CO882-(8-9) — Page 354

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

9

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

31

27 July 19009

MAURITIUS ROYAL COMMISSION, 1990.

Dr JG. HORWOOD

TWENTY-SECOND SITTING.

Tuesday, 27th July 1909.

At The Castle," Beau-Bassin.

12.)

Dr JANET GERTRUDE HORWoon, FR 13.670 Churman) 1 thnk the best thing we can de is to ask you to kimlly tell us about your mission, how it was starte land how it lives, and what it does?— With regard to how it was started, it was started because it was found that there was a great need of The higher medical work amongst the Indian women. castes and the lower castes. for special things, will not go to men, and when they do go to the Mauritius doctors There they are not usually treated with any respect..

is a very strong prejudice of the Creole against the Indian, the Creole thinks the Indian is not worth looking after, and the vast majority of the doctors are Creoles, so that the Indian woman, when she goes to

The him, does not usually get the attention she wants. better class Mahommedans will not go to them at all. Sometimes they send for some of the doctors to their houses It was chiefly amongst the lower classes that I think the need was felt. Mrs. Walsh, who was the ishop's wife out here, started the idea. I think the Walshes left very soon after. The iden occurred to her in Mauritius and she developed it at home Then the bishop who followed Bishop Walsh took up the scheme. He interested the Governor in it, and the Government Local subscriptions were gave a grant of Rs. 1,000 collected, and the S.P.C.K Missionary Society and the C.M.S. also gave grants.

13,671. Mr. Woodrock.) When was this started — It was the year I came out, 1903. Then you asked me how it was carried on. I think.

13,672. As far as the money goes. I understand that it is a Government grant, the S.P.C.K., and private sub- scriptions and the C.M.B. P-Also the patienta give Bomething.

3,673 (Sir Edward O'Malley.) Is that by way of a sort of provident fund?-I make it as self-supporting as possible. Each patient who comes to Pample- mousses and Quartier Militaire to be attended paya 10 cents, unless too poor, and at Rose Hill they pay 25 cents.

13,674. That is what makes up the rest of the fund No, there is more, because some friends at home subscribe Rs. 500-Rs. 525 I think it was in 1908 for drugs that came from home-in drugs and instruments. In 1908 Ra. 525 48 a. was paid by the patients themselves sa described above.

It

13,675. (Chairman.). It is not exactly a subscription: it in a payment for attendances -Yes, that is it. is not payment for drugs, it is payment for attendance. 13,676, Mr. Woodcock.) You do not insist on any fee, I suppose, they pay if they can ?--Yes, if they can. If they say they are too poor they do not pay; if they my they are too poor we generally give them some amistance. 13,677. (Chairman.)-How is it managed here? Are you alone?—Yes, I am the only qualified doctor.

13,678. I do not quite mean that. How is the fund administered There is a committee of ladies, with the Bishop of Mauritius as President. That balance sheet was drawn up by the committee, and they really control it, because the grant is paid to one of the

committee as treasurer.

13,879. (Mr. Woodcock.) What is the complete staff beside yourself -One dispenser, who gets Rs. 600 a year; one guardian of the dispensary, who is really She geta nurse and who gets much too little. Es. 120 a year, and for that she looks after the three

Continued

C.S.I., called in and examined in privato.

beds (there are three beds at the hospital at Rose Hill). and she does all the cooking, or superintends it all, keeps the dispensary clean, washes the patients' clothes and all the linen. She has an Indian girl to help her. She just got her board who now gets Rs. 5 a month

Gratuitous help is also given me and lodging before. by the C.M.S. ladies and Miss McIrvine.

13,680, Do you do any work in the public institu tions, such as the prisons or lunatic asylum ?—No.

13,681. (Chairman.) I was going to ask you what the work is. Now you have told us how you were Now will constituted and how you are maintained. you tell us what it is you do P-1 see ut-patients

on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays. Fridays, and Saturdays

13,682. That is to say, they come to the dispen- sary? Yes, they come to the clispensaries

There is

one at Rose Hill and one at Pamplemousses and then we use the C.M.S. Schoolroom at Quartier Militaire as another on Saturdays.

13,683. You visit those places on those fixed day That is no. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Pample- mousses, Wednesdays and Fridays Rose Hill, and on Saturdays Quartier Militaire.

