PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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19 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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The
heri-beri cannot be carried out in its present form, it will be necessary for me to devise some other method of procedure to which exception cannot be taken. authorities with whom I have consulted in London are in agreement that the results already obtained are hopeful and encouraging; it is therefore incumbent upon us to follow up this line of investigation and endeavour, if not to solve the question of the etiology of beri-beri, at least to settle the connexion, if any, between rice-eating and that disease. The work of the rejected scheme would, I had hoped, have been commenced some time ago and completed within the period of my extended agree- ment, but the plan of work which I have now in part evolved cannot, unless by some extraordinary stroke of good fortune, be completed in that time.
I would therefore ask that my appointment as Director of the Institute for Medical Research be made permanent and pensionable. Should this be agreed to, I would propose that the present salary of £800 per annum with free quarters should rise by annual increments of £20 to £1,000 per annum. My present agree- ment would then become void, and from the 3rd May, 1909, I would draw salary at the rate of £860 per annum.
The question of leave is one of the utmost importance, and I would ask that it should be specially dealt with as regards the Pathologist, the Bacteriologist, and the Director.
I would point out that the Institute exists primarily for purposes of research, and in this respect occupies a unique position in the Colonies; it is desirable, therefore, that the officers engaged in these researches should be afforded oppor tunities to keep themselves abreast of the times and fully conversant with the work in other places.
No doubt this can to a certain extent be accomplished by the study of current literature, with which the Institute is well supplied, but a still more valuable means is by a visit from time to time to other places in order to see what is being done and the methods of doing it. For this purpose I would suggest that the three officers mentioned should be allowed, in place of the ordinary leave, six months' full pay leave every three years.
To the objection which may naturally be raised that such an arrangement would be contrary to regulations, I would respectfully, point out the unique position which this Institute occupies, its excellent equipment, the abundant facilities there are for the investigation of disease, and the necessity for ensuring that its officers shall be able to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded them.
I have, &c.,
3606
No. 10.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
SIR C. LUCAS to SIR J. ANDERSON.
H. FRASER.
MY DEAR ANDERSON,
Colonial Office, 28th January, 1909. REFERRING to your despatches about beri-beri investigation, Dr. Fraser has been before the Tropical Diseases Research Fund Committee, and we have had two meetings at which his work and methods have been discussed. I have also seen him myself two or three times, and I have arranged with him and with the Committee that I should write to you as follows.
We went through his report as already modified by you or under your instruc- tions, and altered a few more phrases. It is now not open-as far as we can judge to any exception, and is so Dr. Fraser tells me--being printed by "The
Lancet."
Dr. Fraser explained to us the procedure which he proposed to adopt in order to continue his investigations, and either prove or disprove the thesis that beri-beri is the outcome of eating a particular kind of rice. His scheme of work depended on experiments to be made with prisoners by feeding certain parties on a diet of which the doubtful rice would form a main element. We were all agreed-scientific members of the committee as well as lay members that his proposed procedure would not be entertained and that experiments of this kind ought not to be made with men or women who are under Government control, in gaols, hospitals, or asylums. I have told him so in the plainest terms, and he quite understands that public opinion would not sanction such experiments, and that the Secretary of State, if his authority were sought, would at once forbid them.
Dr. Fraser will therefore continue his work in other directions, trying experi- ments, as I understand, with monkeys; but he cannot hope to conclude them by the time when his present engagement as extended-expires, nor can he afford to accept a further temporary prolongation, because it is breaking his connexion and chance of livelihood over here. The alternative, therefore, is between his coming home without having finished his work or being kept on permanently, as he suggests in the enclosed letter, which I told him to write and have told him that I am sending to you, adding that he must speak or write to you on the subject after his return. He tells me that he has been kept in England-as no doubt he has by matters connected with his work, including our Committee's enquiry, longer than he expected (he is leaving by P. & O. on the 12th of February), and therefore, if he is The Committee would, kept on permanently, he would not want leave next year.
I know, like me to say that they have a high opinion of what he has done, and greatly appreciate his heartwhole interest in his work. They thought his proposed procedure could not be entertained, as I have already said, but at the same time they recognised that he has one object and one only in view, viz., to get at the truth about this disease and to find a remedy, and they appreciated, too, the great frank- ness with which he laid his plans before them and invited their guidance. therefore put in a very good word for him on their behalf.
I may
I will see that a copy of this letter goes before the Secretary of State after being read by Fiddes, Antrobus, and other authorities, but you can take it, I think, that Lord Crewe would concur in its terms, and he would probably approve of what I am doing, viz., dealing with this matter semi-officially instead of having it made the subject of a despatch.
17238/04
GENTLEMEN,
No. 11. MAURITIUS.
Yours sincerely,
C. P. LUCAS.
COLONIAL OFFICE to CROWN AGENTS.
Downing Street, 6 February, 1909. WITH reference to the letter from this Office of the 21st of May, 1904,† I am directed by the Earl of Crewe to inform you that his attention has been drawn to the fact that though it was originally intended by the Mauritius Government to make an annual contribution of £100 for the term of five years towards the Tropical Diseases Research Fund, no instructions have been given to you by that Government for the payment of the sum annually to the fund, although provision was duly made in the annual Estimates of the Colony.
2. In view of the financial position of the Colony, Lord Crewe has not felt justified in asking that the arrears of the annual contribution should be paid, but he proposes in future that if any Colony determines to contribute to the Fund, you shall be informed for how many years the contribution is being continued, and I am to request that in the case of any Colony not giving the necessary instructions for payment to the Fund you will, towards the close of the year in which the payment should have been made, invite his Lordship's attention to the matter.
I am,
&c.,
6746
No. 12.
BRITISH GUIANA.
R. L. ANTROBUS.
SIR F. M. HODGSON to SIR CHARLES LUCAS. (Received 17 February, 1909.)
MY DEAR Lucas,
Government House, British Guiana, 23 January, 1909.
I HAVE received your semi-official letter of the 27th November, with regard
to the relation of Colonial laboratories towards the Advisory Committee of the Tropical Diseases Research Fund.
• No. 9.
† 17238: not printed.
No. 61 in Miscellaneous No. 221.