3
5. The Government of Bombay may appoint any person or persons by
name or by virtue of office Health Officer or Health Officers of the Port for the
purpose of these rules as regards any class or classes of vessels and may cancel
any such appointment.
6. Disobedience to any of the above rules, Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, will subject
the offender, and all persons aiding and abetting him, to a prosecution under
Section 271 of the Indian Penal Code.
The proviso to rule 1 (in italics) was added on 12th May 1897 to meet the
cases of such vessels as arrived from uninfected foreign ports at Bombay en route
to Europe, and whilst at Bombay held no communication with the shore except
through passengers embarked there, nor took in food, water or coal. The only
vessels which came under these conditions were those of the French Messageries
Company, and the China passengers of one of them, as well as the crew, raised
some objections to being inspected here, arguing that the very inspection by
officers from a Plague centre such as Bombay might be the means of infecting
them, This argument being sound in a sanitary sense the proviso referred to
was added by Government; and rules were drawn up by the Collector of Customs
and the Port Health Officer which defined for the purposes of the proviso what
shall be held to constitute " communication with Bombay." As a matter of fact,
however, no vessel has as yet come under the proviso, as all French steamers
which have arrived at Bombay since its introduction have gone into wet dock
and thereby freely communicated with the shore.
6. The number of vessels and passengers leaving Bombay was so large that
Government considered the work to be beyond the powers of one Department,
and an arrangement was made by which eventually all steamers, and such native
craft as were bound to any port north of Mádvi (Cutch) and south of Bhatkal
(the most southerly point in the Presidency), were to be inspected by the Port
Health Staff, and all other native craft by medical officers entertained by, and
under the orders of, the Collector of Customs and his staff. The Port Health
Officer was requested by the Collector of Customs to supervise the inspections
of the Customs Medical Staff, and consequently the whole harbour work carried
out is included in this report.
The following was the staff provided :—
" A "—PORT.
Health.
Staff.
One Port Health Officer.
One Additional Port Health Officer.
Three Commissioned Medical Officers.
Three Assistant Surgeons.
One Hospital Assistant.
'· Β "—CUSTOMS.
Medical Staff.
One Lady Doctor, and the services of a second
as occasion required (as events proved for
from 2 to 3 days in each week during the
fair weather season).
Two qualified Private Practitioners.
One Lady Doctor.
Messrs Shepherd & Co. also provided a Medical Officer (qualified Private Prac-
titioner) in connection with that Company's large passenger traffic at Modi
Bandar,
In addition to the extra medical staff detailed under A and B. a second clerk
was provided for the Port Health Office, the crew of the Port Health launch was
doubled, and extra Preventive Officers and sepoys provided by the Customs.
7. Of the following tables, No. I shows the number of outward vessels
and their passengers and crews inspected month by month from 6th February
to 31st July 1897 ; and No. II gives the weekly return of Plague deaths, as shown
in the necrologie-ai certificates attached to the bills of health, and in addition
the total weekly mortality from all causes during the period covered by Table I,
as well as from the date when Plague was declared to be epidemic in Bombay.
It also, for purposes of comparison, contains a column showing the average weekly
total mortality for the previous five years :—