The special correspondent of the Daily Chronicle at Poona gives
an interesting account of the continued' efforts made by the Government to fight the plague. Sir George Clarke has issued a proclamation informing the people that in the Bombay Presidency alone the plague is now killing weven thousand men, women, and children a week, and ceiling upon them to submit themselves to the inoculation officers, who supply the only means of defence hitherto discovered. A sum of six annas is given to tide them over the two or three days' illness consequent on inoculation, and the British Government also buys rats at a fraction of a farthing a head. So far the response has not been general, one difficulty being that some of those who come to be inoculated are found to have the plague already, and attribute the disease to the remedy, thus spreading suspicion among the people. Also it is hard to induce women to submit to inoculation. It should be noted that the Government very wisely employ the services of native inoculators. For the rest, all that can be said is, in the words of the Chronicle correspondent, that "the task of a fatherly Crovernment struggling with adversity goes doggedly on."
Previous page
