193
25303
No. 263.
SIERRA LEONE.
COLONIAL OFFICE to CROWN AGENTS.
GENTLEMEN,
Downing Street, December 1, 1899. WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 23rd of November, c/o Messrs. 1898,* I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to inform you that Dr. Stephens Thos. Cook and Dr. Christophers, who were sent to British Central Africa for the purpose of in- vestigating the question of malarial fever, have returned to this country, and will pro- ceed to Sierra Leone by the steamer leaving Liverpool on the 9th instant.
and Son, Ludgate Circus,
E.C.
-
2. I am to instruct you to provide first class passages for them by that opportu. nity, and to send their passage tickets to the addresses noted in the margin.
I am also to instruct you to issue pay at the rate of £400 per annum to each of
these gentlemen from the 1st of October to the 30th of November.
4. Dr. Christophers and Dr. Stephens have not brought last-pay certificates with them, but have stated that they were paid up to the end of September. You will, no doubt, in due course, receive from the Commissioner of the British Central Africa Pro- tectorate the accounts of the Commission, and any adjustment which may be necessary can then be made.
&c.,
32412.
SIR,
No. 26-4.
I am,
R. L. ANTROBUS.
COLONIAL OFFICE to THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
Downing Street, December 2, 1899.
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to transmit to you, for the informa- tion of the Malaria Committee, the enclosed copy of the reply† from the Governor of the Gold Coast to the despatch sent to hini on the 7th of September last, a copy of which was inclosed in the letter addressed by this Department to you on that date.§
·
2. I am to inform you that it has been decided to establish a bacteriological laboratory at Acera, and that it is expected soon to be in working order.
3. If, therefore, it is decided to send the members of the Malaria Investigation Commission to Acera, they should find good facilities there for conducting their researches.
28242.
I am, &c.,
C. P. LUCAS.
34866.
159
No. 266.
MR. C. W. DANIELS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received December 16, 1899.) TELEGRAM.
[Copy to the Royal Society, December 16, 1899. L.F]
To Malaria Committee.—Crescents develop in anopheles described.—Daniels,
Blantyre.
36275.
(No. 355.)
No. 267.
SIERRA LEONE.
GOVERNOR SIR F. CARDEW to MR. CHAMBERLAIN,
(Received December 30, 1899.)
Government House, Fort Thornton,
Freetown, Sierra Leone,
December 15, 1899.
SIR.
I have the honour to forward, for your information, a ropy of a report by the Malaria Expedition of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the members of which recently visited this Colony, and of a memorandum on the same by Dr. W. T. Prout, Colonial Surgeon.
2. As having no expert knowledge on the matters discussed by the Malaria Expedition and Dr. Pront, I can offer no opinion, beyond stating that if the sources of the gnat fever are the breeding pools of anopheles, I would strongly advocate-as indeed I have done ever since I have been in this Colony-that measures should be taken for the erection of dwelling-houses in the hills above Freetown, and for the construction of what I believe is termed a ratelet and eog or other description of railway to connect them with that town. I am glad to observe that such a scheme is recommended by Dr. Prout. Of course the expense of a ratchet and dog railway would be very great; from an approximate estimate which was given me by the Resident Railway Engineer some two or three years ago when was considering the question, I understand the cost of such a railway, starting, say, from a point on the Government railway about a mile beyond Cline town, and ascending the hill to a suitable site for dwelling-houses above Kortright, would amount to £30,000. It cannot be anticipated that a railway it such a cost would
ever pay its working expenses and interest and sinking fund on the capital required for its construction, but on the other hand I think there is no doubt that its existence would so alter for the better the conditions of life in Freetown as to reduce to a minimum the sickness and death rate which now prevails from fever.
I have, &c.,
SIR,
No. 265.
SIERRA LEONE.
COLONIAL OFFICE to THE ROYAL SOCIETY,
Downing Street, December 14, 1899.
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to transmit to you, to be lafd before the Malaria Investigation Committee, an extract from a letter addressed by Dr. Prout, the Colonial Surgeon of Sierra Leone, to the Officer Administering the Government of the Colony, and transmitted by the latter to this Department, sug gesting that a thoroughly equipped laboratory should be established in one of the British West African Colonies for the study of tropical disease, and a medical officer be employed exclusively in conducting investigations'there.
2. Before taking any steps in the matter, Mr. Chamberlain would be obliged if the Committee would favour him with their views upon Dr. Prout's suggestion.
R. L. ANTROBUS.
I am, &c.,
* No. 108.
† No. 261.
‡ No. 250.
§ No. 251.
I See No. 258,
ސ
Enclosure 1 in No. 267.
F. CARDEW,
Governor.
From THE MALARIA EXPEDITION OF THE LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE
to His Excellency Major NATHAN, C.M.G., R.E., Acting Governor of Sierra Leone. YOUR EXCELLENCY,
Frectown, Sierra Leone, September 22, 1899.
In reply to your letter No. 463 of the 15th September, 1899, asking for a report as to the steps which we consider should be taken with a view to effecting a diminution of the prevalence of malarial fever in this Colony, we beg to state as follows :—
Mode of Infection.
2. Recent investigations carried out in India, Italy, and Germany, have shown incontestably that malarial fever is communicated from man to man by the bites of gnats belonging to the genus anopheles. Extending these researches to Sierra Leone, we have found that two species of gnats of the same genus can carry the infection here in this manner. We have also ascertained that the larva of these species live mostly in small pools of water.
T
PUBLIC RECORD
120
OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
7
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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