CO885-(20-21) — Page 215

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

To bo k k li

Reference :-

C.O. 885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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As the result of this appeal, the Royal Society ap- pointed the "Malaria Investigation Committee." When the investigation of malaria had been concluded the Com- mittee took up, at the suggestion either of the Colonial Office or of other Offices, the investigation of Sleeping Sickness, Malta Fever, Plague, &c., and it has therefore developed into a Committee for the investigation of all forms of tropical disease. There is no annual grant from Government funds and no fixed arrangement as to the work which the Committee should undertake, but the Royal Society has always shown its readiness to carry out any investigations desired by the Government and has even contributed to the cost of those investigations, although the greater part of the expenses has been borne by the Government.

When the late Sir M. Foster was Secretary of the Royal Society he called attention to the necessity of looking ahead and investigating in advance of epidemics. We have had painful experience of the evil results of not adopting this course. To take one illustration only, Sleeping Sickness has been known, probably for some 500 years and certainly for 100 years, and if its investigation had been taken up even ten years ago hundreds of thousands of lives would probably have been saved in Uganda, and the country would have been in a far more prosperous con- dition than it is at present.

I think, therefore, that if funds are forthcoming and the Royal Society are willing to undertake the work, it would be a very politic act to give the Society a substantial annual grant for the investigation of tropical disease generally, as distinct from the investigation of those diseases which have assumed epidemic form and require instant attention.

(b) The Advisory Board for the Tropical Diseases Research Fund.-The names of the Members of the Committee are given in Appendix I.

On the 28th May, 1903, Mr. Chamberlain addressed a circular despatch to the various Coloniai Governments, in which he summed up the steps which had been taken to investigate malaria and train medical officers in the treat- ment and prevention of tropical diseases. He emphasized the fact that the work which had been done should be carried further, and suggested that colonial contributions should be paid into a common fund out of which the objects to which his despatch had referred might be sub- sidized. He added that, should his suggestion be enter- tained, he would propose 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 to the Colonial Office, a repre- sentative of the Royal Society, some leading London physician, one or more representatives of the Crown Colonies, and one or more members of the Colonial Office."

The result of the appeal was that a sum of some £1,500 a year became available from colonial funds for a period of five years (which has now been extended for another five years), the Imperial Government, the Indian Government, and the Rhodes Trustees made contributions for a similar period of £500 (now increased to £1,000), £500, and £200 respectively--and two representatives of the India Office were added to the Board, which was set on foot by Mr. Lyttelton in July, 1904. Fuller details regarding the con- tributions are given in Appendix II.

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In the preliminary invitation addressed to the members of the Board it was stated that the functions of the Board would be advisory, that they would be asked to advise the Secretary of State what money, if any, should be allotted at a given time to a given agency, and on what conditions-that it would be the duty of the Board to ensure that annual accounts are supplied of such funds as may be allotted, that progress reports are made, &c.

An idea of the work to which the revenue of the Fund is devoted will be gathered from the following account of the grants made for the year 1909 :—

Grant to the London School of

Tropical Medicine...

Tropical Medicine ..

8. d.

1,383 6 8

Grant to the Liverpool School of

1,000 0 0

750 0 0

200 0 0

£3,333 6 8

Grant to the University of London Grant to the University of Cam-

bridge

An account of the purposes to which these sums are devoted is given above under the heads of the different institutions [see В (a), (b), (c), and (e)]. The above. mentioned grants are in the nature of annual grants, and practically absorb the whole of the annual revenue of the Fund (some £3,500--see Appendix II.), but, as the result of economies in the earlier days, &c, the Board had accumulated some £4,000, and it recently made special grants of £900 each to the London and Liverpool Schools of Tropical Medicine. In the case of the London School, the money is being applied in the investigation of the disease known as Oriental Sore at Bagdad, while in the case of the Liverpool School the money is being devoted by Prof. R. Ross to further researches into Malaria and other important matters. A provisional grant of £150 has been made for the investigation of Pellagra, and it is probable that a further small grant will be made to the London School for investigations in connexion with Bilbarzia.

The Board also keeps an eye on the work which is being done in the different research institutes and labora tories in the Colonies, and receives half-yearly progress reports from them. It has recently taken up the question of the means to be adopted for securing more continuity and consistency in the anti-malarial measures of the different Colonies. It has also given assistance in matters outside its normal scope. e.g., taken evidence and advised as to preventive measures against sleeping sickness in Uganda, as to the construction and equipment of the West African Central Research Institute at Lagos, &c. It will be seen therefore that it fulfils many useful purposes.

(c) The_Managing Committee of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau. For the names of the Members of the Committee see Appendix I.

An International Conference was held at London in 1907-8 with a view to concerting common action among the various Powers interested against sleeping sickness, and in the view of the expert members of that Conference the establishment of a Central Bureau for the collection and dissemination of information relating

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