NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
41
before requisitioning them, but where the employment of troops
has once been sanctioned, the men may be changed without
reference to Government, 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 military 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 14th
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reduced or permanently withdrawn.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 not 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 down 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
ot trains.
(13) 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
give, one
month's
notice.
113. (1) In the 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 bis employment or absent himself from his
duties 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, An 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
thus overstays his leave, the period of detention may be
48
treated as duty on half-pay. Officers who are suffering from
plague should be dealt with in accordance with the ordinary
rules.
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
subsidiary instructions as may be issued by the Sanitary
Commissioner or, in respect to management of hospitals,
by the Surgeon-General with the Government of Madras.
Mode of
disinfection.
115-A. For the purpose of effecting the disinfection
prescribed by Eule 57 (2), 69, or 72 (3), 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 disinfec-
tion : 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
inside the house may be forced open by the same officers
or officers similarly authorized.
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 circum-
stances, 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 destroy eid or damaged and debit the charge to the
proper funds.
Compensa-
tion.
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.
Supersession
of district
board or
municipality
by Collector
in emergen-
cies.
44
Contents of
certificates,
pasees, etc.
Their im-
proper use
prohibited.
1Í8. 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
bound 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 permis-
sion of the said officer, who may take such steps as may be
necessary to enforce this prohibition.
*
Canal boats,
subject to
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 to
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 nine months and not later than
seven days previously :—
(a) Unless suffering from, or suspected to be suffering
from, plague, they 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.
(&) They shall not be liable to take out passports and
present themselves daily for observation for seven days after
arrival from a plague-infected place, or from any place notified
by the Governor of Fort St. George in Council for the purposes
of these rules ; but they may be observed at tlieir own residence
and shall, with this view, be bound when required by any
plague officer to give their names and addresses for the next
seven days.
45
(c) Inoculated persons who have been living in an
infected house or have otherwise been exposed to plague
infection shall not be liable to be segregated, but may be
required (o 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 nor the other inmates of the house shall be required
to be segregated, provided arrangements are made to the satis-
faction 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 satis-
factory evidence of identification may be accepted.
138. Every inoculated person who is exempted from
segregation, detention and observation under the preceding
Bule i-'l 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. Hafrkine's process, and also
to make an impression of his thumb-mark for the purpose of
identification.
Note.—Further information regarding inoculation is giyen in note (6) in Appendix I.
Inoculated
persons
bound to
produce their
inoculation
certificates
and make an
impression of
thumb-
marks.
1S3, When a ease 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-quarters station
of the district shall immediately telegraph the fact to the
Secretary to Government, Local and Municipal Department,
and to the Sanitary Commissioner. 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
Plague
reports and
returns.
46
officer in charge considers that there are special pointa
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 ISTilgiris 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 oases have been reported in
accordance with Rule 123 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 Bules 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 Il-0 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 and the Sanitary Commissioner in the
form prescribed by Gr.O., No. 485 P., dated lUth March 1904.
Nil telegrams are not required. The Government send daily
telegraphic reports of indigenous plague cases in the Presidency
to the Medical officer of the Ceylon Government stationed at
Tuticorin. The cost of these telegrams will be debited to the
Ceylon Government by the Accountant-General.
125-A. Collectors of infected districts shall send daily
reports ol plague to the Collectors and District Medical Officers
of adjoining districts in the form prescribed by G.O., No. 83 P.,
dated 16th January 1904.
47
The Collectors of Nellore, North Arcot, South Arcot and
Chingleput shall send a copy of the daily plague report to the
President of the Madras Corporation, and shall also report to
him by telegram irnrnediately on its occurrence any case of
plague or suspected plague that may occur in any new place
within their districts.
126. The following reports and returns are sent by the
Government of Madras to the Government of India:—
(«) An express 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 ¿0,000 or more inhabitants in each district,
(iii) in the rest of the district, and (iv) in all
ports of the Presidency.
(o) 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.
(c) A monthly return showing daily reported plague
seizures and deaths in each district during the
previous month and also a similar separate return
for Madras City, to be despatched with a brief
narrative of any events of importance in connec-
tion with plague, so as to reach the Government
of India not later than the 7th of each month.
(d) A telegram, as soon as the statistics referred to in
clause (c) above are compiled, showing the total
number of deaths in the whole Presidency during
the month under report.
(e) 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
48
and with, what decree 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
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 precautionary measures
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 of 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
49
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.
131. All correspondence about plague should be addressed
to the Secretary to Government, Local and Municipal Depart-
ment, and should be marked with the word k/i Plague " in red
ink on the outside covers and on the left-hand corner of the
papers. Telegrams should be addressed to " Madras, Plague."
Note.—All communications, except reports or returns on printed forma, should be
forwarded with a docket sheet, copies of which are supplied by the Superintendent,
Government Press.
Plague
corre-
spondence
132. All references regarding account matters should be
addressed to, or forwarded through, the Accountant-General.
133. Plague correspondence should be entered in a
separate current register, and the papers shown against a
new item " Plague " in the quarterly business returns. A
separate series of numbers should be given to the disposals,
and the question of destroying or retaining them should be
dealt with in accordance with Board's Proceedings, No. 101,
dated 18th April 1898. As regards passports, however, they
are of no use after the expiration of the period of observation
and may then be destroyed except where they are required
or likely to be required in connection with any prosecution
or for any special purpose.
Note.—In Appendix IT-P is given a list of plague records showing when each item
may he destroyed.
134:. Copies of printed Government orders relating to
plague matters need not ordinarily be supplied to medical
subordinates, sanitary inspectors or chairmen of unions, or
to each member of a municipal council. Where necessary,
district circulars embodying the purport of the Government
orders should be issued to subordinate officers. Spare copies
of Government orders are at present distributed in accordance
with the statement printed as Appendix II-Q.
135. Copies of all important orders passed by the Govern-
ment in regard to the prevention and suppression of plague
will be supplied from the Government office to the Assistant
Adjutant-General, Ninth Division, and the General Officers
Commanding Districts in the Madras Presidency, who should
also be furnished by Collectors with similar orders issued
by themselves.
4