29
7668
No. 15.
UGANDA.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE ACTING GOVERNOR.
(No. 115.) SIR,
[Answered by No. 26.]
Downing Street, 2 April, 1910. WITH reference to Mr. Tomkins's despatch, No. 101, of the 8th of May, 1909,* I have the honour to request that you will furnish me with your observations on the recommendations made by the Sleeping Sickness Conference held at Nairobi in April, 1909, as published in the "Agricultural Journal of British East Africa for January, 1910, and also with a description of any action which has been taken, or which is suggested, for the purpose of carrying out those recommendations.
2. I should add, with regard to No. 8 of the recommendations, that the matter has been discussed by the Tropical Diseases Committee of the Royal Society with Sir D. Bruce, and that it is not proposed to appoint a full Commission at present, but, with the sanction of the Treasury, to send out an expert with medical and entomological experience to work at trypanosomiasis in Uganda from the entomo- logical side.
3. A similar despatch has been sent to the Governor of the East Africa Protectorate.
0819
(No. 129.)
MY LORD,
No. 18.
EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE.
I have, &c.,
CREWE.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 4 April, 1910.)
Government House, Nairobi, British East Africa,
March 8th, 1910. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch, No. 6, of the 6th of January last.f
2. The Director of Agriculture and the Principal Medical Officer, to whom I submitted your Lordship's proposal for opinion, both welcome the idea of a Commission cordially, and only differ as to when it should start operations.
3. The former, having in view the fact that an entomologist and a veterinary pathologist have recently been appointed, is of opinion that it should be postponed for a short time in order to allow of research by the two officials in question, a course that would tend ultimately to prove of great value and assistance in its labours.
4. The Principal Medical Officer, on the other hand, considers that no time should be wasted on preliminary investigation, and that the Commission should be appointed forthwith.
5. In view of the fact that the recommendation was first made in April of last year, and that some slight delay must inevitably occur before it can arrive in East Africa, I am of opinion that the immediate appointment of the Commission would not be premature; there would even now be plenty of material for it to work upon.
I have, &c.,
E. P. C. GIROUARD,
Governor.
10089
No. 17.
SLEEPING SICKNESS BUREAU to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 6 April, 1910.)
[Copy to High Commissioner, South Africa, 14 April, 1910. No. 123. L.F.] [Answered by No. 20.] Sleeping Sickness Bureau, The Royal Society,
Burlington House, London, W.,
April 5th, 1910. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st inst.,* enclosing, with covering despatches, a report by the Principal Medical Officer of North-Eastern and North-Western Rhodesia.
SIR,
2. I have read this report with much interest. It is clear that the interest and energy displayed by the medical department in the investigation and control of sleeping sickness in these regions are not being relaxed, and that initial mistakes, inevitable at the inception of preventive measures in a new country, are being
rectified.
3. I am inclined to think that too much stress is laid on the result of gland pal- pation, but it appears that Dr. May himself is under no illusion as to the inferences which can legitimately be drawn. We must not lose sight of the fact that in sleeping sickness, both at the early and late stage, the lymphatic glands may not be large enough to puncture and that trypanosomiasis is by no means the only cause of glandular swellings in natives.
4. I concur generally in the observation that it does not seem advisable to move villages to the tributaries of rivers on which Glossina palpalis is known to occur, but if such sites have at least 4,500 feet altitude I think that they may be regarded as beyond the limit at which this species can live. But even here if the stream bed fell abruptly, the villages might be dangerously near to the upper limit of palpalis.
5. With regard to the proposed deportation of natives from the closed areas of North-Eastern Rhodesia to Southern Rhodesia, I have re-read my letter of February 28tht and see no reason to modify any part of it. I suggest that if it is impossible to prevent natives crossing the Luapula to get work in the Katanga-and it is clear from Dr. May's expressed opinion that this is the case---an arrangement might be made to control this traffic. If it became known that no native unprovided with a special pass would get work at the mines, it should be possible to station a medical officer at some suitable point on the Luapula south of Madona, who would provide such a pass. Here the natives would cross under safe conditions, and would follow a fly-free route to Kambove. This it should not be hard to obtain, for the land lies high and Glossina palpalis would certainly not occur in that latitude above 4,000 feet. On his return from the mines some inducement must be offered to the native to follow the same route and to cross again at the same point. I write here subject to correction, for my knowledge of the region has been obtained from the study of maps and reports, and not on the spot. It seems improbable that the autho- rities at the mines will be persuaded to refuse Rhodesian labour. Dr. May's alter- native proposal, the starting of a local industry, such as cotton-growing, commends itself to me.
6. I think that the inactivity of the Belgians on their side of the border may be expected to continue till measures are mutually arranged at joint conferences of the local British and Belgian officials. I cannot believe that negotiations conducted through the Foreign Office will be productive of much good, for in Central Africa any regulation, be it never so good, becomes a dead letter if the local administrators are uninterested or apathetic.
I have, &c.,
ARTHUR G. BAGSHAWE,
• No. 11 in Miscellaneous No. 238.
† L.F. transmitting copy of No. 2.
J
• Transmitting copy of No. 8.
Director.
† No. 7,
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O.885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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