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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

16991

SIR,

40

No. 24. RHODESIA.

BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received June 6, 1910.)

[Copy to High Commissioner, No. 218, and to Sleping Sickness Bureau, 16 June, 1910, L.F.]

2, London Wall Buildings, London, E.C., 3rd June, 1910.

I AM directed to refer to your letter of the 5th March last,* forwarding a copy of a letter of the 28th February† from the Director of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau regarding the proposal that natives should be recruited from the Tanganyika, Mweru, and Luapula Districts of North-Eastern Rhodesia for service in Southern Rhodesia. The Board has most carefully considered the views of Mr. Bagshawe regarding the danger of allowing natives from such areas to proceed to Southern Rhodesia, and has discussed the matter with Mr, L. A. Wallace, the Acting Administrator of North- Western Rhodesia, who is at present in London. Copies of the correspondence were also forwarded to Rhodesia for an expression of opinion from the Administrator of Southern Rhodesia.

Mr. Wallace reports that the labour is not recruited from the infected Luapula District, but from neighbouring districts where the probability of infection is no greater than in districts further removed. He is convinced that it is better to allow natives from the districts in question to be recruited, and to be sent under super- vision by a fixed route to Southern Rhodesia, than to prohibit recruiting, in which case natives who desire work will cross the Luapula secretly in places where Palpalis exists, and will later find their way to Southern Rhodesia surreptitiously. obivate this danger, which my Directors believe to be a serious one, they consider it most desirable that the movements of natives to and from Southern Rhodesia should be regulated as far as possible.

Το

For the information of the Secretary of State copies are enclosed of letters of the 11th and 21st April from Dr. May, the Principal Medical Officer of Northern Rhodesia, in which he deals fully with the arguments advanced by Mr. Bagshawe. Dr. May has discussed the matter with Dr. Fleming, the Medical Director of Southern Rhodesia, and these medical authorities agree that there is no danger in the proposed arrangements. My Directors desire me in particular to draw attention to the assurances of Dr. May that the natives will be brought from villages removed from areas infested with Palpalis, and that they will be directed to travel to Southern Rhodesia by a route which is also free from Palpalis.

Great weight is attached to the arguments set out in the preceding paragraph, and my Directors are grateful to Mr. Bagshawe for his valuable criticisms and suggestions: but in face of the information since received, until more substantial evidence is forthcoming as to the possibility of the communication of trypanosomiasis by biting insects other than the Glossina palpalis, the Board has decided to adopt Dr. May's recommendations, and has cabled to the Administrator accordingly.

SIR,

I am, &c.,

D. E. BRODIE,

Secretary.

Enclosure 1 in No. 24.

Medical Department, North-Western Rhodesia, Livingstone,

April 11th, 1910.

WITH reference to the correspondence received from you to-day on the subject of recruiting in the sleeping sickness areas of North-Eastern Rhodesia, viz., Mr. Brodie's letter of March 19th, Colonial Office letter, 6181/1910 (H. W. Just), and Sleeping Sickness Bureau, 4167/1910 (Dr. Bagshawe). I have the honour to point out that all the possibilities brought forward by Dr. Bagshawe were fully considered before this recommendation was made.

• No 9.

† No. 7.

41

Katanga. The danger of introduction of this labour without adequate super- vision is admitted by the Katanga medical authorities.

Glossing palpalis. Practically the only part at present being worked and free from this danger, is the Star of the Congo, to arrive at which a very long and difficult route would have to be chosen and kept under constant supervision.

Glossina morsitans.-There will be no contact with Glossina mōrsituns in South- ern Rhodesia.

If this species be a danger, it will be a practically insuperable one in the Katanga.

The Zambesi will not be touched by these natives except in crossing by rail at the Falls Bridge. A route practically free from Morsitans can probably be found between the sleeping sickness areas and the railway.

If the danger of unexplained infection in isolated cases must be considered, it will ultimately shut off the greater part of North-Eastern Rhodesia as a source of labour supply.

The Acting Secretary,

Livingstone.

SIR,

Enclosure 2 in No. 24.

A. MAY,

I have, &c.,

Principal Medical Officer.

Medical Department, North-Western Rhodesia, Livingstone, FURTHER to, and in amplification of, my letter of the 11th instant, on the

21st April, 1910. subject of the recruitment in the Luapula and Mweru closed areas labour for work on the mines of Southern Rhodesia.

Dr. Bagshawe has, in his letter, 4167/1910, attempted to institute a comparison between the possible results of this labour being accepted, as is suggested by Southern Rhodesia on the one hand, and allowing it to go, as it is at present going, to the Katanga on the other, with, in the latter case, the addition of precautionary measures to guard against danger in crossing the Luapula.

He points out that Yale Massey, Pearson, Neave, and Stochr have declared the copper belt free from Palpalis. This is generally believed to be so. (It is worth noting, however, that Mr. Beak, the British Vice-Consul, in a recent letter has thrown some doubt on its accuracy.)

It may, on the other hand, be stated with certainty that the localities selected in Southern Rhodesia for the employment of this labour will be free from this species.

Therefore, so far as Glossina palpalis at or near the Star of the Congo Mine on the one hand, and the selected mines of Southern Rhodesia on the other, is concerned, there is some evidence in favour of Southern Rhodesia.

case.

Routes. It is, however, very different with regard to the routes taken in either To the Star of the Congo the Luapula must be crossed; this Dr. Bagshawe considers can be done in safety by means of adequate clearings, the maintenance, supervision, and expense, connected with which would naturally be borne by the Katanga or Congo authorities, who, it should be noted, can obtain this labour in the event of its not going to Southern Rhodesia, in the future as they have in the past, with no expense and with little trouble.

There are in addition to the Luapula many other points of danger in the tribu taries flowing into this river from the west, to which Dr. Bagshawe does not refer, but which, judging from the analogy of the Rhodesian tributaries, are well worthy of consideration, the presumption being that they are Palpalis carriers. son's latest statement on this matter is that "Palpalis is presumed to be present (on Dr. Pear- these rivers) lacking proof to the contrary." must have been overlooked in the reports referred to by Dr. Baghawe.

One can only conclude that these streams The difficulties of ensuring adequate precautions and supervision over such points of danger situated at a considerable distance from our border need not be dwelt upon.

It should, however, be mentioned that there is a possible route from

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