PUBLIC
RECORD OFFICE
Reference :
LTCO. 885
22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC: COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO.
4
5. I have held the opinion for some time-and I understand that Dr. Yorke, of the Northern Rhodesia Scientific Commission, holds similar views-that the direction which future investigation must take is rather towards the problem of dealing with the vector of the disease --the tsetse fly-and to endeavour to devise some means for its extermination.
6. In my opinion the time has arrived in Nyasaland to inaugurate, at first on a small scale, an Entomological Commission to work on this subject. When the Protectorate is free from the cost of the present Scientific Commission then this Entomological Commission could be expanded and a most careful investigation of the fly be undertaken. Such a Commission, it is natural to expect, must take some years to deal with such a subject.
7. I am of opinion-
(1) That this Entomological Commission should neither form part of the present Scientific Commission nor be attached to it, but should be an independent Commission in regard to the lines its investigation should take.
(2) That the Commission should in some form be subject to the control of the Governor, not so much in regard to its organisation or methods of investigation, but rather in order that the Governor may be informed by the Commissioner from time to time of the work proposed, under- taken, or accomplished.
26 January, 1913.
4668
DEAR SIR,
No. 6.
NYASALAND.
LIVINGSTONIA MISSION to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 8 February, 1913.)
[Answered by No. 17.]
W. H. M.
United Free Church Offices, 232, St. Vincent Street,
Glasgow, 7th February, 1913.
Sleeping Sickness.
You will remember that on 17th July, 1912, Mr. H. J. Read replied* for you to a letter sent by me as instructed by the Livingstonia Committee. He kindly transmitted a copy of a letter from the Sleeping Sickness Bureau giving reasons for not accepting our conclusions with regard to Glossina morsitans and sleeping sickness.
Our missionary, Rev. Dr. George Prentice, D.T.M., since his recovery from ill- ness, has taken up Mr. Read's letter as well as Dr. Bagshawe's letter to you of 14th May, 1912, and sent our Committee the enclosed reply.
The Livingstonia Committee and the Medical Committee of the United Free Church Foreign Mission Office consider Dr. Prentice's letter of such importance that you should see it, and they would like you to give it your careful consideration. I am further instructed to ask you if you would kindly inform us when you expect a report from Sir David Bruce, as the Committee view with grave concern the further spread of this disease. They would further like to know if there has been any con- sultation with Sir David Bruce, the Principal Medical Officer, and the Governor, and whether any
decision has been come to as to measures now to be taken. Trusting this whole matter will receive your early and earnest attention.
Believe me,
Yours faithfully,
J. FAIRLEY DALY.
• No. 30 in [Cd. 6671.]
↑ No. 28 in [Cd. 6671.]
‡ No. 24 in [Cd. 6671.]
}
5
Enclosure in No. 6.
NOTES regarding Mr. Read's letter and enclosures on the subject of Game, Tsetse Fly, and Sleeping Sickness.
See Minutes of Livingstonia Committee, Tuesday, 17th September, 1912.
Appendix I.
Mr. Read quotes the Acting Medical Officer to the effect that tsetse fly "is common where game is practically non-existent, and where ten years ago it was plentiful."
Against the above statement place this one from Dr. Elmslie's letter of 22nd August, 1912: What are you doing about sleeping sickness? In Mr. Harcourt's speech he spoke about fly being where no game was. There is no such area in this country."
Who the Acting Principal Medical Officer was and what experience he had of Central Africa we are not informed. Dr. Elmslie has had nearly thirty years of it, and his statement is correct.
If we turn now to Dr. Bagshawe's letter, we find him saying “ I think the natives in morsitans areas should be allowed and indeed encouraged to clear the vicinity of their villages of game.' The same allowance he would make along the trade routes.
This admits danger and admits a possible remedy. The danger is sleeping sickness and the remedy that of driving out the game. This is exactly what we have all along pressed for. That is the best part of what, taking it as a whole, is a very lame statement.
Dr. Bagshawe should know that the idea that fly may attack man more readily if game were driven out is contrary to experience. What happened in South Africa where game was driven out? Tsetse fly did not remain to feed upon human beings, but disappeared. What happened in Central Africa, where game was killed off by rinderpest? The same thing. Experience is in favour of our view. which Dr. Bagshawe gives from "published writings on the subject
The quotations cases antiquated and in others contrary to fact. For instance, Mpika and Chinsali are in some Divisions of Northern Rhodesia are quoted as being ideal places for tsetse and teeming with game, but with no tsetse present. Chinsali are badly infested with tsetse. Domestic animals have suffered severely The fact is that both Mpika and and the sleeping sickness trypanosome has been found in the Chinsali Division.
To prove that tsetse can live without game, Chitambo is cited as having tsetse in plenty, but no game, The fact is, as observed on the spot by Dr. A. Brown, D.T.M. (Livingstonia Medical Missionary), and myself, that game is plentiful and tsetse plentiful. The very latest news is that sleeping sickness has broken out near the Livingstone Monument.
So the specific cases cited in that part of the world which we have been able to investigate prove untrustworthy. What wonder, then, if we refuse to accept possibly equally loose statements from other parts such as British East Africa and Arabia. British East Africa, be it noted, is the hunter's paradise.
