PLAGUE IN INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13522, 21 August 1907, Page 7

PLAGUE IN INDIA.

KING DEEPLY MOVED. MESSAGE TO THE VICEROY. By Telegraph.— Association.—Copyright Bombay, August 19. King Edward, in a personal letter to .Lord Minto (Governor-General of India), expressed his anxious concern as to the progress of the plague. His Majesty said he was deeply moved when he thought of the misery endured by his Indian subjects with such silent patience. He earnestly prayed that the further measures of the Government would prove successful. ■ Lord Minto, in communicating Sing Edward's sympathy to the public, explained the enormous difficulty of eradicating the scourge, largely owing to people's inability to understand the Government's sanitary and hygienic measures.

The Viceroy added:—" The leading principle of the plague campaign is that people must work out their own salvation. .The Government cannot insist unreasonably upon the acceptance of their ideas of modem hygiene."

The plague figures for the decennial period. 1897 to 1906, exhibit for the whole of India an appalling number of deaths. The epidemic commenced in October, 1896, and up to die end of that year the deaths numbered 1704. The mortality increased during the next three years, the deaths in 1897 having been 56,000, in 1898 118,000, and in 1899 135,000. The mortality then decreased, and the deaths were 0n1y'93,000 in 1900. This decrease proved to be only temporary, and for the next fou. year's there occurred a large annual increase, the deaths having numbered 274.000 in 1901. 577.000 in 1902, 851.000 in 1903, and 1.022,000 in 1904, which is the worst year. There was a small decrease- in 1905, the deaths falling to 951,000, and a large decrease in 1906, when the deaths were only 332,000. The total deaths for the whole period from October, 1896, to December, 1906, numbered 4,411,242. The improvement which was shown in the two years 1905 and 1906 has not unfortunately 'been maintained, ns during the first three months and a-hali" of 1907 the deaths throughout India totalled 495,000,„ which is the heaviest monthly mortality yet reported during the epidemic, and would appear to show that the present year Mill exhibit a record number of deaths. From the first appearance of the disease up to the year 1901 the mortality was greatest in the Bombay Pre. sidency, but from 1902 onward, with one exception, the worst area has been the Punjab, and in 1905 the deaths in the latter province alone numbered 364,625.