35G
The total asked for was £7,050 as against an estimated expenditure of £6,175, leaving a margin for contingencies. Que half of the sum required was invited from the British Colonies and Protectorates in West Africa, as being most vitally concerned in the object to which the money was to be devoted; and, as the work of the Malaria Commission was expected to extend over two years, it was suggested that the contributions might be made in two annual instalments.
The response from the Colonies was very satisfactory. Ceylon contributed £1,000, the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States between them nearly the same amount. Trinidad £700, and all the other Colonies the sums which were asked from them, though I only accepted £250 from Jamaica in view of the condition of the island finances at the time when the money was voted.
Only £150 was asked for from Mauritius, a small sum in proportion to the size and importance of the Colony and to its interest in the schemes. This was due to the fact that the financial condition of the Colony at the time did not warrant a large contribution. Subsequently a further sum of £100 was invited from the Colonial Legislature and readily voted; and other supplementary contributions-which enabled the work of the Malaria Commission to be prolonged-were £100 from St. Lucia and £50 each from Southern Nigeria, Gold Coast, and British Honduras. The entire management of the fund was left to the Crown Agents, who realised by investments £300, and a statement of receipts and expenditure is appended.* It will be noted, on the expenditure side, that some of the money was applied to a supplementary expedition to the Campagna, to which reference will be made hereafter.
There are two or three small outstanding claims which have not yet been settled, but it is anticipated that the unexpended balance of the fund will amount to about £150, which might be transferred to the new fund referred to in the last paragraph of this despatch, if the scheme which I propose in that paragraph commends itself to the Crown Colonies and
Protectorates.
12. In anticipation of the opening of the Tropical School, a circular despatch was on the 19th of August, 1898, addressed to the Governors of Crown Colonies, which enclosed a short memorandum inviting for use in the school the collection of pathological specimens, and any material likely to be of value for teaching purposes. On the 15th of December following, a copy of that despatch was sent to the self-governing Colonics. The 2nd of October, 1899, was named by the Committee of the Seamen's Hospital Society as the date at which the school would be opened. In the meantime, the Committee had consented to an arrangement, subsequently communicated to the Governors of tropical Colonies in my circular despatch of 19th September, 1900, under which the Managers were prepared to admit into the Society's hospitals at special rates, varying according to circumstances from one guinea to two guineas a week, officers in the Colonial service whose cases were considered to be suitable for treatment as tropical cases, within wards devoted to the special treatment of tropical diseases. The arrangement was to be confined--unless under very exceptional circumstances-to the cases of officers with salaries not exceeding £400 per annum, and the Secretary of State was prepared to guarantee the payments due from such officers, by authorising, if necessary, deductions from their salaries, provided that in each case admis- sion at the privileged rates was made with his knowledge and sanction.
13. The school having been opened, on the 11th of November following, I sent out to the Colonies in a circular despatch its syllabus, and a statement of the rate of tuition fees and the fees for board and residence. The Colonial Governments were invited to concur in the following arrangements for the training of Colonial medical officers :-
(a) That all such officers, who might in future be selected by the Secretary
State, should undergo a two months' training at the school.
(b) That the cost of tuition, board and lodging during that period should be borne by the Colonial Governments, the officers signing a bond to refund the expenditure in the event of their relinquishing their appointments on other grounds than those of health within three years. (c) That the tuition fees, but not the fees for board and lodging, should be paid by the Governments in the case of medical officers already in the
* Enclosure No. 1, page 361.