13,684. And there you attend to all these people who come for help - Yes.

not!

13,685. That, I suppose, is a long business, is it Are you there the whole day?-At Pample. motieses I start by the 10 o'clock train from Port Louis and, as a rule, we get back by the train which reaches Port Louis at 3.25.

13,686. I mean, are you in the dispensary the whole of that time?-Oh, yes, the whole of that time.

13,687. Besides that do you do any visiting at people's houses P-Yes; but I only go, as a rule, to urgent cases, or cases near. Sometimes for chronic cases, if they are near to Quatre Bornes, I go, but as a rule I insist on their coming to me. Of course, in cases of midwifery. I have to attend the patients at their own homes. Then we have three beds at Rose Hill which we keep for operation cases.

13,688. Do you do the operation cases -Yes, and Dr. Milne is very kind; he gives the anesthetic for nothing.

13,689. Who is Dr. Milne-He is the medical officer for the north of the Island, and now he is doing a lot of Dr. Gromitt's work, who has just lately died. He is called the sanitary warden, and he has been u tremendous help to me.

13,890. He is the sanitary warden for one half of the Island --He is, but he has a great deal of other work to do, because he has much of Dr. Gromitt's work to attend to.

that

Jou

13,001. (Secretary.) He is one of the doctors who was sent out recently by the Colonial Office P-Yes.

13,692. (Chairman.) Then I understand from you do not go and solicit any of these people; you do not go to their houses and say. Come and be attended to; there are too many of them without that? --I certainly do not. 1 often say, "Why do not you go to the Government hospitals ?" but they absolutely refuse to go to Beau Bassin as a rule. The other day woman begged to come as an in-patient, but I could not take her. It was not an operation case. was a septic case, and it was impossible to take her

.

It

27 July 1900

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE.

Dr. J. G. HORWOOD.

into our little hospital, and I urged her to go to Beau- Bassin Hospital, but she refused and died. That is pite commun),

13,693. Mr. Woodcock) Why do they refuse to go to the hospitals-The attendance they get is very bad, which, I think, is the chief reason. Also they came out with skin diseases and sometimes showing other signa ..f neglect

13.694. (Chairman.) Have they got a female ward it Beau Bassin Hospital -Yes, they have. They have the Sisters there who come on by day, but they go off it night and are, I think. replaced by Creole servante. The Sisters will not look after the patients at night.

13.695 We must not ask you about another pital which you have not visited yourself. You have not been there?—I have come across cases which have come out from that hospital, also I have been there

13,696 What is your general idea-May I state that there is one hospital where 1 send patients, where They get admirable treatment, that is at Poudre d'Or. I send patients from Pamplemousses to that hospital.

13,697. What district is it in?-I think it comes ito Mapon.

13,698, (Secretary.) It is in the Rivière du Rempart district ?--I think it would be; it is just beyond Mapou. It is not an estate hospital. but is a Government one. and Dr. Ménagé is the doctor there. The patients will sometimes go to the Civil Hospital in Port Louis.

13,699. (Chairman.) Do you yourself live in Port Louis - No, I live at Quatre Bornes.

13,699a. Would not it be much easier for you to live near to Ruse Hill-It is only a short bicycle distance of about 10 minutes, and it is much healthier at Quatre Bornes.

18,700. What is your view of the state of the health of the people who come before you? I see you say they are very poor? Some of them are very poor. Lately there has been a great deal of poverty. I often find now at Rose Hill I have to give the patients money for milk; they cannot afford to buy it, and there is always a certain number who come to the dispensary who cannot pay, and to a fair number of those we give a little money occasionally. We always try to get the in-patients to keep themselves. If they cannot we allow 25 c. a day for each patient. This I give to the nurse and she buys their food.

It

is seldom now that we get patients who can keep them- selves. I go into their huts and houses, and it is quite common to see them looking half starved, and I have had to sign two death certificates for semi-starvation.

13,701. Do you mean really starvation P-I mean they were so ill-nourished that they succumbed easily to disease.

13,702. Not actually dying of starvation, but they were not strong enough to pull themselves through? Yes, through chronic under-feeding; there is a great deal of that perhaps one case in a day.

13,703. You have been here five years, I think ?—I came here in 1908 and went home in 1906, and then 1 came back in 1907. That makes five years.

13,704. Are the people here very lazy P-The Creoles are very lazy; the Indians are thrifty.

