PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
36
effectively brought into force, and it would be easy to secure complete immunity from their attacks. So much for suggestions (a), (b), and (c).
7. Suggestions (d), (h), and (i) are, in my opinion, essential, and my views in regard to them are shared by Dr. Prout. In discussing the question of wire gauze with Major Ross when he was here, he was good enough to give me the address of Mr. James Dickson, 48, Gray's Inn Road, London, as the manufacturer of tinned wire gauze, No. 20 hole, at three pence per square foot. This wire gauze is being used in Lagos for rendering houses mosquito proof, and has been found to be satisfactory and
durable.
8. Suggestion (c). Dr. Manson's notice on malaria is already exhibited in some of the public offices here, but I could advantageously find place for, say, 100 more copies if they could be supplied to me.
9. Suggestion (f). A Government Medical Officer is already associated with the Liverpool Malaria Commission in operations connected with the extermination of the anopheles and other mosquitoes in Freetown.
10. Suggestion (g). I am at present engaged in an enquiry into the cause of the prevalence of fever among the railway employees, and Dr. Prout proposes to make experiments in rendering some of the railway quarters mosquito proof, and noting the results. The results of these experiments, if satisfactory, will be made public.
I have, &c.,
C. A. KING-HARMAN,
57
3. The circular refers to the inoculation of malarial fever by means of these insects, but, as the mosquito by which the parasite is transmitted is, to the best of my knowledge, not to be found in this Colony, the stringent regulations suggested by the Committee are at present unnecessary here.
4.
We have, however, the Filaria sanguinis hominis, which is also transmitted by another kind of mosquito, and, though the cases which come under my observation are rare, the risk of inoculation always present, and, therefore, certain precautions
are advisable, and the suggestion (1) is the one most easily carried out by every one here, and is the one which affords a certain amount of protection.
5. Suggestion (E) should also be adopted, and, in addition to this, diagrams showing the differences between the malarial mosquito (Anopheles) and the ordinary culex should be issued to be posted up in all Government Offices and public buildings.
ROBERT DENMAN,
August 31, 1901.
Enclosure 2 in No. 53.
Chief Medical Officer.
+
500
Reference :-
C.O.885
7
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
33564
SIR,
No. 53.
SEYCHELLES.
Governor.
ADMINISTRATOR E. B. SWEET-ESCOTT to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
(No. 202.)
(Received September 25, 1901.)
[Answered by 30222; not printed.]
Government House, Seychelles, September 4, 1901. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt on the 20th August of your circular despatch of the 20th April last,* requesting my opinion as to whether any, or all, of the suggestions made by the Malarial Fever Committee can with advantage be adopted in Seychelles.
2. I beg to enclose copies of Minutes by Dr. Denman, the Chief Medical Officer, to whom your despatch was referred, and suggest that his recommendations be acted on, and that 100 copies of the admirable notice on "Malaria, its causes and preven- tion," by Dr. Manson, be supplied for the use of this Government.
3. The anopheles species of mosquito is, happily, not found in Seychelles, and the Islands have so far been free from malaria, the bane of the tropics, but there can be no harm in giving the widest publicity to the precautionary measures to be adopted in the event of the appearance of this scourge.
(No. 603/01.)
I have, &c.,
E. B. SWEET-ESCOTT,
Enclosure 1 in No. 53.
MINUTE by CHIef Medical OffICER, Seychelles.
HIS HONOUR THE ADMINISTRATOR,
Administrator.
I HAVE withdrawn the copies of the enclosure and the circular as directed. 2. With reference to the valuable suggestions put forward in the circular, I am of opinion that precautions should be taken against infection from mosquito bites.
• No. 11.
MINUTE by CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, Seychelles.
(No. 608/01.) HIS HONOUR THE ADMINISTRATOR,
I CANNOT yet provide the diagram required, but on the arrival of Dr. Manson's book and the one about gnats and mosquitoes, which are already ordered, I shall be able to do so.
2. Copies should be posted in each of the Government Offices, the Police Stations, and in the waiting rooms at the Court, and some of the leading merchants and shipping agents should be requested to post them up in their offices.
I should think that about 100 copies would be necessary.
September 3, 1901.
ROBERT DENMAN,
Chief Medical Officer.
33846
SIR,
No. 54.
GOLD COAST.
GOVERNOR MAJOR NATHAN to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
(No. 435.)
(Received September 26, 1901.)
[Answered by No. 83.]
Government House, Accra, September 6, 1901. REFERRING to your circular despatches of the 20th and 25th April, 1901,* on the subject of diminishing in tropical Colonies the risk from malaria to health and life, more especially in the case of Government Officials, I have the honour to forward the observations of the Principal Medical Officer of this Colony on the suggestions contained in those despatches.
2. Dr. Henderson's remarks are very concisc, and I propose to deal somewhat more fully with the nine suggestions recently made by the Committee of gentlemen appointed by you to consider the question in conjunction with Dr. Manson.
3. I entirely concur in suggestion (A) with regard to the location of new buildings, and I would go further by removing from the vicinity of existing buildings inhabited by Europeans insanitary groups of huts, such as in many West African towns surround them. I propose to do this by degrees in the quarter occupied by better class of merchants at Accra. I am about to visit Cape Coast mainly with a view to seeing whether by clearing certain areas of crowded and unhealthy habita- tions the health of that unwholesome town can be improved. I have already reported to you the action I have taken and am taking with regard to Sekondi and towns on
• Nos. 11 and 14.