PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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8859 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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14. While retaining Entebbe as the centre of our administration, I consider, nevertheless, that several public departments would be more suitably located at the commercial capital. The Land Office, for instance, would be more conveniently situated at Kampala, and the headquarters of the constabulary should also, I think, le there. The Supreme Court should sit where the judicial work mostly lies, and as all transport has, perforce, to pass through Kampala, it would also be advisable to locate there the principal stores of the Public Works Department. I would propose, therefore, that the departments which I have mentioned should be gradually moved to Kampala, together with any others which are brought into con- stant communication with the general public.
15. Certain persons, who are unconnected with the administration of this Government, have not hesitated to advocate the complete abandonment of Entebbe, regardless of the great financial loss which such a step would entail, not only on the Government, but on private persons. They apparently have done so in the belief that all prospects of coping with sleeping sickness are hopeless, and that the reten- tion of our establishment on the peninsula entails a constant sacrifice of human life. It is hardly necessary for me to assure your Lordship that I have given this question my most careful consideration, and that I fully appreciate the magniture of the responsibility entailed by its sett'ement. My own observations and the views of my officers, many of whom have had long experience in Uganda, have induced me to come to the conclusion that the exigencies of the situation do not justify the adoption of the radical measures that have been suggested in certain quarters, and I believe that the vigorous action which is about to be adopted in regard to sleeping sickness will so reduce the risk of infection that the peninsula will gradually present no greater danger to life and health than any other part of Uganda.
I have, &c.,
H. HESKETH BELL,
Enclosure in No. £6.
His Majesty's Commissioner.
EAST AFRICA AND UGANDA PROTECTORATES.
PROCEEDINGS OF MEDICAL BOARD.
A Medical Board, composed as under, assembled at Entebbe on the 9th of October, 1906, for the purpose of reporting on the desirability of Entebbe being retained as the administrative capital of Uganda, in compliance with the minute of His Excellency the Commissioner, dated October 9th, 1906.
President:
Lieutenant-Colonel J. Will, R.A.M.C., Principal Medical Officer.
Members:
Dr. A. D. P. Hodges, Acting Senior Medical Officer.
Dr. C. A. Wiggins, Medical Officer.
Dr. G. C. Strathairn, Medical Officer.
Dr. A. C. Rendle, Medical Officer.
Dr. H. K. Uffmann, Temporary Medical Officer.
Dr. J. M. Collyns, Temporary Medical Officer.
The Board having assembled proceed to consider the questions contained in His Excellency's minute.
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?
The Board is of opinion that at present the township of Entebbe can scarcely be considered as being inside the area infected by sleeping sickness, and that the risk of infection in the township is practically nil, therefore, so far as this risk is con- cerned, Entebbe is suitable.
2. Is the risk of infection, both to Europeans and natives, sufficiently great to warrant the abandonment of the peninsula?
The Board considers that the risk to Europeans in the peninsula is infinitesimal; that there is a certain risk to natives, but less than has hitherto been believed, and
less than in many other parts of Uganda and Usoga.
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The following table, compiled by Dr. Hodges from the best obtainable, data carefully collected by members of the Sleeping Sickness Extended Investigations Commission, shows the number of natives in the peninsula who have immigrated from infected and from non-infected areas since Entebbe has been occupied as head- quarters and the average period of residence in the peninsula of each class at the present time:—
Natives from
Number
Number who have re-ided over Ave years.
Average Residence
Non-Infected Districts
403
205
5-17 years.
Infected Districts
434
01
3-5 years.
Lake shore counties
501
126
4 years.
1,131
422
3. Is Kampala a more healthy and suitable place of residence for Europeans than Entebbe ?
Up to April of the current year the health of Entebbe was exceptionally good and compared favourably with that of Nairobi and Mombasa. From April to June there was a distinct increase in the incidence of malarial and blackwater fevers. This increased incidence in malarial diseases was also noted in the towns situated on the lake shores of British East Africa and German East Africa as well as in certain inland towns, notably Mumias, in British East Africa, and in Kampala. The number of Europeans, resident in Kampala and included in the medical statistics, is so small that a fair comparison cannot be drawn, but the number of cases of malarial and blackwater fevers among the Goan and Indian residents of Kampala showed a higher incidence during the period in question than among the same nationalities in Entebbe.
Cases of blackwater are certainly more frequent in Kampala than in Entebbe; and in the earlier days of the Protectorate this fact, was strikingly noticeable.
The Board, therefore, considers that Kampala is not better, from a general health point of view, than Entebbe, and, further, that the site of the present Govern- ment Station at Kampala is not suitable for a large European official population such as at present exists in Entebbe.
4. Docs 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 from the peninsula?
The Board considers that, by means of judicious and vigorous action of a preventive nature, the danger from sleeping sickness can be very considerably reduced in the peninsula (this has already been done in part of the peninsula) and that although it may not be possible to eliminate the disease entirely from the peninsula the danger could be reduced to a minimum.
J. WILL,
Principal Medical Officer,
A. D. P. HODGES,
Acting Senior Medical Officer,
C. A. WIGGINS,
Medical Officer,
G. CECIL STRATHAIRN,
Medical Officer,
J. M. COLLYNS,
A. C. RENDLE,
K. H. K. UFFMANN,
باشر
President.
Members.
...
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