33
(6) the powers conferred by section 2, sub-section (1) and sub-section (2), clause
(δ) by the Lieutenant-Go ver nor of the North-Western Provinces and Chief
Commissioner of Oudh, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab and the Chief
Commissioner of the Central Provinces; and
(c) the powers conferred by Section 2, sub-section (2), clause (J), by the Chief
Commissioners of Assam, Coorg and British Baluchistan.
7. On February 6th urgent telegrams were sent to Commissionerà and
Collectors requesting them to state forthwith what powers they considered
necessary. The subject of the powers conferred under the Act will be dealt
with in Chapter III.
SECTION 7.
The Pilgrim Traffic.*
On the outbreak and spread of bubonic plague in the Bombay Presidency,
some alarm was felt at the possible risk of its being widely diffused over
other countries and eventually reaching Europe through pilgrims leaving Bom-
bay for the Hedjaz and carrying the disease with them. On the 7th January
1897 the Government of India telegraphed to this Government stating that
Egypt was discouraging pilgrims from going to Mecca, and enquiring whether
similar action could not be taken hare. On the 16th January, before a scheme
for effectually discouraging the pilgrimage could be formulated, the Government
of India communicated two telegrams from the Secretary of State, one of which
announced that two plague deaths had been reported among the pilgrims on
board the S.S. " Pekin" during the voyage from Bombay, and the other that
some of the European, Powers were pressing Her Majesty's Government to
prohibit the pilgrimage from India during the present year. The Government
of India suggested that Bombay should temporarily cease to be a port appointed
under Section 7 of the Pilgrim Ships Act XIV of 1895 for the departure of
pilgrims. In reply, this Government deprecated the absolute prohibition of
pilgrims leaving India, but were agreed that Bombay and Karachi should cease
to be ports of embarkation for pilgrims with effect from the 1st of February.
This proposal was accepted by the Government of India, who stated that Cal-
cutta and Madras would still remain open to pilgrim traffic, and requested that
persons engaged in it in the Bombay Presidency might be informed accordingly.
A notification announcing the prohibition from the 1st February 1897 against
the departure of pilgrim ships from the ports of Bombay and Karachi was
accordingly published in a Bombay G-overnment Gazette Extraordinary on the
21st January 1897, and steps were taken to make the change as widely known
as possible, and to prevent, if possible, intending pilgrims coming to Bombay and
Karcachi. Some attempts were made, but without success, by the owners of
ipilgrim ships to induce Government to postpone the prohibition to a later
date. Meanwhile, several hundreds of pilgrims, partly natives of India and
partly persons from Central Asia, who had purchased tickets for the purpose of
proceeding to the Haj, had already arrived in Bombay, in the hope that the
S.S. " Pekin " would be ready for them about the 8th of February. In spite, too,
of the efforts to check pilgrims coming to Bombay, daily arrivals by rail and sea
continued to add to the number of pilgrims in the city. Tliese were naturally
much dissatisfied at the state of affairs resulting from their being prohibited to
embark for the Hedjaz afc Bombay and were giving some trouble, and it was
known that most of them would soon come to the end of their pecuniary re-
sources in Bombay. Mr. Vincent, the Commissioner of Police, accordingly sug-
gested that they might be sent to Madras or Calcutta, where they would be able
sooner or later to find accommodation in pilgrim ships sailing for Jedda; and
by Government Resolution No. 503, dated the 30th January 1897, he was
authorized to pay their third class railway fares, provided he could arrange for
their departure for Madras or Calcutta. The authorities at Madras, however
objected to that place being appointed a porb for the departure of pilgrims, and
requested tliab, pendiag the result of an application to the Government of India
in the matter, pilgrims should be prevented from proceeding thither. Arrange-
ments were still continued in order to facilitate the departure of some of
the pilgrims to Calcutta and others to their own homes. The latter was,
however, a matter of great difficulty, for when pilgrims had reached Bombay,
it was almost impossible to convince them that they could not obtain a passage
*The whole history of the arrangements regarding pilgrims is for convenience included in this
section though a portion of it belongs to a later period than that dealt with in Chapter II.
Β 1135—9