19
were to consult with the Municipal Commissioner and the Health Officer; to see
for himself what was being done; to note any defects; to inform Government
of the result of his inspections and of any defects which he might note, and, in
particular, scrutinise the measures for preventing the escape of plague-stricken
persons from the city. A brief account of the action taken by him is given as
Appendix B to this chapter.
13. On the 20th January, in reply to a telegram in which the Secretary of
State offered to send a temporary staff of doctors, the Bombay Government
telegraphed that the " services of Army Medical Doctors who served in Hong-
kong during the plague would be acceptable." As the Government of India
expressed their willingness to lend medical men, a request made to the Secretary
of State on the 23rd January to send out 10 Hindustani-speaking junior officers
of the Army Medical Department was cancelled.
14. At this time, therefore, the Municipal Commissioner was devoting
his attention to a scheme for house-to-house visitation with a view to carrying
out as far as practicable the most important and difficult of the suggestions of
the Surgeon-General, viz., the segregation of the sick; and Government had
taken such steps as were possible to supply him with the medical men required
for the purpose-a matter of extreme difficulty.
15. In the meantime Dr. Cleghorn, Director-General of the Indian Medical
Service, had been deputed on January 4th by the Government of India to visit
Bombay, " not with the object of criticising or interfering in any way with local
arrangements, but with a view to informing himself fully of the existing state of
affairs and of determining what measures should be adopted, should the exten-
sion of the disease to other parts of India become serious." During his visit a
memorial was compiled under his direction and signed by several medical men.
In this, which is printed in full as Appendix C to this chapter, and the signa-
tories of which included all the members, except Dr. Manser (deceased), of the
Scientific Committee which had previously recommended segregation of the sick
and also included the Surgeon-General and Brigade-Surgeon -Lieut.-Colonel Weir,
Executive Health Officer of the Bombay Mnnicipality, it was strongly urged
that evacuation of all infected houses was the only practical method of arresting
the progress of the disease. Professor Haffkine, when signing the memorial.
appended the following minute:
"I am of opinion that as there are facts showing that the plague is spread by people
coming from infected localities, the measures compelling the inhabitants to leave those
localities ought to be accompanied by others calculated to control their future movements."
16. This memorial was forwarded on the 19th January 1897 by the Gov-
ernment of India to the Government of Bombay. The Municipal Commissioner
was thereupon consulted.
17. A few days previously a telegram was received from the Secretary of
State, in which he made the following among other suggestions:
"After consulting experts, local and scientific, I consider-
(1) That all plague cases should be segregated apart in separate hospitals; due
allowance should be made for sex and caste; if opposition arises it should be faced.
(2) That house-to-house visitation and inspection should be put in force in the
manner least repugnant to the feelings of the people, a special staff being organised
under medical men."
18. The Municipal Commissioner on 28th January submitted the following
report on the proposals of Dr. Cleghorn and the Medical Officers who had signed
the memorial compiled under his direction:
" No. 22709 OF 1896-97.
From P. C. H. SNOW, Esquire, I. C. S., Municipal Commissioner for the City of Bombay,
to the SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, General Department.
Municipal Commissioner's Office,
Bombay, 28th January 1897.
"Sir,-In regard to the Despatch No. 45, Home Department, Sanitary, from the
Government of India, dated 19th January 1897, lately forwarded to me I have the honour
to remark as follows.