THE PLAGUE IN BOMBAY.
[To TICK EDITOR Or TEl SPEOILTOR."]
Sin,—As I have known Bombay for Oyer thirty years, and during more than half of that period was a resident there, you may perhaps permit me to say a few words a propos to the subject of the Plague, which is, as you truly say, of more importance to Western India than the Famine. Far be it from me to wish to minimise in the slightest degree the extreme gravity of the situation or the serious loss and suffering to the traders, the workpeople, and the community at large; yet I crave your indulgence and ask your permission to warn your readers not to place too much credence in the most alarming and highly sensational news recently pub- lished, and you will perhaps allow me to differ from your own very pessimistic prognostications.
In consequence of the prevalence of easterly and land winds at this season of the year, we cannot look for very much immediate improvement in the position of affairs, notwith- standing the sanitary precautions recently taken, but with the advent of the usual westerly breezes from the sea in March, we can reasonably expect the Plagne to be on the wane, and to disappear gradually during March, April, and May ; and, knowing the conservative habits of the people, I fully believe that the fugitive inhabitants will speedily return to their homes and to their avocations, and that the place will soon resume its ordinary busy life, and I venture to predict that the activity, energy, and trading ability of its leading citizens will ere long replace Bombay in its position as one of the busiest and also one of the most important cities in the British Empire.—I am, Sir, Sze,
ROGER SEDGWICK.
[Let u • hope that our correspondent is right, but Bombay will for twenty years be shunned as one of the "cities liable to the Plague." People, as we see from the exodus, dread the Plague as they do not dread even cholera.—En. Spectator.]
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