§ MR. WEIRTo ask the Secretary of State for India, in view of the fact that there were 3,721 deaths from plague in Central India last January as compared with 92 in January, 1903, will he state what steps are being taken to check the spread of the disease.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) All possible care is taken to prevent the spread of plague throughout India. Speaking generally, the State Medical Officers of the Native States forming the Central India Agency apply in the territories of their respective States the preventive and remedial measures which are employed in British India. These comprise (1) the provision of hospitals and medical aid for the sufferers; (2) disenfection of infected houses; (3) evacuation of infected quarters in towns and villages; (4) refuge camps for the uninfected; (5) inspection posts and observation huts at railway stations and on main routes; (6) inoculation where desired. The Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 is in force in the Indore Residency Bazaars, and in the Cantonments of Mhow, Nee much, and Nowgong, and sanitary rules made under it are enforced in those localities.