"3. To General Gatacre the thanks of His Excellency the Governor in Council are in a special degree due, both for the offer of assistance 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 anticipates 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 assistance 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, municipal, 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 municipal--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: