PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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we have paid so much attention to this matter that we raised a serious school rebellion against out latrine regulations; but we remained firm, and the regu- lations are now observed and are to some extent understood by the boys. We intend to take the boys further into a knowledge of some of the elements of hygiene, as fast as they can bear it; and we shall aim at making our lessons always of practical utility to the boys that we teach. But the difficulty of teaching tropical hygiene, even in an elementary form, to native schools, is immense. And the greatest difficulty of all consists in finding even European teachers who know anything at all of the subject, or even such text-books as will assist them in understanding such of the truths of tropical hygiene as are at all applicable to the conditions of native life: And when one thinks of the only available native teachers, one smiles at the suggestion that they should teach anything of tropical hygiene.
"Another difficulty is the medium of instruction. If it is in English it is vain to hope that any but the most advanced pupils in a native institution will be able to understand the terms that it is absolutely necessary to use in teaching this subject. And if it is in Sechwana, then it is not too much to say that not one in ten of the necessary terms could be satisfactorily trans- lated into that language.
CC
And yet I agree that it is very desirable to teach the elements of tropical hygiene to the natives of Bechuanaland; and if it be clearly understood that one is speaking only of the most elementary truths of this science, then one might venture to say that it can perhaps be done."
His Excellency
The High Commissioner,
I have, &c.,
F. W. PANZERA,
Acting Resident Commissioner.
Johannesburg.
Enclosure 2 in No. 42.
(High Commissioner. No. 174.)
MY LORD,
Administrator's Office, Salisbury, September 5, 1906. WITH reference to your Lordship's despatch, No. 31/50, of the 25th ultimo, relative to the Secretary of State's circular despatch of August 26th, 1905, upon the subject of the teaching of tropical hygiene, I have the honour to inform your Lord- ship that the teaching of this subject has been added to the curriculum of all state- aided schools, including native mission schools, in this territory.
I am advised that during the past year prominence has been given to the study of the mosquito, its life-history, and its fever-spreading properties, and that copies of the pamphlet by Doctor Strachan, Chief Medical Officer of Lagos, entitled ““ A course of simple lectures on elementary hygiene," were distributed to teachers, and such portions of these lectures as were particularly applicable to this territory were imparted to the pupils of the various schools.
His Excellency
The High Commissioner,
I have, &c.,
W. H. MILTON,
Administrator.
78
As Dr. Collier points out, this Administration is on a very small scale as regards numbers; while it extends over an enormous tract of ground. acquainted generally speaking with some rudimentary rules of tropical hygiene; Its officers are and so soon as any scheme of education is introduced, this all important subject will receive every consideration, both in the case of European and native schools.
I have, &c.,
F. J. NEWTON,
Acting Administrator.
His Excellency the High Commissioner
The Right Honourable
SIR,
The Earl of Selborne, P.C., G.C.M.G., &c., &c., &c.,
(No. 241c/06.)
Johannesburg.
The Hospital, Kalomo, North-Western Rhodesia, September 12, 1906. The Teaching of Tropical Hygiene in North-Western Rhodesia.
In reply to His Honour's reference to me for observations on or suggestions about the teaching of the rudiments of tropical hygiene in this country, I have the honour to inform you that, so far as I know, no systematic teaching of this subject has, as yet, been attempted, and I doubt very much whether the country is yet ripe for such an attempt. In the first place it must be borne in mind that there are only three settlements of white people with any population beyond, say, from half a dozen to a dozen souls, and, in the second place, there is only one school in the territory, and that a native Barotse one. Apart from systematic teaching of the subject, however, the officials of the Native Department (District Commissioners, Collectors, &c.), have a pretty considerable rough knowledge of tropical hygiene and, as far as they are able to do so, enlighten the natives on the subject.
Simpson's little manual about health in the tropics has been pretty widely circulated. Every white man knows and appreciates the value of quinine, the use of mosquito nets, the advantages of drainage (where feasible), and most can dis- tinguish the fever-breeding mosquito from the non-infective one. The late Medical Officer here issued and distributed circulars on the subject. It would, I should opine, be quite feasible to teach the rudiments of tropical hygiene in the native school at Lealui, but the Secretary for Native Affairs is best able to confirm or refute this opinion.
The Administration can best promote the subject by tropical lessons in the art of drainage, the elimination of and protection from the mosquito pest, the pro- vision of good water supplies and the improvement of bad ones, and above all, the enforcement wherever possible of some system of sanitation. The object lesson should commence with their own civil servants; and later on, with the advancement of civilisation and education, to the natives. I return your despatches, &c.
The Secretary,
Kalomo.
435
No. 43.
I have, &c.,
R. STANLEY COLLIER,
Medical Officer.
Johannesburg.
(No. H. 169/1908.)
MY LORD,
Enclosure 3 in No. 42.
Kalomo, North-Western Rhodesia, October 18, 1906. WITH reference to your despatch, No. 31/50, of the 25th August last, I have the honour to enclose a copy of a report by the Medical Officer stationed here as to the teaching of tropical hygiene in North-Western Rhodesia.
No. 241/6, Sept. 12, 1906.
(No. 544.)
MY LORD,
SIERRA LEONE.
GOVERNOR PROBYN to THE EARL OF ELGIN.
(Received January 4, 1907.)
[Answered by No. 47.]
Government House, Freetown, Sierra Leone,
December 20, 1906.
IN continuation of my despatch, No. 324, of the 29th of August,* respecting
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