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C.O. 885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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84
No. 149.
LEEWARD ISLANDS.
MR. LYTTELTON to ACTING GOVERNOR COX.
(No. 208.) SIR,
Downing Street, August 24, 1904. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 312, of the 22nd ultimo, and to inform you that I have learnt with satisfaction that the Legislative Council of St. Kitts-Nevis have voted a sum of £25 as a contribution from that Presidency, in aid of the investigation of tropical diseases.
30475
No. 150.
MALTA.
I have, &c.,
ALFRED LYTTELTON.
WAR OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received August 30, 1904.)
SIR,
War Office, London, S.W., August 30, 1904. In reply to your letter of the 16th August, No. 27151/1904,† I am commanded by the Army Council to acquaint you, for the information of Mr. Secretary Lyttelton, that they concur in the proposal to pay an additional allowance of fifteen shillings (15s.) a day to Major W. H. Horrocks, Royal Army Medical Corps, from the Mediter- ranean Fever Commission Fund, so long as that officer is specially employed in Malta as a member of the Commission, the object being to raise Major Horrocks's subsistence allowance to 20s. a day and provide for the payment of the substitute who is carrying on his civil sanitary duties at Gibraltar.
I am, &c.,
10912
No. 151.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
R. H. BRADE.
MR. LYTTELTON to GOVERNOR SIR G. R. LE HUNTE.
Downing Street, August 31, 1904.
[Copy to Governor, Barbados, September 3, 1904, No. 122. L.F. See No. 166.]
(No. 12.) SIR,
I HAVE had under my consideration your despatch, No. 10, of the 24th of February last, in which you state, with reference to Mr. Chamberlain's circular despatch of the 28th of May, 1903,§ that you are advised by your Ministers that they considered that the despatch in question referred altogether to the Crown Colonies, but that if it is so desired, the State of South Australia will be willing to join the other Australian States on a population basis, and provide funds for the further investigation of tropical diseases.
2. I much appreciate this offer of assistance on the part of the State of South Australia, but before proceeding further in the matter, I think that I should do well to place before the Governments of the Australian States the following consider-
ations.
3. Although the scheme for the investigation of tropical diseases referred to in Mr. Chamberlain's despatch of the 28th of May, 1903, was designed in the first instance for the benefit of the tropical Crown Colonies, I cannot but think that the Australian States will also profit by it, as tropical diseases are prevalent in British New Guinea, and in parts of the Australian Continent, and there is always risk that tropical diseases may be imported from elsewhere as in the case of the recent outbreak of plague at Sydney.
85
4. I am supported in this view by a despatch which I have received from the Deputy Governor of Queensland, enclosing a report by the Commissioner of Public Health on the circular despatch of the 28th of May, 1903. In this report the Com- missioner states that the Health Officer attached to his Department will shortly furnish a report respecting his recent official inquiries in regard to plague, malaria, ankylostoma, and other tropical diseases at Cairns and other northern places. It also appears from the 'report that a malarial form of sickness known as "Gulf fever at times exists in the more northern districts of Queensland, and I understand that malaria, dysentery and filariasis are especially prevalent in British New Guinea.
5. It is true that the Governor of New South Wales, has stated that while his Government is deeply impressed with the importance of the scheme described in Mr. Chamberlain's despatch, the Colony has, fortunately, but little direct concern with the more important of the tropical diseases adverted to. The same remark would, no doubt, apply to the majority of the Australian States; on the other hand not only are the States, as I have mentioned above, always exposed to the risk of the introduction of tropical diseases from the outside, but I understand that, leaving out of consideration the diseases mentioned above as being prevalent only in parts of Queensland and in British New Guinea, beri-beri, dengue fever, and hydatid disease occur eslewhere in Australia. It is, therefore, possible that on further con- sideration all the States may desire to participate, to a limited extent, in the scheme under discussion.
6. In the concluding paragraph of his circular despatch of the 28th of May, 1903, Mr. Chamberlain stated that he proposed to appoint a Board to advise the Secretary of State as to how the moneys received can at any given time be best allotted, such Board to consist of the medical adviser of the Colonial Office, a repre- sentative of the Royal Society, some leading London physician, one or more represen- tatives of the Crown Colonies, and one or more members of the Colonial Office. This Advisory Board is now complete, and will shortly begin its work. It consists, in addition to two representatives of this Office of the following gentlemen:-
The Right Honourable Sir J. West Ridgeway, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.,
K.C.S.I., P.C. (Chairman),
Sir R. Moor, K.C.M.G.
Sir M. Foster, M.P., K.C.B., F.R.S.
Sir P. Manson, K.C.M.G., F.R.S.
Sir T. Barlow, Baronet, M.D., K.C.V.O.
7. Up to the present time, contributions as in the enclosed list, amounting to about £1,600 a year have been guaranteed by the Crown Colonies for a period of five years and a further contribution of £500 a year for a similar period has been promised by the Imperial Government on behalf of the State-aided Protectorates, while the Indian Government have been asked by the Secretary of State for India to give the matter their favourable consideration, with a view to making a contribu- tion to the fund.
8. Among the contributing Colonies is Malta, the Governor of which, in reply- ing to Mr. Chamberlain's circular, stated that "Although Malta is not a tropical Colony and has, therefore, no direct interest in the investigation of tropical diseases, still, in view of the fact that Mediterranean fever is one of the subjects included in the syllabus of lectures at the School of Tropical Medicine in London, the Council advised that the Government should contribute a sum of £50 to the fund mentioned above."
9. It is possible that on similar grounds your Government may like to make a small contribution, but I do. not press it in any way. I would only suggest that, if any money
is given, it should not be ear-marked to a particular object but be paid
into the common fund suggested by Mr. Chamberlain.
10. I am sending a copy of this despatch to the Governors of the other Australian States, requesting that they will take similar action.
I have, &c.,
ALFRED LYTTELTON.
• No. 140.
↑ No. 145.
‡ No. 51.
§ [Cd. 1598].