General Gatacre Part 17

The General Officer Commanding was fully alive to the dangerous and insanitary condition of some of the older parts of the town. For the greater security of his household he took an airy house on Malabar Hill, instead of inhabiting the official residence in the Marine Lines.

He further arranged for the Marine Battalion, which forms the permanent garrison of Bombay, to leave their antiquated huts in the same road and go out under canvas. Two English ladies living in the Marine Lines caught the plague, but fortunately both recovered.

[Sidenote: A white man dies]

The European colony were profoundly distressed on hearing of the death of Surgeon-Major Robert Manser on January 6, 1897. He was First Physician of the Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy Hospital, and Professor at the Grant Medical College. It was said at first that pneumonia was the cause; but when Nurse Joyce, who had been attending him, died on the following day, suspicions were aroused, and the bacteriological examination established the connection between plague and pneumonia.

Early in February, under a pseudonym, the General published two carefully reasoned and suggestive articles in _The Times of India_. In the first he pointed put that the existence of the plague and the consequent exodus of the {164} population afforded an excellent opportunity of carrying out extensive improvements in the housing and sanitation of the worst parts of the city, and in acquiring official control over the disposal of the dead. In the second he called attention to the inadequacy of the hospital accommodation to meet even the present demand, and boldly handles the question of finance, saying:

"What is a lakh or ten lakhs of rupees where the prosperity of Bombay is concerned? The question is not one for Bombay to haggle over. The plague has become a thing of Imperial importance, Her Majesty takes a deep interest in it, and the necessary funds must be found. But the Government of India will want to see some exhaustive efforts on our part; they will expect an amount of thoroughness in combating the disease which up to the present we have not shown."

After this appeal the writer goes on to suggest that a hospital should be established in Government House, Parel, a large mansion which had been the Governor's residence in the time of Sir James Fergusson, and had since been discarded in favour of a more breezy site on Malabar Point.

[Sidenote: Official thanks]

The munic.i.p.ality took the hint and voted funds. Lord Sandhurst responded readily and offered his "country seat" for the purposes of a Special Plague Hospital, and the General came forward officially, and promised to see to the equipment of the wards, and to provide doctors, orderlies, attendants, etc., from the troops under his command. His call for volunteers met with {165} the same ready response; for nurses he applied to the various Roman Catholic Convents in the neighbourhood; and expended a special donation from Lady Sandhurst in making the Sisters' quarters as comfortable as possible, and in fitting up a little Oratory for them. In ten days 150 beds were ready, and by the erection of matting huts in the large compound accommodation could be quickly provided for several hundred more.

The following paragraphs, taken from a letter from the Government of Bombay to the Government of India, dated February 23, 1897, foreshadow the policy which was adopted a few days later:

"3. To General Gatacre the thanks of His Excellency the Governor in Council are in a special degree due, both for the offer of a.s.sistance and for the energy he has thrown into the undertaking. He has spared himself no trouble, and the result will be an unquestionable benefit to the city.

"5. I may add that His Excellency the Governor in Council antic.i.p.ates great indirect benefit from a measure which brings the Military in touch with the Civil authorities in organising measures for preventing the spread of the plague, for it is not improbable that the Civil authorities may before long be driven to seek considerable a.s.sistance at the hands of the Military."[2]

[2] Government Orders: General Department No. 1481/934 P. Bombay Castle, March 16, 1897.

It was evident that the Governor regarded the situation as one which called for combined effort and extraordinary measures. He also {166} realised that if such an undertaking as stamping out the plague before the monsoon broke was to have any chance of success, there must be central control and central responsibility. He wanted a man endowed equally with the administrative capacity to conceive a comprehensive plan of action, and the executive sagacity to carry it out with success.

