41
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
Q PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO:
*
the 29th of February, transmitting a copy of a despatch from the Resident Com- missioner, Maseru, on the subject of the investigation of malaria and other tropical
diseases.
2. I approve of the Resident Commissioner's suggestion that a contribution of £100 should be made by the Basutoland Government towards the common fund in aid of medical training and research.
I have, &c.,
14624
No. 70.
ALFRED LYTTELTON.
FEDERATED MALAY STATES.
ACTING HIGH COMMISSIONER TAYLOR to MR. LYTTELTON.
(Received April 25, 1904.)
[Acknowledged May 3, 1904, No. 120: 14624: not printed.]
(No. 135.) SIR,
Government House, Singapore, March 28, 1904. WITH reference to my despatch, No. 37, of the 26th of January last, on the subject of the appointment of permanent Assistants for the Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpor, I have the honour to submit, at the request of the Resident- General, copy of a further letter from that officer, No. 1431/04, of the 18th of March current, enclosing copy of a letter from the Director of the Institute.
2. I have nothing to add to what I have already said in my despatch referred to
above.
SIR,
(No. I.M.R. 1431/04.)
Enclosure in No. 70.
I have, &c.,
W. T. TAYLOR.
Resident-General's Office,.Selangor, Malay Peninsula, March 18, 1904. IN reference to Your Excellency's despatch to the Secretary of State, No. 37, of 26th January last, on the subject of Sir P. Manson's observations regarding the Institute for Medical Research at Kuala Lumpur, copy of which Your Excellency was so good as to send to me under cover of H.C.O. letter, No. 44, of 2nd February, I have the honour to submit copy of a letter from the Director which I venture to think should be communicated to the Secretary of State.
2. I would draw attention to the following points in Dr. Daniels' letter, premising that Dr. Daniels has very much greater practical and actual experience in regard to the subject under discussion than Mr. McDowell:-
(1) We have established a large and well-equipped laboratory. Without a
trained staff it is "almost useless."
(2) With buildings and equipment almost equal to those set up by the Ameri- cans since their quite recent occupation of the Philippine Islands, we, who have been for many years in the Malay Peninsula, are inferior in respect of staff.
(3) Records of work, &c., are and have been the property of the Institute and
not of the Director.
(4) There is no disposition to relegate to the background the important subject
of beri-beri.
Dr. Hamilton Wright is continuing his studies on the subject at the cost of Government and chemical and pathological observations are being made here, but until Dr. Wright's second "study" has been published, it would be inadvisable to issue any further beri-beri "study" from the Institute.
His Excellency
The High Commissioner,
Federated Malay States.
- No. 46.
I have, &c.,
W. H. TREACHER, Resident-General, Federated Malay States.
† No. 25.
(No. I.M.R. 2/04)
SIR,
The Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur,
Federated Malay States, February 15, 1904. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter (No. H.C. 1044/04) enclosing a copy of a despatch from His Excellency the Acting High Commissioner and asking me for comments on the views expressed in that despatch.
2.
With reference to paragraphs 3 and 4 of that despatch, I had pointed out that if it were decided to have only one permanent assistant, he must be a bacteriologist, and that Dr. Milne of the two assistants showed more promise in that direction though not in others. As Dr. Milne has nearly two years unexpired of his present engage- ment, there is ample time to consider his suitability for the post if he wishes to take it.
3. With reference to paragraph 5, the continuity is only one and not the main reason for wishing some permanency. At the low salary given it will be impossible to obtain trained assistants. The previous correspondence between the Colonial Office and the various teaching bodies confirms this. At the present rate of pay and the increments I suggested it will be, I think, possible to obtain men showing sufficient promise to be worth training locally. If such assistants, when trained, are not re- tained, the time spent by the Director in training them will be wasted.
4. There appear to be three different plans by which advantage might be taken
of the resources and appliances of the Institute:-
(a) Attracting voluntary workers. Experience has shown that a certain but irregular number of men do make use of the Institute, but most of these wish to learn or increase their knowledge in one special branch. I do not think that we can anticipate a sufficiently regular supply of suitable men for steady routine work.
(6) Importing trained assistants for a term of three years at a higher salary than is given at present. That advised by my predecessor was £500, which, I think, is rather low for good men.
This has advantage, but had been refused, and on the whole though it results in delay, I consider the plan I advocate (c) would, in the long run, lead to better results.
(c) Importing untrained or partially trained medical men at the same salary as medical officers, and if found suitable, making them permanent assistants with substantial increments to compensate for the absence of private practice.
By this method we should have men with local knowledge and the defects of the local training would be counterbalanced by the liberal study leave I had advocated.
With either (6) or (c) as the basis of working staff supplemented by (a), I believe a future of great usefulness may await the Institute.
The present plan of having untrained temporary assistants liable to be trans- ferred to medical work at any time for uncertain and indefinite periods can lead to no useful result.
I cannot too strongly emphasize what I believe to be the state of the case, that a large laboratory, far in excess of the needs of one or two men, but giving considerable routine supervision and without a trained staff is almost useless.
I have advocated what I consider a minimum staff much less than that provided for the Institute in Manila, though the buildings there are a little larger than ours, as, according to English views, knowledge of preventive medicine ranks much lower than with Americans.
5. As regards paragraph 6, records of work, &c., are and have been the property of the Institute, not of the Director. are recorded, but in practice such records tend to become the rough notes on which Theoretically also results positive and negative reports are founded, and in any case are so arranged that without the clue to the mental train of thought are of little value.
Mr. McDowell paid a very brief visit, say 10 minutes, to the Institute, and made no enquiries as to the systems adopted, nor was I aware that his visit was an official inspection or that he had made any special study of laboratory systems.
6. Paragraph 7 deals with a separate issue which I regret has been introduced in this connection. I quite recognise the importance of the study of outbreaks of beri-beri, and am glad to have the opportunity of studying such outbreaks as those in the Singapore gaol. There has been no outbreak in Kuala Lumpur institutions
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