The reports of Messrs. Montgomery and Kinghorn are freely made use of. I understand that these two men had to return before completing their work, and much of their statement was made on hearsay evidence, e.g., the absence of game from the vicinity of Chitambo.
But Drs. Kinghorn and Warrington Yorke have since carried through investi- gations in the Loangwa Valley, and it was my observations in that district that mainly led me to the views I hold.
What is now their verdict? To put it in three words they recommend the extermination of game. Having paid heed to their former reports, the Government is bound to listen to what they now have to say on the grounds of perfected know- ledge.
Birds, crocodiles and lizards are dragged into this controversy and are men- tioned as potential hosts of tsetse should game be driven out.
Dr. Bagshawe should know that crocodiles infest rivers and lakes and that Glossina morsitans favours dry country. The tsetse fly does not lay eggs as the ordinary domestic fly does. The larva matures in the body of the female fly and is extruded when ready to pass into the pupal state. It seems that in order to nourish its larva the female fly requires a warm blood diet. Anyhow, without it she doesn't breed. Fed partly on cold and partly on a warm blood diet they breed slowly. Fed on warm blood they breed freely. Crocodiles, lizards and snakes could not keep
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tsetse in any district. As for birds, they are not to be regarded as among the friends The remains of tsetses have been but rather as among the natural enemies of tsetse. found in the crops of certain African birds (merops for instance) shot and examined by Professor Newstead. Why, then, drag crocodiles, birds, lizards, and snakes into the discussion, unless to befog the issue?
We have now not only the testimony of the settler and the missionary as to the intimate association of game and tsetse fly. We have the facts demonstrated by scientists on the spot and accepted by the scientific world at home and abroad that game is the natural reservoir of the sleeping sickness trypanosome, and that Glossina morsitans, the common tsetse fly of Nyasaland and Rhodesia, is an effective carrier of the disease.
The feelings of those who have worked at this subject for years can be better imagined than described as one delay follows another, transport routes are closed to animal transport and rendered dangerous to man, domestic animals, such as goats, sheep and cattle are swept off, and human lives, black and white, are needlessly sacrificed.
GEORGE PRENTICE.
9811
7
No. 9.
MEMORANDUM.
MAMMALS PROVED OR SUSPECTED TO HARBOUR DISEASE-PRODUCING TRYPANOSOMES, Trypanosomes proved by inoculation into susceptible animals to be disease- producing have been found in Africa in the following species of mammals :—
Waterbuck Kudu Bushbuck
Eland
Mpala
Wildebeest
Situtunga (Tragelaphus spekei)
11 6
4668
SIR,
No. 7. NYASALAND.
COLONIAL OFFICE to THE TROPICAL DISEASES BUREAU.
[Answered by No. 11.]
Downing Street, 14 February, 1913.
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to transmit to you, for your obser- vations, the accompanying copy of a letter,* with enclosure, which he has received from the Reverend T. Fairley Daly, of the Livingstonia Mission, respecting the association of the tsetse fly with game in East Africa.
A copy of the lettert from this Department of the 17th of July, referred to in Mr. Daly's letter, is also enclosed.
I am, &c.,
6368
HENRY LAMBERT,
for the Under-Secretary of State.
Reedbuck
Roan
Hartebeest
Buffalo Warthog Hyæna
1
1
1
1
1
1
Human trypanosomes.-T. gambiense has thus been found in two situtunga in Uganda; T. rhodesiense has been found in Rhodesia in six waterbuck, two mpala, a warthog, and a hartebeest. Moreover, the following antelope have been shown experimentally in Uganda to harbour the human trypanosome: Bushbuck, reedbuck, waterbuck, and duiker.
Trypanosomes recognised under the microscope as species which produce disease
in domestic animals or man have been seen in the blood of :-
Waterbuck Situtunga
Puku
Eland
Duiker
Bushbuck
Antelope (species) Monkey
20 4
2
1
1
1
6
2
SIR,
No. 8. SOMALILAND.
THE COMMISSIONER to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 22 February, 1913.)
(No. 12.)
Commissioner's Office, Berbera,
3rd February, 1913.
I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith a return of game killed in the Somali- land Protectorate under sportsmen's, public officers', settlers', and special licences, during the
year 1912.
I have, &c.,
H. A. BYATT.
The trypanosome seen in the blood of the monkeys was the human trypanosome, T. gambiense.
Trypanosomes probably pathogenic to animals have been seen in the blood of
the following animals:-
Waterbuck
8 4
4
Kudu
Reedbuck
Bushbuck
Steinbuck
Roan
Mpala
Duiker
Antelope (? species)
The numbers refer in every case to individuals.
Very little work has been done on this subject outside Africa. Generic and specific names rarely or never given.
Enclosure in No. 8.
LIST OF GAME SHOT DURING the year 1912.
Number.
Greater kudu
1
Pelzeln's gazelle
11
Dik-dik
Wart hog
Soemering's gazelle
Waller's gazelle
Greater bustard Beira
7
2
4
2
1
2
March 3rd, 1913.
• No. 6.
† No. 30 in Cd. 6671.]
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