[Sidenote: The Gatacre Committee]

Lord Sandhurst, having decided to execute what amounted to a "coup" in its startling supersession of all the traditions of the civil, munic.i.p.al, and military services, sent for Gatacre as the strongest man whose services he could command, asked him to name his own committee, and to frame in his own words the instructions under which he was to act, and the powers with which he was to be invested. There can be no doubt that the Governor himself contributed enormously to the good results achieved by the Plague Committee by the splendid freedom from control which he allowed its Chairman, and the manner in which he put every department of Government--civil and munic.i.p.al--at his disposal, and then let him work out his own system unhampered by any question of custom or finance.

Gatacre realised to the full that he was making himself personally responsible for the success of the undertaking. In a confidential letter he writes:

"The Government of Bombay has given me its thanks, and I have been appointed chairman {167} of the committee to stamp out the plague.

Lord Sandhurst sent for me, and asked me whom I would like to a.s.sist me, and I took Snow, Munic.i.p.al Commissioner--he is the head of an enormous department and controls the munic.i.p.ality, which thus falls under me--James, an executive engineer of the munic.i.p.ality, an energetic man with an enormous staff of engineers and workmen--Dr.

Dimmock, who is a sound man and has energy. I have made Cahusac secretary. I have been told that money is no object, but that I am to stamp out the plague. They have pa.s.sed an Act directing all to carry out _any order_ I like to issue, so if I fail it will be my own fault; but I do not intend to fail. We shall have much opposition, as this gives me powers over all except the Governor and his Councillors.

"I wish they had handed me over this business in December, when I first came down; it would never have got out of Bombay. It has now become a most serious question, and has extended to the whole of India."

We have to thank Dr. Dimmock[3] for an account of the first meeting of the Committee.

[3] Lieut.-Colonel H. P. Dimmock, M.D., I.M.S.

"We began at once to decide on sites for plague hospitals. One question that was asked was, What sort of disease was plague? In those days one knew very little about it, for the bacillus had not been discovered. I tried to explain as much as was known, and finished my remarks with words to the effect that whatever the special infection might be, it seemed to be deadly and certainly contagious, and that we need none of us expect 'to come out alive.' 'Well,' said the {168} General, with a smile, 'we can't think about that; we've only got to stop it, so let's get to work.'

"One must consider that at the time plague was such an appalling and mysterious disease that even the doctors feared for their lives each day, though it was their business to face it. How much more awful the invisible foe must have seemed to a layman, and still more to one who had to lead the attack on it as he did most cheerfully and energetically without experience of the ways of infectious diseases!"

The first step was to surround the city with a cordon to put a stop to the spread of the infection up-country. This could be the more easily and effectually carried out because Bombay City is built on an island.

A police guard was posted on the Sion and the Mahim Causeways, where the road is carried over the water by long bridges, and at a ford available at low water; a foot-track along the main water-supply was boarded up; and the two railway-stations and all the Bunders were watched by inspection parties.

[Sidenote: Special hospitals]

Within the city the principle was laid down that all persons suffering from the plague must be brought into hospital. This involved two departments of labour; the first was to provide hospital accommodation, the second to enforce the handing over of the patients.

To meet one of the manifold objections put forward by the population to the use of hospitals, a system was started by which each community should have its own building or camp. This disposed of many insuperable difficulties as to {169} the attendance on the sick, the preparation of food, etc.; and so much did this concession to their peculiar prejudices please the more enlightened communities, that their leaders came in person to the General and offered to run hospitals for their respective brotherhoods at their own expense. Such offers were willingly accepted, but control over these locations was rigidly maintained in the hands of the Committee. Indeed, so rapid was this demand for special accommodation for each sect, that--

"A scheme of hospital organisation was designed, a special equipment of staff, stores, furniture, and appliances being drawn on a ready basis, suitable to any pressing demands.... So that on an order being issued by the Committee for the inst.i.tution of a hospital of any proportion, the District Medical Officer had merely to follow the orders laid down for a hospital of the size indicated.... Copies of the plan and equipment of a one-section hospital (twenty beds) was accordingly issued to the various executive departments of the Committee, and to all contractors, with directions to regulate the constructions of buildings and the supply of stores, medicines, and furniture accordingly."[4]

[4] _Report_, p. 22.

