16
Plague deaths from 302 to 450.* In the 4th week (22nd) the total
deaths rose from 1,307 to 1,540, and the Plague deaths from 450 to 651.
The 5th week (29th) showed a fresh rise from 1,540 to 1,726 in the total
deaths, and from 651 to 834 in the recorded Plague deaths. The Plague
was spreading from south to north. Colaba and Sewri alone were free.
While during January in Bombay cases rose from 868 in December
to 2,532 in January, and deaths from 583 to 2,515, in the mofussil, cases
fell from 5,420 to 4,331, and deaths from 4,825 to 3,500.
Isolating the
City.
In the beginning of the year the sudden and vast increase of Plague
in Bombay, together with the decline in Poona and in other parts of the
Deccan, suggested the detention of travellers leaving the city, and
the abolition of the restrictions on arrivals. The Hon'ble Mr. Wingate,
the Plague Commissioner, met the Plague Committee to discuss
the question of outward and inward inspection. As regards outward
inspection by rail it was determined to re-organize the existing system,
so that people leaving Bombay by the B. B. C. I. should be detained at
Anand, and if travelling by the G. I. P. either at Kalyan or
Manmar. At Kalyan the outward inspection was made more rigorous.
At the same time Thana and Bandora declared quarantine against visitors
from Bombay as an infected district. On the 7th January Anand
followed suit with a declaration of ten days' detention.
Bombay was now in a state of isolation. Detention was still en-
forced in the case of arrivals from infected areas. The difficulty of leaving
the city was further increased by the Notification (17th January) that
no pass would be granted to any one who had not spent the seven
preceding days in Modikhana Camp. The only exception was in
favour of residents in the parts of the city which were declared
uninfected, and who had been under the supervision of the local Medical
Plague Officers for seven days previous to quitting Bombay.
These restrictions failed to keep the Marwadi and Gujarati traders
from leaving in large numbers, but the imposition of a ten days'
detention at Kalyan and at Bandra greatly reduced the departures by
rail, and the prohibition by notification of any native craft carrying pas-
sengers from Bombay to any port between Karachi in the north and
Bhatgal in the south saved the coast from infection. Persons provided
with approved passes were allowed to travel by ferry boats and coasting
steamers. As Plague continued to spread in Bombay, the need of
inward detention declined and the restriction was removed on the 25th
January.
c There had been little emigration of late and the total population was supposed to be
twice what it was in January 1897, that is roughly 800,000 as against 400,000.