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Causeways.
Early in February Dr. Britto called the attention of the Health.
Officer to the fact that two plague cases had been brought in over the
Sion Causeway and urged the necessity for inspection. The Collector
of Thana had been watching the further end of the Sion Causeway
since the beginning of February to prevent the importation of the
plague from the City, but no arrangements had been attempted on the
Bombay side. This was, therefore, one of the first points to which the
Committee directed their attention. The first suggestion was that the
Commissioner of Police should be asked to make arrangements for
stopping suspicious cases ; he pointed out, however, that to put this
important duty in the hands of the Police alone might lead to serious
irregularities, and moreover suggested that it was impossible for a
policeman to decide if any particular case of sickness was a plague case
or not.
Surgeon-Major Kirtikar, who had already reported that many
persons were entering Bombay by sea from Kalyan and Bhiwandi,
proposed that all night traffic over the causeways should be stopped
and the Sion Causeway watched. Finally on March 11th the Plague
Committee decided that Surgeon-Captain Jennings, in charge of No. 10
District, should be given an increased staff and should be put in charge
of this work, and both causeways were placed under his control.
There are five ways by which people can enter Bombay Island on foot :
1. The Bandora or Mahim Causeway.
2. The Coorla or Sion Causeway.
3. The G. I. P. Railway Causeway.
4. The B. B. and C. I. Railway Causeway.
5. A tract of land lying between Coorla on the mainland and
the village of Sion on the Island of Bombay. This is
sometimes flooded, but is generally fordable.
6. A small railway line running along a bund beside the
Tansa main water pipe from Chimbur on the mainland
to Sion.
These extend over a space of no less than five miles, and, as it
would have been impossible to hold examinations at all these points
without a very large staff, all the entrances were closed with the excep-
tion of 1 and 2. A police guard was posted to prevent the public
crossing by the railway causeways on foot ; the ford was watched by a
military guard, who turned back all the people who tried to go by that
way and made them go by the Sion Causeway ; and the line over the
water-main pipe was closed by keeping the swinging bridge always open.
System.
The inspection actually began on March 24th. The Causeways
were closed from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. by a military guard to all except
those who had obtained a special pass. On April 21st, 8 p.m. was fixed
as the hour for closing the Causeways ; and finally on June 6th, the Sion