Within one month of its creation the Committee were running forty-three hospitals, of which fifteen were Government and twenty-eight were special private inst.i.tutions such as have been described. In every detail of the internal management of these private {170} inst.i.tutions the will of the Dictator prevailed. He was always a welcome visitor; he took the keenest interest in the symptoms as they developed in any exceptional cases, and he made sure that those peculiarly Christian principles should be upheld which decree that there should be no distinction of caste in any one "jamat," no difference made between high and low, rich and poor, and that all the sick should receive equal attention.

But it was one thing to provide model buildings and the best of attendance, and another to persuade the relatives of the sick to bring in the patients. At the same time the segregation of the sick was the basis of the whole policy, and it was to secure this end that the house-to-house visitation was inst.i.tuted.

While the mere idea of such a thing inflamed the minds of the writers in the Native Press, in practice the people soon found out that every consideration was shown. An appeal was made to the native gentlemen who were Justices of the Peace to attend at such visitations, and this had an excellent effect. White men did not enter the houses unless opposition was made; in the street a small body of troops was employed as a show of authority, but these were mostly drawn from the Native regiments. In no case was violence needed; the only pressure used was the personal presence of the General, the force of his will and character, the persuasion of his words uttered in their own tongue; the people grew to have faith in his promises, to {171} appreciate his devotion to their interests, and to respect his methods.

[Sidenote: Drives the brake]

The Fire Brigade brake was commandeered to carry the search-parties.

The rendezvous was at daybreak; every one had to be punctual, for the General waited for no one. The Committee was accompanied by officials with special knowledge of the quarter to be visited, and there were always a few lady-doctors present.

Supplies were taken in tiffin-baskets, but, says Dr. Dimmock, "the General's spare diet was a subject of wondering comment; some bread and dried fruit and a bottle of soda water was his usual breakfast, and his untiring energy on such diet was marvellous."

The General himself drove the brake, and one or other of the Plague Committee staff would sit on the box in order to give him an opportunity of discussing urgent matters.

On one occasion in April such a search-party was organised for an essentially Mahommedan quarter, where some opposition might be expected. The locality was occupied by Memons, Sunni Mahommedans, and opulent merchants hailing from Cutch. The usual military precautions were taken, and house-to-house visitation was in full swing. In a five-storied building in Kambekar Street occupied by rich Memons a plague case was discovered on the third floor. The patient was a Memon boy aged twenty, belonging to the rich family of Noorani, who were also the "Patels of the Moholla," _i.e._ leaders of the neighbourhood. The usual {172} certificate was made out, in the name of the patient, Haji Ayub Haji Abdul Rahim Noorani, by the sub-divisional medical officer, and the family were informed that the young man would be removed to the hospital. To this they objected, and already a sullen crowd had a.s.sembled outside. In Mahommedan quarters the crowd is essentially male, with an admixture of children; the women, being "Purdah Nas.h.i.+ns,"

do not show themselves.

On being informed of the trouble, the General, who was a little farther up the street, immediately repaired to the spot, speaking conciliatory words to the crowd as he made his way to the third floor and entered the room. Here he selected the oldest member of the family and "very courteously" discussed with him the necessity for the removal of the youth to hospital. In the meantime the new hand ambulance (which was a litter on a pair of bicycle wheels, worked out on an idea of the General's) reached the door; but the sight of it upset the parents so much that they withdrew their reluctant consent to Haji's removal.

Recollecting that he was dealing with a wealthy family, the General suggested that they should send for one of their own carriages.

Impervious to any notions of infection, but highly conscious of their local standing, the family readily consented to this compromise.

Having won his point, the General made his way down to the street, where the crowd was now very dense: he whispered to a native inspector, slipping a few rupees into his {173} hand. In a few minutes there was a vast scramble for sweets which were flying in every direction; under cover of this bombardment the patient was successfully carried off in an English brougham drawn by richly caparisoned white horses.[5]