PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference:-
PILTIC.O.885
7
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH...“NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
40374
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No. 82.
SIR WM. MACGREGOR to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received December 10, 1900.)
IIoward Hotel, Norfolk Street, Strand,
London, December 6, 1900.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to inform you that I have received and considered the cnclosures to Mr. Lucas's despatch, 31183/1900, of yesterday's date.*
2. The measures to be taken for the prevention of malarial fever, according to the concise memorandumt of Sir Michael Foster, are, in my opinion, with one excep- tion, a correct and sound exposition of general principles, supplying all that is needed for the guidance of Colonial authorities. The one exception alluded to is the statement that native adults do not suffer from malaria. This is quite contrary to my experience, which is considerable. My own views of the subject are expressed briefly in an address delivered by me at the opening of the present session of the London School of Tropical Medicine, which is printed in Volume III. of the "Journal of Tropical Medicine," copy of which I enclose herewith. These views will, I think, be found to be in harmony with the memorandumt of Sir Michael Foster with the single exception mentioned above.
3. I would respectfully submit that but little can be done in this country by either committees or regulations. The theory of mosquito-malaria is simplicity itself. It is easily and fully within the comprehension not only of any and every medical officer in the Colonial Service, but also of every educated man of average intelligence.
Nothing is to be gained, but a good deal may be lost, in putting into the hands of Colonial medical officers regulations dealing with matters that cannot fail to force themselves on their notice. If regulations made in this country proceed beyond a few obvious generalities, it will, in my opinion, be found that they will be prejudicial to the initiative required on the part of the medical officers; and it will be very extra- ordinary if they do not prove to be, in many cases, inapplicable or impracticable. I would respectfully recall to mind the harm that was done by the Leprosy Circular, which, based on opinions formed in this country, pronounced the disease to be non- contagious, and condemned segregation,
My own conviction is, therefore, that this matter a Colony possessing a few officers of average experience and intelligence could, acting on principles already sup- plied, frame better regulations for its own particular needs than could be drawn up by the most learned society found elsewhere. It is, indeed, not clear to myself at present that special regulations or legislation of any direct kind is required on the subject. So far as I am able to see just now, the Public Health Ordinance of Lagos, for example, will furnish us with all powers that we require, subject to your sanction in the usual way for incurring expenditure.
4. With the first suggestion of Dr. Manson I fully concur. But I believe that the practice it lays down has always been followed, save only in rare cases.
The second suggestion is equally commendable, but will be practicable in different degrees and in diverse ways in different localities. It will have to be tempered to suit the requirements of ventilation, which cannot be overlooked; and in each place will have to be modified to meet its style of construction and its meteorological conditions. For example, what would be required in a country subject to hurricanes might not be necessary in a place outside the hurricane zones.
No. 3 commends itself equally, and will doubtless be attended to wherever mos- quito-malaria is attacked.
No. 4 does not require any special means. It is already customary to drive mosquitoes out of rooms and mosquito nets. It is an obvious precaution that would be omitted only by the very careless, who will never be affected by any regulations of the kind.
No. 5 is hardly practicable. It can scarcely be expected that steam-boats should make special provision for the protection of Government servants. Nor is it desirable that they should do so. The Government servant should be as well able as any other person to protect himself, and should, perhaps, show superior intelligence and resource in doing so. It is not probable that the Government servants of any tropical country
• Not printed.
↑ No. 61; also printed separately as Miscellaneous No. 132.
45
travel without mosquito nets. The likelihood is that little more than that is practicable on most steam-boats on coast or river traffic.
No. 6 has, it may be believed, already thrust itself on all Government servants, as well as upon other tropical residents and travellers. In practice this is not confined to Europeans.
In Fiji the Polynesian Regulations require that every labourer should be furnished with a mosquito net. Every Papuan in the service of the Government of British New Guinea had a mosquito net as part of his outfit. Where this regulation is most required is in hospital, where it can, and doubtless will, be carried out; and in the native towns and villages, where it is impracticable.
No. 7 will most probably be carried into effect in spirit and in practice on a larger scale than is here contemplated. It is, for example, intended to have popular illustrated lectures on the subject at Lagos, and to have it taught in the public schools. In many places that, however, may not be possible.
No. 8 is not practicable, and could hardly be carried out in such a way as to suit any useful purpose. No medical report of the kind alluded to is known to me. It could never reach a great many officers that are not stationed under the eye of a medical officer. It may be doubted that the latter could give precise information, even with respect to those living near him, as it would be only when in medical attendance that he could form an opinion as to whether a brother officer used a mosquito net properly, or the reverse. The time for such a regulation has not yet arrived.
No. 9 I respectfully deprecate. The work to be performed is of a kind in which no person has yet gained practical experience. The experiments hitherto carried out have answered their purpose extremely well, in proving and demonstrating the mos- quito-malaria theory; but they do not make practical experts of even those who were actually engaged in them. The protected cage houses, for example, in which experi- mentors have lived, cannot be provided for a nation. The ordinary staff of each Colony must inspect, instruct, and superintend, if the task is to be carried out in the only way that promises success, that is proceeding on the general principles laid down by Sir Michael Foster, in the way that local circumstances may require, and on a scale suited to the measure of the men and money that can be employed in this work in each Colony.
I entertain no doubt that better results would be obtained at Lagos, for example, by using only the ordinary staff than by employing any other person to direct matters I should very much regret that in any such an undertaking as this, where practically all experience has yet to be obtained, the initiative of officers should be discouraged and their zeal lessened by their being subordinate to any supernumerary officer, who, in many ways, could hardly know as well-as themselves the place, the people, and the means available.
5. If regulations of the kind suggested are proceeded with, I would respectfully point out that they seem to be directed too specially to Europeans, and more particu- larly to one class of Europeans, those that are Government officers.
37662
SIR,
No. 83.
JAMAICA
I have, &c.,
WILLIAM MACGREGOR.
COLONIAL OFFICE to THE SEAMEN'S HOSPITAL SOCIETY.
Downing Street, December 7, 1900.
WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 18th September last,* regarding the admission of officers in the Colonial Service as paying patients in the hospitals of the Seamen's Hospital Society, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamber- lain to transmit to you, to be laid before your Board, a copy of a despatch↑ which has
• No. 71.
† No. 79.
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