A severe epidemio of#cholera broke out in 1907 and continued .till June 1908. From July 1907 to June 1908 it carried away 16,446 peoplS, or 10’ 73 per thousand o f £opulation.
The following tbanas suffered m ost:— Manteswar, Ranjganj <
Purbasthali, Katwa, Asansol, Mangalkot, Ketugram, and Saheb- ganj. The high death-rate of 20 per thousand from cholera alone took place in Manteswar in 1908. This was said to be due to the contamination of the river water by the cholera oorpses whioh were thrown into it. The epidemio ceased at the end of June 1908.
Prior to the year 1900 small-pox did not show itself in Small.pox.
epidemio form in this district. Since that date, however, it has become much more prevalent, a©d generally begins in the month of February and continues till July. The average annual mortality from small-pox for*the past five years is 982 or 0*64 per thousand of the population.
Only one or two cases of plague have_ occurred in this distriot Plague, recently. These oases were for the most part imported from Caloutta. A small epidemio, however, broke out in Katwa in 1906 and some 90 deaths occurred, but there was no recrudes
cence in the following year.
On an average 165 deaths are reported annually as due Snake- to the wounds cause'd by animals. N o case of snake-bite w a sbite>
treated in the dispensaries of the distriot during 1909 and although a number of Brunton’s permanganate of potash lancets have been distributed, no case in which one of those instruments has been used has as yet been reported. Snake-bite cases are for the most part treated by sadhus and quaoks who allege that they oan cure their patients by certain nostrums; amongst other remedies they use small pebbles whioh look like'polished pieces of larva, which have a certain amount o f power of absorption.
Amongst the other common diseases whioh are prevalent may be noted the follow in g:— Dysentery and diarrhoea, syphilis, gonorrhoea, leprosy and cataract.
In the year 1892 the Yaocination department came under the Va ccin a-
oontrol of the Civil Surgeon. Prior to tl»is it was controlledTI0N- b y the Superintendent of Vaccination, Metropolitan Cirole.
Yaocination is now carried out by means of the licensed agency system, 32 licensed vaccinators being generally engaged for the rural areas, who work during the Yaocination season from the lsj; October to the 3 lst ~Maroh, and are paid two annas per head for successful operations. In municipal areas paid vaccinators are entertained, two being employed in the
© 2
8 4 BURDWAN,
Medical I N S T I T U
TIONS.
Burdwan Municipality, one in eaoh o f# the Asansol, Ramganj and Kalna Municipalities, and one for the Katwa and O ainhat.
Municipalities. In the municipalities there are fixed stations where vaccination is performed free. In Burdwan town there are six suoh stations, whioh the two vaooinators attend twice weekly, and in Asansol there are two stations at which the vaccinator is present on alternate days. Vaccination is compul
sory in towns, but not in rural areas. The people in general appreciate vaccination, but it is not very popular amongst the lower class Muhammadans and Aguris, who strongly object to having themselves, and their children vaccinated. Only the lanoline lymph, which is supplied by the Central Animal Vaccin
ation Depot, Calcutta, is usad in this distriot; 54,395 vaccinations are performed annually, # of which 50,713 are primary and 3,698 revaccinations? Eaoh licensed vaccinator performs on an average 1,575 operations, while 711 are performed by eaoh paid agent entertained by the municipalities. The ratio of successful operations is 97'48 per cent., and the rate of successful vaccinations per thousand of the population is 7'26, the average cost of eaoh successful case being Il-J pies. The degree of protection afforded to infants in the rural areas of this distriot is 527* 32. The above figures are the averages of five years from 1904-05 to 1908-09.
In the towns of Burdwan, Katwa, Ranlganj and Dainhat there are municipal charitable dispensaries. Besides these the District Board maintains ten dispensaries. A ll these are under Government supervision but there are also dispensaries at Kanohannagar and Chakdighi whioh are maintained by private individuals. Other private dispensaries are the Burdwan R aj hospital, the Kalna Raj hospital the hospital maintained by the United Free Churoh of Scotland Medical Mission at Kalna, and the Brahmomoye D ebi Charitable dispensary at Bokra in Raina thana. The East Indian Railway Company have their own dispensaries at Burdwan, Asansol, Ondal and Sitarampur. The Dinanath Das Charitable dispensary at Kanohannagar was established by Babu Dinanath Das, a medical practitioner and contractor who, by a deed of trust, made over to a M anaging Committee Government securities of the nominal value of Rs. 50,000, bearing interest at 3| per cent., for the maintenance of the institution and a free Middle English school.
T oe dispensary and tlfe school are situated in a fine building at Kanohannagar. In the Burdwan, Katwa, Ramp an j and Ohak
dighi dispensaries both indoor and outdoor patients are treated.
Iii these four dispensaries there are 32 beds for females and 77
for males. The figures ka the following table are the averages of three yeats 1907, 190§ and 1909 :—
' 1
No. Name o f the dispensary.
