§ MR. O'DONNELLasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether he is aware that the district season reports for the week ending the 15th of May show the prevalence of cholera in many parts of Bombay; whether his attention has been called to the fact that the "Bombay Gazette" of that date declares that the disease has assumed "serious dimensions in several parts of the Bombay Presidency," and that, though the number of officially reported deaths from cholera during the week was 714—
This does not represent the total mortality from the disease, as, in several cases, the presence of cholera is merely mentioned, without any particulars being given;whether, in the Hassick District, there has been 260 officially recorded deaths from cholera during the week ending the 15th May; whether, in the small town of Dhulia, there had been, during the same week, 181 recorded cases, and no less than 76 deaths; whether, in the small town of Coorla, in the neighbourhood of the city of Bombay, cholera had suddenly attacked 63 persons, of whom 38 died within a few hours or a couple of days; and, if special attention has been paid to this state of affairs among the Native population of Bombay?
§ MR. J. K. CROSS,in reply, said, the figures quoted in the Question were correct. As regards the other parts of the Question, he had informed the House yesterday that cholera was very pre- 1141 valent in the Deccan Districts of Bombay, though the rest of the Presidency was unusually free from disease. The way in which the health Returns were prepared showed that, in comparison with the last 15 years, cholera, though severe, was not exceptionally virulent. He had received information that the cholera in the Deccan Districts, the serious nature of which there was no wish to underrate, was engaging the special attention of the Bombay Government.