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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

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these closed areas to the Star of the Congo Mine which may reasonably be looked on as quite free from Palpalis, that is, vià Kapwepwe's old ferry, on the Luapula, south of any known Palpalis. This, however, would entail on these natives a journey of an extra 200-300 miles, and while it is possible that it might be effectively used for the journey to the mine, it is highly improbable that it would be used on the return journey, but that other and dangerous routes would be selected.

With regard, on the other hand, to the route to Southern Rhodesia, an assurance can be given that it is free from Glossina palpalis. It is direct, and in the greater part is by rail and under careful supervision, and in every respect compares most favourably with the continuation of the labour supply to the Congo mines, as advanced by Dr. Bagshawe as a possible solution of the difficulty.

Dr. Bagshawe has raised the question of whether or not danger is to be antici- pated from Glossina morsitans; in this matter it would seem reasonable to suppose that Klein's experiments have proved that no danger other than that of direct or accidental transmission is to be anticipated. In respect of this species and its possible danger, the Katanga compares very unfavourably with Southern Rhodesia.

In

The Medical Director of Southern Rhodesia, Dr. Fleming, has instituted most stringent precautions as to the prevention of all possible contact between this species and these natives, and it is reasonably certain that no such contact will occur. the Katanga, on the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that the point has even been considered, or, if it has, that it will be possible to take adequate precautions against it.

On the route to Southern Rhodesia between the closed areas and the railhead this species does exist; but it may, I think, be possible, by arranging the stages of the journey so as to cross these belts by night, to declare it practically free from danger through Glossina morsitans. On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that any route to the Katanga will not be found heavily infested with this species.

Again, referring to Klein's experiments, it would seem that any but direct infection may be neglected. This being so, the amount of the danger will naturally be governed by the number of cases of the disease which succeed in escaping detection by the medical examiners. On Dr. Bagshawe's estimate of at least 130 cases in a population of, roughly, 120,000 of all sorts and conditions of natives, the number of cases in 10,000 young able-bodied, carefully-selected men, before medical examina- tion, would be 10, and after the three medical examinations arranged for should be considerably less. The chances, therefore, of direct transmission, taking into account the distribution of these flies and the relative scarcity of a source of infection, should be very small indeed. This also may be looked upon as a probable estimate of the danger incurred by Southern Rhodesia in the acceptance of this labour.

There is, in addition, to be considered the danger at present run both by Southern and North-Western Rhodesia in the immigration of natives from the closed areas, as voluntary labour, without authority, by the routes least likely to lead to detection, and probably, therefore, the more dangerous. It is obviously almost an impossibility to check this influx, and it will, I think, eventually be found that constitutes a reater danger to these territories than the legitimate introduction of this labour would prove to be.

the

Should it be decided that this labour be not admitted into Southern Rhodesia, it will perhaps be too much to expect of the Katanga authorities that they will go to very considerable expense and trouble which would be entailed in any effort made to introduce this labour to the Congo in conformity with the regulations now existing, seeing that quite sufficient will be obtainable without such expense, and without any reference to the wishes of the Rhodesian authorities on this subject.

There can be little doubt that a continuation of such conditions as now exist wil} prove the greatest factor in undoing the very successful results which until recently have followed the rules, regulations, and restrictions established by Dr. Spillane in his efforts to check the spread of this disease, and will, I think, prove the most difficult problem in sleeping sickness administration in these areas.

I have, &c.,

The Secretary,

Livingstone.

A. MAY, Principal Medical Officer.

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No. 25. UGANDA

THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(No. 155.) MY LORD,

(Received 6 June, 1910.)

[Answered by No. 29.]

Government House, Uganda, 10th May, 1910. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch, No. 118, of 5th April,* on the subject of the proposed employment of Dr. G. D. H. Carpenter on research work on sleeping sickness.

2. Your Lordship's despatch was sent to the Principal Medical Officer of this Protectorate, and I have the honour to enclose copy of a memorandum he has written on the subjects referred to in the enclosures to your Lordship's despatch.

3. I quite agree with Dr. Hodges' views expressed in paragraph 7 of his memorandum on the question of Mpumu, but I consider that for the purpose pro- posed by Sir David Bruce a more central position could be found.

4.

Your Lordship will notice what Dr. Hodges says in the last paragraph of his memorandum, and I am quite of the same opinion as the Principal Medical Officer in this matter.

(S.M.P. No. 565 Min. (3).)

CHIEF SECRETARY,

I have, &c.,

STANLEY TOMKINS,

Acting Governor.

Enclosure in No. 25.

I AGREE with the statement of the Director of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau

as a whole, and especially with respect to the following points:-

2.

The treatment of sleeping sickness at the camps has been a failure, at any rate as regards giving us any direct assistance in stamping out or controlling the spread of sleeping sickness. Moreover, even if a certain and efficient cure were discovered, the main difficulty of stamping out the disease would not be solved thereby.

3. Therefore, unless there is a prospect in the near future, a prospect of which the Director of the Bureau is in a better position to judge than I, of greatly improved methods of treatment, the camps are of little use except as hospitals and asylums for the sick and helpless. I am not prepared to say that one or more such asylums are as yet unnecessary, but they might be conducted on different lines.

4.

The most important investigation at present is the study of Glossina palpalis with a view to the discovery of means by which it may be attacked and destroyed.

5.

The prospect of repopulating our denuded fly-areas is as far distant as ever, namely, a possible ten years from the stamping out of sleeping sickness in Uganda; and even then it would not be entirely safe unless the conditions as regards fly-distribution and the infected areas in other parts of Africa have materially improved in the meantime.

6. The success which has attended preventive measures in Uganda has been largely dependent on the previously ascertained local conditions of fly-distribution, which are apparently peculiar to this region.

7. I am in entire agreement with the proposal for the permanent maintenance of Mpumu Laboratory; and I think that such a laboratory would be of great use to the Protectorate. It must be remembered, however, that the site for this labora- tory was chosen for the purpose of the study of sleeping sickness only, and that, so soon as this study ceases to be the main object, the question of removing the labora- tory to a more central site will no doubt arise.

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