ملف رقم ٣١٤٢ لسنة ١٩٠٣ "سكة حديد الحجاز" [ظ‎‎١‎٩] (٤٨٨/٤٥)

2
The 1909 Pilgrimage.
The President proposed that, in view of the existence of cases of plague at Jeddah,
and of at least one case at Mecca, this year’s pilgrimage should be declared infected
with plague. \
The only critic of this proposal was the Ottoman Delegate, who, while not venturing to
oppose the general proposition, begged for some facilities at Tor. He said that frequently
vessels arriving at Tor from the Hedjaz had to wait two, three, or four days until their
turn for disinfection came. He suggested that the period of detention—ten days—
shall count from the date of the vessel’s arrival at Tor, and not from the day of the
landing and disinfection ot the pilgrims. He mildly sneered at the idea that Eg\pt
should be so alarmed at the existence of a few cases of plague in the Hedjaz while her
own borders had been infected for several years.
Replying first to the latter taunt, the President said that if cases of plague had
existed in Egypt for several years the Suez Canal ports had remained practically free;
it was desirable, therefore, to avoid the possible addition of a fresh focus of disease,
especially in those ports. With reference to the suggestion to date the ten days’
observation period from the moment of the pilgrim ship’s arrival at Tor, he declared
this to mean a return to the old theory of so many days’ detention instead of the
acceptance of the modern theory of quarantine, namely, disinfection of men and things
coming from infected countries and their detention under strict observation for a period
commensurate with the incubation period of the disease. It was, declared Dr. Puffer,
quite impossible even to examine a crowd of pilgrims on board ship; to land them,
disinfect them, and individually examine them was the only effective means of control.
Eo one supported the Turkish Delegate’s proposal, which is, of course, opposed to
the “ Reglement.”
Proposal by the Turkish Delegate to change the Decision of last Year ivith reference to the
Return of Pilgrims by the new Hedjaz Railway.
Last year, in view of the existence of cholera in the Hedjaz, the Board decided
to prevent Egyptian pilgrims from using the new Hedjaz Railway and returning by the
Mediterranean, because we had no satisfactory assurance that the quarantine station
on the Hedjaz Railway was efficient, and because no means exist at Alexandria or at
Port Said for dealing with large numbers of pilgrims. It was decided, therefore, that
those pilgrims that, in the face of express prohibition,, chose the railway route and
returned to Egypt by Syria and the Mediterranean should be sent through the Canal
back to for for disinfection and observation there. A certain number braved the
situation, and were ruthlessly repulsed to Tor.
At to-day s meeting the Turkish Delegate, in a long and eloquent speech, proposed
to change the decision of last year, and to allow Egyptian pilgrims to return bjF the
Hedjaz Railway, by Syria, and by the Mediterranean, and to put them under observation
for twenty-four or forty-eight hours at Alexandria or at Port Said.
Before referring to the discussion at the meeting I desire to clear up the
situation.
First of all I understand that the Egyptian pilgrims were duly warned this year
that they would have to return to Egypt by way of Tor.
Secondly, the Hedjaz Railway terminates at Medina. Many pilgrims go to venerate
the Piophet s tomb there, and subsequently go to Mecca and its vicinity for the sacrifice
and feast. If they finish at Mecca they have only one and a-half days’ journey on
camel to the port of Jeddah. If they go to Mecca first for the religious ceremonies
and subsequently go to Medina, then they have 213 miles to go—a twelve days’ camel
journey. lo return to Egypt, they may then take the long railway route north through
Syria to Damascus (a distance of 815 miles approximately), then come by railway to
Beiiout, and embaik at Beirout for Alexandria or Port Said. Or else, having done the
twelve days camel journey to Medina, they do six days’ further journey (12U miles) to
lam bo, on the Red Sea, whence they embark for Tor and Suez. One cannot therefore
fairly say that the pilgrim is spared any material fatigue by adopting the new Hediaz-
Syria Railway route. The pilgrim’s only legitimate object, therefore, in preferrino' the
rafiv\ay is an object that all Englishmen at least will respect, namely, a desire to°see a
new country, dreary enough no doubt, but still presenting the undefinable charm of
terra incognita.
1 return to the discussion. Dr. Mizzi (Turkish Delegate) said that a Commis-