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2. The law applicable was contained in sections 47 (d), 71, and 117 of the
Railways Act IX of 1890, which run as follows:
Section 47 (d)-A railway company is empowered to make general rules for regulating
the conditions on which the railway administration will carry passengers suffering from in-
fectious or contagious disorders and providing for the disinfection of carriages which have been
used by such passengers.
Section 71.-(1) A railway administration may refuse to carry, except in accordance with
the conditions prescribed under section 47 (1), clause (d), a person suffering from any infec-
tious or contagious disorder.
(2) A person suffering from such a disorder shall not enter or travel on a railway
without the special permission of the station-master or other railway servant in charge of the
place where he enters upon the railway.
(3) A railway servant giving such permission as is mentioned in sub-section (2) must
arrange for the separation of the person suffering from the disorder from other persons being
or travelling upon the railway.
Section 117.-(1) If a person suffering from an infectious or contagious disorder enters
or travels upon a railway in contravention of section 71, sub-section (2), he and any person
having charge of him upon the railway when he so entered or travelled thereon shall be
punished with fine which may extend to twenty rupees, in addition to the forfeiture of any
fare which either of them may have paid, and of any pass or ticket which either of them may
have obtained or purchased, and may be removed from the railway by any railway servant.
(2) If any such railway servant as is referred to in section 71, sub-section (2), knowing
that a person is suffering from any infectious or contagious disorder, wilfully permits the
person to travel upon a railway without arranging for his separation from other passengers,
be shall be punished with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees.
3. Before a practical scheme was formulated the following telegram was
addressed by the Government of India on the 12th October to the Secretary of
the Public Works Department, Railway, Bombay:
"Government urge immediate co-operation with railway administrations under sections
47 and 71 of Railways Act for detection of cases of bubonic fever by instituting careful inspec-
tion of passengers at all stations within Bombay and at all junctions and large stations where
trains halt. Assistance of subordinate medical establishment should be given for examination
and treatment."
4. It was at first contemplated that the Railway Companies would take the
necessary measures in accordance with sections 71 and 117 of the Railways Act
and the rules made under section 47 (d). Accordingly copies were sent to the
Surgeon-General, the Commissioner of Police, and the Inspector-General of Police
with a view to their giving any assistance in their power to the B. B. & C. I. and
G. I. P. Railway Companies. The Agents of these Railway Companies, however,
stated that they were advised that inspection in Bombay City was unnecessary;
and it was ascertained that the Companies were not in a position to themselves
undertake the necessary examination, but would give any assistance in their
power to medical men appointed by Government or by local authorities. Arrange-
ments had already been made by local authorities for their own protection at
certain stations in the Thána District, in Gujarát, and at Poona, and on the 22nd
October the Collectors of the districts concerned were specially consulted by
telegram as to the arrangements already introduced or proposed for the stations
of Ahmedabad, Broach, Surat, Kalyán, Bhusáwal, and Hotgi. A few days later
similar inquiries were made of the Collector of Ahmednagar and the Political
Agent, Kolhápur. It was ascertained that in all cases in which arrangements
had not been previously made they would be promptly made. Government were
informed, moreover, in the course of October, that special arrangements had been
made at the stations of Poona, Miraj, Belgaum, Londa, Hubli, Gadag, and Hotgi,
by the Southern Mahratta Railway authorities of their own accord.
5. The difficulties in the way of making adequate arrangements for inspec-
tion at the twenty railway stations in Bombay Island from which 84 down trains
proceed daily, caused some delay in completing the arrangements, and it was
considered impossible to attempt with the staff that could be made available to
inspect the purely local trains. The Municipal Commissioner, who had been
asked to arrange direct with the Surgeon-General for the necessary medical staff,
submitted on the 27th October his proposals for the daily inspection of the ten
through trains of the G. I. P. Railway at Victoria Terminus and Byculla, and of
the six through trains on the B. B. & C. I. Railway at Grant Road and Bándra.