PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
NEMO 885
س
9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON,
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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No. 86.
UGANDA.
COMMISSIONER H. HESKETH BELL to THE EARL OF ELGIN
(No. 195.)
MY LORD,
(Received November 14, 1906.)
[Answered by No. 92.]
Government House, Entebbe, Uganda, October 10, 1906.
*
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch. No. 243, of the 25th of August last, in which I was asked to submit my views concerning the suitability of Entebbe, as a site for the capital of Uganda, in view of the fact that it is within the area of infection from sleeping sickness.
2. As the whole question hinges on its medical aspect, I have referred the matter to a Committee composed of the Principal Medical Officer, Colonel Will, the Senior Medical Officer in charge of the Sleeping Sickness Extended Investigation Commission, Dr. Hodges, and four other medical officers who happened to be in Entebbe, namely, Dr. Rendle, Dr. Collyns, Dr. Wiggins, and Dr. Uffman. The two latter are specially engaged in work connected with sleeping sickness.
3. The following questions were submitted to this Board, and their report is appended:-
(1) In view of the fact that Entebbe is within the area of possible infection from sleeping sickness, is it a suitable place for the administrative capital of Uganda?
(2) Is the risk of infection, both to Europeans and to natives, sufficiently
great to warrant the abandonment of the peninsula?
(3) Is Kampala a more healthy and suitable place of residence for Europears
than Entebbe?
(4) Does the Board consider that there is reason to hope that, by means of vigorous action of a preventive nature, danger from sleeping sickness may soon be very much reduced and possibly eliminated in the peninsula?
4. It will be seen that the Medical Board considers that the danger from sleeping sickness in Entebbe is now very slight, and that by judicious and vigorous measures it may be almost eliminated. The Board is also of opinion that Entebbe is a more healthy place than Kampala, and is a more suitale site for the head-" quarters of the Administration.
5. The question is one of such importance that I felt it right to consult all my senior officers; and the following gentlemen attended a meeting specially con- vened for the purpose: The Acting Deputy-Commissioner, Mr. Justice Ennis, the Acting Treasurer, the Inspector-General of Police, the Acting Auditor, the Director of Public Works, the Collector of Busiro, and the Crown Advocate. These officers were unanimously of opinion that Entebbe is the most suitable location available for the headquarters of the Administration. It was considered that the risk of infection from sleeping sickness is now very slight, and that the measures which are being adopted to exterminate the fly and to protect the natives in the peninsula will probably soon result in stamping out the disease.
6. I have to-day telegraphed to your Lordship the gist of the views above expressed, and I trust shortly to receive your permission to proceed with the various public works which are in progress in Entebbe, and which had been temporarily suspended.
7. I have no hesitation in expressing my entire concurrence in the view held by the Medical Board and by my senior officers, but I also find myself largely in accord with the opinions expressed by Mr. Wilson, as regards the policy which should characterise the future development of Entebbe and Kampala, respectively.
8. Kampala, with its 60,000 inhabitants, is the natural centre for commercial enterprise in Uganda. It is, and always has been, the seat of the native Government, and the main roads from all parts of the Protectorate radiate from it. The Baganda are very progressive, and are evincing a steadily increasing desire to possess articles of
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European manufacture. During the last two or three years, however, the com- mercial quarter of the town has not developed as rapidly as might have been expected, and I believe that this may be almost entirely ascribed to a feeling of uncertainty as regards the future policy of the Administration. An impression is current that the Government desires to force trade to Entebbe, and the establish- ment of an Indian township, last year, in the peninsula, strengthened this idea. There have also been rumours to the effect that the Government proposes to close Munyonyo, as a port of entry, and thus to compel all importations for Kampala to pass through Entebbe. The lack of a definite expression of policy on these points has rendered traders reluctant to embark on enterprises of a permanent basis, and many of them have " hedged " in a half-hearted sort of way, by buying plots of land both at Entebbe and at Kampala.
9. I am strongly of opinion that a definite decision should be arrived at on these poin's, and that it should be generally made known.
10. I recommend to your Lordship that Enteble Le considered as purely the scat of the headquarters of the Administration, and that no encouragement be given to the creation of a commercial and trading centre within the peninsula. Trading concerns should be restricted, as far as practicable, to supplying the wants of the official community and the station staff, and everything possible should be done to make the place a purely European settlement. If this line be adopted, a consider- able number of the natives who now inhabit small villages close to the lake shore and which are infested with tsetse flies may be induced to quit the peninsula and move to uninfected districts inland. We shall then be able to locate every case of sleeping sickness and to take those measures for the suppression of the disease which I hope shortly to indicate in a despatch to your Lordship.
11. I suggest that no further sales of building plots be made in the Indian township and that persons, who have already bought them, should be induced to exchange their lots for others in Kampala. These petty Indian shopkeepers are doing much to attract natives to the neighbourhood of Entebbe, and if they be removed we shall, I think, be able to restrict the negro population of the peninsula to just such a number as may be necessary to supply the labour required for the upkeep of the official station. It will be possible to locate these people in spots which, through the removal of bush, will have been freed from tsetse flies, and we may thus hope to eliminate, in a great measure, risks of further infection from sleeping sickness.
12. If it were possible to indicate, within a reasonable distance of the lake shore, some locality which would present vastly superior advantages, in point of health and other requirements, for an official European station, I might be tempted to advise your Lordship to "cut our losses," and, regardless of the money which has already been spent, to recommend the removal of headquarters to a place where ina'aria is less rife and where there would be absolutely no risk from sleeping sickness. This, however, I am unable to do, and I can only recommend that every effort shou'd continue to be made to render Entebbe as healthy a place as is possible, consistent with the fact that it is situated immediately on the equator in a territory which is emphatically a "black man's country."
13. I am unable to appreciate any advantages which would accrue from the removal of the headquarters of the Administration to Kampala. On the contrary, I see many objections to such a course. The permanent residence of His Majesty's Commissioner at the seat and centre of the native Government would be a blow at the influence and prestige of the Kabaka and chiefs of Uganda from which they would never recover. It would be a great step forward towards the abolition of native Government, and the authority of the local ruler would pale and dwindle steadily before the superior power of the King's Representative. The existing cordiality which marks the intercourse between my officers and the local chiefs in Kampala wou'd, I feel sure, be quickly replaced by resentment at the decrease in the prestige of the native authorities, and there would be a gradual but rapid extinction of a powerful influence over the lower orders which we are not, at this stage, in a position to replace. It is mainly through the hereditary authority of the chiefs that the peasantry can be induced to work at all, and if we unduly weaken that power, the lower classes in Uganda will quickly sink into that slough of com- plete indolence which characterises the negro populations of other parts of Africa where all the necessaries of life are similarly abundant.