PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
ICO. 885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
48885
SIR,
888
38
No. 18.
GOLD COAST.
TROPICAL DISEASES BUREAU to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 9th December, 1914.)
Imperial Institute, London, S. W., 8th December, 1914.
*
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 18th November (42069/1914),* forwarding, for my observations, papers on the subject of sleeping sickness in Ashanti. I have no remarks to make. It is clear that a watch ful attitude" must, for the present, be the line of defence against sleeping sickness in the Western Province of Ashanti. I hope that later the Secretary of State will be able to appoint a travelling Medical Officer for this Province, as is strongly urged by Mr. T. E. Fell.
I have, &c.,
48885
No. 19.
ARTHUR G. BAGSHAWE,
GOLD COAST.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
(No. 819.) SIR,
Director.
Downing Street, 15th December, 1914, WITH reference to your despatch No. 731, of the 28th of September,† enclos- ing copies of minutes by the Principal Medical Officer and the Commissioner of the Western Province of Ashanti, relative to sleeping sickness, I have the honour to transmit to you, for your information, the accompanying copy of a letter on the subjeet from the Director of the Tropical Diseases Bureau, to whom copies of your despatch and its enclosures were communicated.
2. With reference to the suggested appointment of a travelling Medical Officer for the Province, I have to observe that, although it will not be possible to add a Medical Officer to the staff for this purpose, I gather from paragraph 5 of the Principal Medical Officer's minute that Dr. Ingram is, or was recently, carrying out the work.
I have, &c.,
109
II. TROPICAL DISEASES BUREAU.
No. 20.
L. HARCOURT.
MINUTES OF THE EIGHTH MEETING OF THE MANAGING COMMITTEE OF THE TROPICAL DISEASES BUREAU, HELD AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE ON THE 8TH JANUARY, 1914, AT 4.30 P.M.
Present:
Sir J. WEST RIDGEWAY (in the chair).
Sir JOHN Rose Bradford.
Sir HAVELOCK CHARLES.
Sir W. B. Leishman.
Mr. READ.
Sir R. Ross.
Mr. KEITH (Secretary),
Dr. BAGSHAWE, Director of the Bureau, also attended.
1. The minutes of the seventh meeting of the Managing Committee were approved.
*L.F. transmitting copy of No. 17. † No. 17. * No. 18.
No. 27 in Miscellaneous No. 275.
39
2. The agents' accounts were presented. They showed that for the year 1913 the proceeds from sales and advertisements amounted roughly to £350 for the Tropical Diseases Bulletin and £67 for the Veterinary Bulletin, and that the number of subscribers for the former had increased to 367, and for the latter to 174. The Committee noted with satisfaction the progress which had been made.
3. Dr. Bagshawe laid before the Committee a suggestion for the establish- mont of a section of the Bulletin dealing with tropical sanitation. He explained that the estimated expenditure of the Bulletin for 1913-14 was £2,950, which would be more than ample for the purpose, and the estimated revenue was £3,446, leaving a balance of about £500, which, added to the balance of £1,400 on the working of the previous year, would give on 1st April, 1914, an approximate balance of £1,900. He reminded the Committee that they had had before them the proposal of Sir Ronald Ross for the establishment of a journal dealing with tropical sanitation. All that was now proposed was that summaries of the work done on tropical sanita- tion should be included in the Bulletin, and that Colonel King should be appointed to do this work, for which he was fully qualified. The Committee agreed that the proposal should be accepted. Sir Havelock Charles pointed out that a certain amount of the work was already done in dealing with malaria, but he agreed that by arrangements between the sectional editors of malaria and tropical sanitation any duplication of work could be avoided. Mr. Read raised the question whether a separate bulletin might not be issued, but it was agreed that it was better to commence merely with a section, leaving the publication of a separate bulletin to stand over for further consideration if experience should show that this was desirable. It was accordingly decided that a new section of the Bulletin should be opened, and that Colonel King should be appointed as Sectional Editor, with the usual remuneration of £50 a year.
Dr. Bagshawe reported that Colonel Birt had resigned his appointment as Sectional Editor with effect from the end of the year, and proposed for appoint- ment in his place as Sectional Editor for leprosy and sand-fly fever, Major L. Cummins, R.A.M.C. Sir W. Leishman endorsed this recommendation, stating that Major Cummins had been appointed as his assistant and successor as Professor of Pathology, and that he was admirably qualified to do the work, though he was afraid that owing to the recent increase in the duties he might find it difficult to carry it out. It was unanimously agreed that Major Cummins should be offered the appointment.
The question of the position of Dr. Castellani, Sectional Editor for tropical skin diseases, was considered. Dr. Bagshawe reported that several journals had been lent to him and had not been returned, and that during the whole of 1913 only ten summaries of papers had been received. He thought that, owing to the large amount of work which Dr. Castellani had to do, and the difficulty of keeping in touch with him by correspondence, it was desirable that a change should be made in the arrangements for the work. While he had no name to put forward as a suc- cessor to Dr. Castellani, Dr. Low could for the time being do the work as part of his ordinary duty, and a further appointment could be made later. Sir West Ridgeway suggested that Dr. Castellani's position might be made honorary, and Sir Havelock Charles was inclined to think that this might conceivably be a suitable mede of disposing of the difficulty. Sir John Rose Bradford considered that there should be no difficulty in explaining to Dr. Castellani that the Committee thought that, in view of the distance and length of time involved in communication and the desirability of close touch between the Director and the Sectional Editors, it would be desirable that the work should be given to some person resident in the United Kingdom. Mr. Read stated that he was confident that Dr. Castellani would not make any difficulty in the matter, and it was finally agreed that it should be left to Sir West Ridgeway and Dr. Bagshawe to settle the terms of the letter, which should arrange for the termination of Dr. Castellani's services as Sectional Editor for tropical skin diseases, with effect from the end of March, 1914.
Dr. Bagshawe reported that Dr. Sandwith, Sectional Editor for pellagra, had represented that the amount of work that had fallen to him was larger than was expected, and had asked that his remuneration should be increased from £25 to £50 year. Dr. Bagshawe stated that the number of references for pellagra had been in the last year 112. as compared with 67 for tropical skin diseases, and recom- mended that Dr. Sandwith's request should be complied with. The Committee concurred in the recommendation, to take effect from January 1st.
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