certificates
and make an
impression of
thumb-
marks.
122. Every inoculated person who is exempted from
segregation, detention and observation under the preceding
Rule 121 shall be bound, when called upon to do so by the
officer mentioned in Rule 3, to produce the certificate showing
that he has been inoculated by M. Haffkine's process, and also
to make an impression of his thumb-mark for the purpose of
identification.
Note,—Further information regarding inoculation is given in Note (5) in
Appendix I.
Plague
reporta and
returns.
123. When a case of plague, genuine or suspected, is first
discovered in any place, not declared infected, the Collector or,
in his absence, any gazetted officer at the head-quarter station
of the district, shall immediately telegraph the fact to the
Secretary to Government, Local and Municipal department,
to the Sanitary Commissioner and to the Surgeon-General.
This telegram shall state whether the case was indigenous or
imported, if the latter whence it was imported, how the case
was discovered, and any other further particulars, with dates,
which appear necessary. In the case of ports whence vessels
sail for Europe, it should also be stated in the telegram
whether any plague or unusual mortality among rats was
observed. Within 24 hours (if possible) of the despatch of
this telegram a special report in the . form prescribed in
Appendix II-O shall be despatched to Government and to
the Sanitary Commissioner. A similar course shall be
followed with each subsequent case up to and including the
third case. Names of hamlets should not be telegraphed, but
only the names of the villages to which such hamlets belong.
Provided that no special report of imported cases need be
forwarded from railway inspection stations, unless the medical
officer in charge considers that there are special points
46
requiring notice, e.g., the detection of a case from an area
hitherto unnotified, or the occurrence of attempts at evasion
of plague rules.
Provided also that in a district, other than the Nilgiris
or Chingleput, which may be infected with indigenous plague,
the submission of the special report to Government shall be
restricted to cases which occur in a union or a municipality.
124. After the first three cases have been reported in
accordance with Rule 128 special reports in the form given in
Appendix II-O regarding indigenous cases need not be sub-
mitted, but a special report of each imported case shall be
forwarded without delay to the -Sanitary Commissioner, who
will transmit it to Government with his remarks if it shows
any serious negligence in dealing with the case specified or
presents any features of such special importance as to deserve
the notice of Government, but not otherwise.
For the purposes of these rules, cases of plague among
contacts who have not been, within the preceding fortnight,
in an infected place should be treated as indigenous and not
as imported.
124:-A. To enable the Collector to prepare the special
reports mentioned in Rules, 123 and 124, the plague inspector,
the tahsildar or other reporting officer shall draw up his report
to the Collector in the form prescribed in Appendix II-O 1 , in
respect of imported cases and the first three cases of indigenous
plague in any village. The report shall invariably be sub-
mitted within 24 hours from the hour of the first intimation
of plague in the case specified, and it shall on no account be
delayed merely because full information on all points is not
available. The form should be filled in as far as possible.
125. All attacks and deaths should be telegraphed daily
by Collectors to Government, the Sanitary Commissioner
and the Surgeon-General in the form prescribed by G.O.,
No. 485 P., dated 10th March 1904. Nil telegrams are
not required. All Collectors shall also send daily tele-
graphic reports of plague to the medical officer of the Ceylon
Government stationed at Tuticorin whenever plague cases
occur in their districts. The cost of these telegrams and of
similar telegrams sent by Government will be debited to the
Ceylon Government by the Accountant-Général.
126. The following reports and returns are sent by the
Government of Madras to the Government of India :—
(a) A. daily telegraphic report showing plague seizures
and deaths in the Madras City.
47
(b) An ordinary telegram every Monday showing sepa-
rately the number of seizures and deaths from
plague during the week ending with the previous
Saturday (i) in the Presidency town, (ii) in towns
of 50,000 or more inhabitants in each district,
(iii) in the rest of the district, and (iv) in all
ports of the Presidency,
(c) Special telegraphic reports whenever plague ex-
tends to any new district or important place.
In the case of ports whence vessels sail for
Europe, it should be stated in the telegram
whether any plague or unusual mortality among
rats was observed.
(d) A monthly return showing daily reported plague
seizures and deaths in each district during the
previous month and also a similar separate return
for the Madras City, to be despatched with a
brief narrative of any events of importance in
connection with plague, so as to reach the
Government of India not later than the 7th of
each month.
(e) A telegram, as soon as the statistics referred to in
clause (d) above are compiled, showing the total
number of seizures and deaths in the whole Presi-
dency (i) during the month under report, (ii)
during the preceding month..
(f) A special report by letter when a district or town
of over 50,000 inhabitants previously included in
the weekly, returns is considered or declared to
be entirely free from plague. Copies of this
report are circulated to all Local Governments
and Administrations and all Political officers,
127. To enable the Local Government to prepare the
monthly narrative required by the Government of India,
Collectors of districts affected with indigenous plague will
forward on the 25th of every month a concise report on plague
in their districts, showing whether the disease is increasing
or decreasing, what measures have been taken to suppress it
and with what degree of success, the attitude of the people, the
readiness with which they permit segregation of the sick and
contacts, or with which they evacuate houses of their own
accord, whether they accept treatment or desire inoculation,
what steps they are taking to help themselves and any other
matters of interest, This report should reach Government not
4
48
later than the 27th of the month to which it relates. When-
ever a place previously included in the list of infected areas
is considered to be entirely free from plague, the Collectors
concerned should report the fact to Government so that it may
be removed from the list. This report should state the date of
the last case and should certify that no plague patients remain
under treatment and that all necessary measures of disinfection
have been taken.
128. Each Collector should keep in his office a plague
record, to which officers on plague duty in his district should
be requested to contribute brief notes on any matter they may
consider of importance in perfecting measures against the
disease, or desirable o£ being placed on record with a view to
adding force to theories already assented to, or controverting
them from (1) an administrative, (2) medical, or (3) sanitary
point of view. Weekly extracts from this record of the
portion bearing on sanitation should be sent to the Sanitary
Commissioner.
129. In the event of recrudescence of plague in any town
or village which has been free from the disease for any length
of time, particular efforts should be made by the local officials
to ascertain whether any definite facts bearing on the probable
cause or source of re-infection are available, and a special
report should be submitted by the Collector to Government
through the Sanitary Commissioner.
130. Inasmuch as the Mysore Darbar has instructed
the amildars and deputy amildars in charge of taluqs and sub-
taluqs of Mysore which border on British districts to give
immediate information of the occurrence of plague within
their jurisdiction direct to the tahsildars of the neighbouring
British taluqs, and as the deputy commissioners have been
similarly requested to keep the Collectors of adjoining British
districts promptly informed of the occurrence of plague in the
neighbouring districts in Mysore, Collectors of British districts
bordering on Mysore will accordingly arrange to give similar
information direct to the officials of the Darbar. Similar
arrangements are in force with regard to districts bordering on
the Nizam's Dominions. A system of intercommunication
among the Sanitary Commissioners of the various provinces has
been sanctioned by the Government of India with regard to
news about the progress of plague. Under this system, the
appearance of plague should be telegraphed at once by the
Sanitary Commissioner in whose area cases occur to the other
Sanitary Commissioners on receipt of a report of a first case in
taluqs and important towns,