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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
19
Reference -
MC.O. 885
22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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4. In view of the additional information contained in this letter, Mr. Har- court trusts that the Secretary of State will now see his way to nominate a repre- sentative of the India Office to serve on the Managing Committee, as it is desirable that steps should be taken without undue delay to arrange for the expansion of the work of the Bureau.
I am, &c.,
4583
SIR,
No. 9.
INDIA OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received February 14, 1912.)
G. V. FIDDES,
India Office, Whitehall, London, S. W., 14 February, 1912,
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, No. 1799, of the 30th January, 1912,* on the subject of the proposed expansion of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau, and in reply to inform you that he has now appointed Surgeon-General Sir A. M. Branfoot, K.C.I.E., to represent India on the Managing Committee of the Bureau.
7103
No. 10.
I have, &c.,
LIONEL ABRAHAMS.
MINUTES OF THE THIRTY-SECOND MEETING OF THE MANAGING COMMITTEE OF THE SLEEPING SICKNESS BUREAU, HELD AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE AT 4.30 P.M., ON TUESDAY, THE 27TH FEBRUARY, 1912.
PRESENT:
Mr. READ (in the Chair).
Surgeon-General Sir A. BRANFOOT.
Sir W. LEISHMAN,
Sir P. MANSON.
Sir J. ROSE BRADFORD.
Mr. KEITH (Secretary).
Dr. BAGSHAWE also attended.
1. Dr. Prentice was introduced to the Advisory Committee, and, as suggested by the Secretary of State, discussed with the Committee the question of the connection between sleeping sickness and big game in Nyasaland with regard to which he had addressed two letters to the Secretary of State on the 19th of February.t
Dr. Prentice laid before the Committee a map of Nyasaland, and described in detail the advance of the tsetse fly into areas which after the rinderpest had been devoid of fly. With the advance of the fly cases of sleeping sickness had occurred, and he considered that as time went on a large area of the country would be com- pletely isolated, being surrounded on all sides by belts of fly country through which cattle could not be taken, and in which danger of infection by sleeping sickness for human beings was steadily increasing.
Dr. Prentice considered that the increase of the fly was certainly due to the prevalence of big game, and he pointed out that not only did the presence of big game thus add greatly to the risks to health, but it also seriously affected the economic development of the country. The natives were not permitted under any circumstances to kill game, and much damage was done to their was, in his opinion, to permit the natives to kill game freely, which would have the crops. The remedy incidental advantage of giving them the healthy occupation of hunting and of
† Nos. 14 and 15 in [Cd. 6671] March 1913.
• No. 8.
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providing them with suitable animal food, and to encourage hunters to come to the country to shoot the game by the reduction of the cost of game licences or, if neces- sary, by the complete abrogation of such licences for the time being. He pointed out that the natives were not likely to kill very much game, but that the noise which they made while hunting was sufficient to frighten game away, and he considered that the result of the measures which he advocated would be that game would migrate to the empty portions of the hunting country, where there was no probability of the extinction of any species. He laid stress on the large number of cow elephants which existed, and the considerable herds of eland and buffalo.
In reply to a question by Mr. Read he stated it as his opinion that the prevalence of tsetse was due to the existence of large herds of big game, and that tsetse would not be so prevalent if there were no such herds, and he was definitely of opinion that small game like the small antelopes around his station did not encourage the tsetse.
He also stated that he was aware that it had been argued that tsetse fly had been found where there was no game, but he insisted on the fact that when the grass was long it was extremely difficult to find game, although there might be large numbers actually present. Moreover, if there were any doubt in the matter it was right that the doubt should be answered in the direction of the preservation of human life.
The Committee thanked Dr. Prentice for his interesting statement, and he expressed satisfaction at having been able to lay the matter before them. He then withdrew.
The Committee then considered the views expressed by Dr. Prentice. Sir P. Manson and Sir W. Leishman said definitely that they were impressed by the evidence which Dr. Prentice had adduced. Sir J. Rose Bradford admitted that the case presented was very plausible, but he pointed out that the matter required careful examination. He had gathered from Dr. Prentice's account the impression that, apart from the rinderpest, cases had existed in which tsetse fly had at one time increased and at another time diminished, and if this were so the account of the disappearance of the tsetse fly after rinderpest was not a conclusive argument. Other evidence showed that after the rinderpest in some areas the tsetse fly had persisted, and it was quite possible that it had maintained its existence by living on small animals, e.g., the pig. Moreover, the theory that Glossina morsitans carried the trypanosome was based as yet upon a laboratory experiment only. Economic reasons were, in his opinion, beyond the scope of the consideration of the Managing Committee, but in this case Mr. Read pointed out that Dr. Prentice was wrong in thinking that the natives were never permitted to kill game, as they could obtain permission to do so on application to the Government Officer if it were found that their crops were being destroyed by game. Sir J. Rose Bradford was, therefore, of opinion that it would be well, in view of the fact that a Commission under Sir David Bruce had been sent out to obtain definite information on the matter, including the very point at issue, to await the results of the report of that Commission, and, of course, to send at once to Sir D. Bruce a copy of Dr. Prentice's statement, with a request that he would give it careful consideration and reply to it in due course. Sir J. Rose Bradford pointed out also that there was no marked increase so far as statistics showed in the number of cases of sleeping sickness discovered in Nyasaland. It was, however, pointed out by Sir P. Manson that the number of European cases--three or four- was a very large number, and that there might well be many cases among the natives which had not been recognised. Mr. Read and Dr. Bagshawe thought that the Government officers should by this time have a pretty fair idea of the existence of the disease.
Sir P. Manson was of opinion that the Secretary of State should be advised that if the evidence obtained by the Commission tended in the direction of that adduced by Dr. Prentice practical steps should be taken to deal with the question of big game. Mr. Read pointed out that the Secretary of State had already adopted this attitude, and was waiting, for sufficient evidence to justify decided action. The Committee finally concurred in the views expressed by Sir J. Rose Bradford, who agreed that the Secretary of State should be informed that the Committee were impressed by the evidence adduced.
2. The Minutes of the 31st Meeting* of the Committee were approved. 3. The proposals of Dr. Bagshawe for the expansion of the Sleeping Sickness
* No. 62 in Miscellaneous No. 254.