Date of establishment.
Total treated.
Daily average.
Number o f operations.
1 Burdwan 1837 22,814 182-51 2,047
2 Katwa 1st February 1860 5,481 59-71 190
3 Raniganj 1st January 1867 4,321 47-37 461
4 Dainhat 1st June 1802 5,502 43 77 268
5 Purbasthali 1st August 1896 6,552 51-23 236
6 Kulingram 1st December 1805 4,895 31-62 93
7 Muhta 1st June 1802 ... 7,344 92-28 549
8 Meral 1st June 1802 ... 7,413 38-38 242
9 Jamna 1st April 1806 ... 8,736 61-66 154
10 Adra 15th May 1804 10,729 133-26 394
11 Khandnghosh 9th September 180 4 7,170 64-59 135
12 Mangalkot 11th November 1804 6,502 64-66 228
13 Ketugram 1 st September 1805 7.034 45-88 291
14- Anagram 18th September 1805 6,854 47-65 126
15 Chakdighi " ... 15th April 1859 ... 8,335 57 01 354 16 Kanchannagar ... 8th July 1906 ... 4,334 46-64 9
A new hospital is at present under construction in Burdwan, the foundation stone of which was laid by Sir Andrew Fraser, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, in July 1908. The entire scheme is estimated to cost 2 laths, of which the Maharaj Adhiraj has contributed Rs. 80,000 besides giving a site for the building, while Government has contributed Rs. 80,000. During recent years it has bee a the custom of the District-Board to open temporary fever dispensaries for a few months in the most fever-strioken parts of the distriot. During the last two years five suoh dispensaries were opened at Boro Baloon, Bongopalpur, Nadanghat, Okarsha and Satgaohia. For the relief of the inhabitants of the eastern border of the distriot a temporary floating dispensary was ppened last year. It remained open from the 13th September to the 10th December 1909. The boat touched at thirteen stations— eleven on the Bhagirathi and two on tho Khari. The total distance it had to traverse was 78 miles of the Bhagirathi and 18 miles of the Khari river.
There are two Leper Asylums in the disttiot at Raniganj Leper and Asansol. The Leper Asylum at Raniganj was founded by ■A-sylums- Mr. Smith in 1893, and has gradually grown into a large, well->
filled and well-organized establishment. There are at present 206 lepers in the Asylum and 19 untainted ohildren of leper parents are in the orphanage. The finanoial responsibility is borne b y the Mission to Lepers in India and the East, the Wesleyan
• Mission being responsible only for the management and pastoral
8 6 BURDWAN.
care. & native dootor is employed and Ahere is a well-equipped dispensary. Government gives a yearly subsidy, and th e‘Asylum*
is under the A ot and is the Government Asylum for Burdwan.
T h e Maharaja of Burdwan and Babu Bhagaba Das Marwari have eaoh presented a ward to the Asylum . T he acoommodation is still deficient and more wards are required. N o pressure is brought, to bear upon the inmates, all of whom were H indus on admission, but most have become Christians, and there is a large churoh for their use. There is also a small Leper Asylum at Asansol whioh is supported by the Mission to Lepers and which is under the management of the Methodist Episcopal Mission in that town.
AGRICULTURE.
87
C H A P T E R V . AGrEICULTU BE.
T h e following account of the agriculture of the distriot is condensed from a very complete report by M r. A . 0 . Sen.*
F or successful cultivation, the most important -point is the rain. distribution of rainfall and in* Burdwan, as in other distriols of PALL*
Bengal, the total amount is a ^secondary consideration. The distribution suitable for paddy— by fat the most important orop of BeDgal— may be gathered from the following rural doggerels:—
1.
2.
Y adi barshe aghane, I f it rains in Agrahayan, kings Raja namen magane. have to beg.
Yadi barshe poushe, taka I f it rains in Pous, even husk
4.
hay tushe.
Y adi barshe magher sesh, dhanya rajar punya desh.
Yadi barshe fagune, china kaon dwigune.
Chaitre matbamathar, Bais&khe jhar pathar;
Jaistye re na uthe, Ashare barsha ba the ;
"Karkata chharkata, Sinha sukana, Kanya kane kan ; Binabay tula barshe,, Kotha rakhho dh&n.
brings money.
I f it rains at the end of Magh, blessed is the king’s virtu
ous land.
I f it rains' in Falgun, the yield of ohina and kangu is doubled.
Slight rains in Chaitra.
Storms and hail in Baishakh are good,
"In Jaistya* the grass should never be allowed to grow ; Aehar should be a month of
endless rain,
Frequent showers of rain are required j n Sraban;
Bhadra should be a dry month, The fields should be brimful
of water in A sw in ; v
I f there be -rain without wind in Kartik,
W here shall I keep the paddy ?
•Calcutta, 1884, (reprinted 1897).