PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.
Reference :-
885
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an advanced grade of anæmia. How far infections other than ankylostomiasis may have been responsible for this condition cannot with certainty be stated.
In the course of a series of post-mortem examinations, especially undertaken with this point in mind, it was rare to find ankylostomiasis anæmia alone as the cause of death.
5. The conditions governing the spread of ankylostoma infection are well known, and find themselves ideally reproduced on most rubber estates in this country. On a very few of the estates visited praiseworthy efforts had been made to combat the evil by the provision of latrines and suitable water supply, with adequate super- vision. These measures have been too recently put in force to furnish evidence of improvenient in the rate of invaliding and general efficiency of the labourers. This result may, however, be predicted with confidence.
As the
Many estate managers objected that the difficulty of weaning the Tamil cooly from his habit of promiscuous defecation constituted an insuperable barrier to the carrying out of effective preventive measures against ankylostomiasis. experiment seems not to have been tried, however, it is difficult to find a valid basis for this conclusion.
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No. 48.
BRITISH GUIANA.
A. T. STANTON,
Bacteriologist.
THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(No. 144.)
MY LORD,
(Received 15 June, 1909.)
[Answered by No. 49.]
Government House, Georgetown, Demerara, 24th May, 1909.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch, No. 301, of the 17th December last, relating to measures for the prevention of ankylostomiasis, and to say that the subject has received further and careful con- sideration by this Government.
2. I took the opportunity of Sir Rubert Boyce's visit to this Colony to ask him to favour me with his views on the steps taken here, and I enclose a copy of an addendum which he was good enough to add to his report after visiting Pln. Diamond where these measures are seen at their best. Sir Rubert Boyce also attended a meeting of the Executive Council and strongly advised that work in this direction on the sugar estates should proceed regardless of comparative inaction on the part of the Village Councils. The villages may be expected to follow the example when its benefits are apparent.
3. In order to encourage preventive measures in the villages I have asked the co-operation of the Government Medical Officers and invited them to make it a part of their official duty to advocate such measures, and to endeavour to "bring home a realization of these advantages to the masses under their charge.
I enclose a copy of the letter addressed to the Surgeon-General on the subject.
4. As regards the sugar estates, I am glad to be able to report that the circular, dated 24th July, 1908, addressed by direction of Sir Frederic Hodgson to the employers of indentured labour, has met with such ready response that it has not been found necessary to refuse immigrants to any estate during the coming season. The majority have shown a praiseworthy desire to meet the views of the Medical Department, although in some cases the cost has been heavy and not easily borne.
5. In the unanimous opinion of the Executive Council, in which I concur, this Colony would not derive any benefit at present from the appointment of an Inspector-General for all the Colonies concerned.
We appear to be further advanced here in preventive measures than any other Colony, and still further progress is only hindered, as the Surgeon-General points out, by want of funds. I do not think the proposal could successfully be brought before the Combined Court at the present time. I will take an opportunity, however, of laying the papers before the Legislature that they inay know the importance attached to the subject
No. 84 in Miscellaneous 224.
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by your Lordship. Later on, when measures are systematised in other Colonies the Court may be expected to recognise the value of co-ordination of the work in the West Indies through some central authority.
6.
As regards legislation, the consensus of opinion is also adverse to its imme- diate introduction as probably tending to defeat its own object. methods are meeting with success and only in the event of some untoward check Persuasive would it appear necessary to resort to special legislation over and beyond that which already exists in the Local Government Ordinance, 1907.
7.
I enclose a copy of a minute from the Surgeon-General, dated 22nd February last, and of a letter from the Immigration Agent-General, dated 6th April last.
I have, &c.,
SIR,
Enclosure 1 in No. 48.
CHARLES T. COX.
ADDENDUM TO REPORT OF SIR RUBERT BOYCE.
I'ERMIT me to make an addendum to my interim report to you upon the subject of anchylostomiasis. As you are no doubt well aware, the subject of anchylostomiasis is gaining universal attention and the British Government is taking every means throughout the Empire to combat this labour-paralysing disease. During my stay in this Colony I have personally examined the steps which your medical authority has taken in respect to this disease, and I am firmly convinced of the wisdom of the measures promulgated by your Surgeon-General. I have seen these measures in operation upon one of the large sugar estates known as Pln. Diamond, and I am convinced that these measures are essentially labour-protecting and that they should be enforced, not only on the plantations where there is inden- tured labour, but throughout the whole Colony; if this were done the gain to the Colony would far out-balance any necessary initial expenditure. I have satisfied myself from examination of the cases in the hospitals in the Colony that the disease anchylostomiasis is producing great ravages amongst the labouring classes; for instance, it is well known that this disease is a grave complication in pregnancy and jeopardises not only the life of the mother but also that of the child. therefore trust that every effort will be made to combat this disease, which paralyses I labour at its source.
I am, &c.,
To His Excellency
SIR,
the Acting Governor.
Enclosure 2 in No. 48.
RUBERT BOYCE
The GOVERNMENT SECRETARY to the SURGEON-GENERAL.
Government Secretary's Office,
Georgetown, Demerara, 4th May, 1909.
WITH reference to that portion of Sir Rupert Boyce's report which deals with the measures preventive of anchylostomiasis, I am directed by the Acting Governor to express to you the appreciation of the Government of the efforts in this direction which have been put forth for some years past by yourself and the members of the Medical Staff of the Colony and which have received such full recog- nition from Sir Rubert Boyce.
2.
It appears to the Acting Governor that the time has now arrived when every Government Medical Officer should regard it as part of his official duty to advocate those preventive measures and endeavour to bring home a knowledge of their advantages to the mass of the population under his medical care. The Acting Governor requests that you will be so good as to furnish a copy of Sir Rubert Boyce's report to all Medical Officers with an expression of His Excellency's confi- dent hope that he will receive their cordial co-operation in this matter.
3. It is convenient to place on record here that at a meeting of the Governor- in-Council on the 29th ultimo Sir Rubert Boyce expressed the opinion that the
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