13,705. Because when you speak of people dying of even semi-starvation is not it that they decline to do anything to keep themselves; because, in a country like this, surely nobody ought to die of starvation: you have only to scratch the ground and put something in; one banana tree will keep a person alive quite well ?— Amongst the Creoles I should consider it is usually due to laziness, but lately there has been much lack of work for skilled labourers, and the Creoles, as a rule, do skilled Labour, carpenter's work and that sort of thing. Amongst the Indians there is a fair amount of laminess, but still there has been a great lack of work lately.

13,706. Has your work brought you in contact with Dr. Barbeau, for instance ?—Yes.

13,707. Has it brought you in contact with the poor law authority ?—Yes.

19,708. You know what an immense quantity of gratuitous work is done by the Government through those two authorities through the hospitals—You, but the Poor Law Commission, as a rule, is very biasse i

[Continued.

05

in its selection of its protégés and the people that it helps. I have known cases that have gone to them that I considered deserving casos, and they did not get relief, and then, when the relief is given, sometimes the rice they give to the people is bad. Sometimes, if it is cooked in the morning, it is unfit to eat in the evening. 13,709. Does the poor law authority keep stores and dole them out to the people ?--Yea.

13,710. (Mr. Woodrock.) What is the bias to which that you alluded Personal interest in the cased apply; that is what I think it in.

13,711. (Chairman.) It is my recollection-I think I am right-that the poor law authority told us that they never refused anybody who was in serious want? I sent to them a woman at Pamplemousses. She had Rs. 5 a month coming from rent of a house, which was not always paid. She had,two grown-up children, one a boy who had what they called fita' I think he was lazy and very stupid, but I never saw him in a fit, and I do not know what she meant by "fita." Her daughter is a widow. She had a child, and the woman herself had a small chill about five or six. I applied for poor law relief for that case, but it was refused; no notice was taken of my letter. Then I got somebody else to write, but no notice was taken of his letter.

13,712. Did the people go and apply themselves to the poor law authority?—Yes. In another case a woman at Quatre Bornes was blind and lame and had one child, and she went to the poor law authority at Rose Hill. They told her she was young and she must go and get another husband; she would not get anything. That is the kind of tale applicanta often tell. Ther was another woman at Quatre Bornes who came to me for relief. I said to her: "Why do not go to the poor law authority?" and my own servant said to me: "It is no use for her to go; they will tell her to go and **get married again, or something of that sort."

13,713. (Mr. Woodcock.) It is a very, very serious charge that the poor law authority should take up that attitude ?—It is their attitude. It is generally no use for the women to apply for relief if they are

young.

13,714. (Chairman.) I suppose, having, as you have described yourself, only three beda in your hospital, you would be only able to take in a very bad case indeed; the money which the Government has to dispose of will only go a certain distance ?—Yes.

19,715. I was very satonished when the poor law authority told us that he never refused anybody who was in serious want, because surely that is to pauperise the whole population?—Yes; but they did refuse relief in those cases that I have told you of.

13,716. (Mr. Woodcock.) It is the reason of the refusal that I think is so serious-the reasons that you have given us?—I have given up writing as

& rule Sometimes I write, and occasionally cases get relief, but, as a rule, one thinks it is useless to write.

13,717. What is your view about that about that out-door relief on a large scale which in the practice here P-I should think, if it were possible, that the best thing to do would be to give the applicant a piece of land and tell him to cultivate it, and if they can cultivate it, then it shows that they are worth some- thing, and that would be relief which would test the oharacter of the applicant.

13,718. (Chairman.) We have already suggested that plan. You have never been in any other colony. have you -No. May I give you an instance of what kind of rice they give to a patient. There was a woman who was having poor law relief in the Quartier Militaire district. They showed me the rice that was supplied, and it was bad. I said, “Instead of having so * much rice, which would be worth Rs. 3, would you like "me to write to the Immigration Office to give you "Ra. & in money?" They said they would be delighted, and evidently the Rs. 2 from the Immigration Office was worth more than the Ra. 3 worth of rios which came from the Poor Law Commission.

18,719. I am afraid that does not prove very much, because they may prefer to have Rs. 2 in money to Rs. 8 in rice. You see, if they spent the money in

D4

56

MAURITIUS ROYAL COMMISSION, 19QT