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No. 64.

UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL.

(No. 646.) MY LORD,

Downing Street, 20 December, 1911. WITH reference to your Excellency's despatch, No. 345 of the 20th of April last,* I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Ministers, the accompanying copy of correspondence with your Prime Minister during his visit to this country, on the subject of the contribution from the Union Government towards the cost of expanding the present Sleeping Sickness Bureau into a bureau dealing with tropical diseases generally.

2. Replies have now been received from practically all the Colonial Govern- ments to which application has been made for grants for the purpose of expanding the Bureau, and I am glad to say that it is now certain that the contributions to be received will be sufficient to permit of the necessary expansion.

3. It is proposed by most of the other Governments that their contributions should date from January next, and in view of the desirability of starting the work of the Bureau with the least possible delay, I shall be glad to learn when the sum of £300 promised by General Botha will be available for the purposes of the Bureau.

4. I will communicate later with you on the subject of the exact steps which will be taken to carry out the proposed expansion of the Bureau.

I have, &c..

L. HARCOURT.

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6. I take a keen personal interest in any scheme of this kind for the co-ordina- tion of the scientific work which is being carried on in different parts of the Empire and in foreign countries, as I am convinced that the time, money, and energy which are thus saved amply compensate for the small expenditure involved in setting the central co-ordinating agency on foot, and I sincerely trust that your Government will see its way to making the small contribution which I have suggested above.

I have, &c.,

General The Right Honourable Louis Botha.

DEAR MR. HARCOURT,

Enclosure 2 in No. 64.

L. HARCOURT.

Hotel Cecil, Strand, W.C., 26th June, 1911.

I BEG to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, with reference

to the proposed Veterinary Section of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau.

I was pleased to hear from you that the Indian Government have expressed their readiness to contribute a sum of £500 a year towards the cost of expanding the pre- sent Sleeping Sickness Bureau into a bureau dealing with human tropical diseases generally, provided that suitable contributions for the same purpose can be obtained from the Colonies.

After careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that your suggestion is reasonable, and now undertake on behalf of the Union Government to contribute the sum of £300 a year asked for.

Believe me,

The Right Honourable

&c.,

LOUIS BOTHA,

(15655.)

Enclosure 1 in No. 64.

L. V. Harcourt, P.C.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

C.O.885

21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

DEAR GENERAL BOTHA,

Downing Street, 21st June, 1911.

I ENCLOSE a copy of my despatch regarding the proposed Veterinary Section of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau, for which you asked when you were at the Colonial Office on Friday last.

2. You will see from the accompanying copy of a minute which I received from Lord Gladstone in March last that your Government would be favourable to the scheme provided that there was no prospect of an international arrangement, and that contributions were obtained from other Colonies.

3. I dealt with these two points in my telegram of which a copy is enclosed, but I was informed by Lord Gladstone that you wished to discuss the matter with me personally. I am glad to say that since I sent my telegram the Indian Govern- ment have expressed their readiness to contribute a sum of £500 a year towards the cost of expanding the present Sleeping Sickness Bureau into a Bureau dealing with human tropical diseases generally, provided that suitable contributions for the same purpose can be obtained from the Colonies.

4. In view of this I think that it would now be sufficient if the Union Govern- ment were to make a contribution of £300 a year, instead of £500 a year as originally proposed. I may mention that this is the amount of the contribution which is now being made to the present Bureau by the Government of the Soudan, a country which is by no means wealthy and whose interest in sleeping sickness is not greater than that of South Africa.

5. I do not know that I can add much to what I have already said in the official correspondence, but in view of the conspicuous success which has attended the establishment of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau, I am confident that its extension on one side to all human tropical diseases, and on the other side to the tropical diseases of animals must do a vast amount of practical good. It seems to me also that with the approach of sleeping sickness from the north, it would be to the interest of South Africa to have early and accurate information regarding the investigation of this disease in other countries, as well as information of a similar kind regarding animal diseases.

15655 not printed.

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III. ANKYLOSTOMIASIS.

No. 65.

FEDERATED MALAY STATES.

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 22 January, 1910.)

(No. 374.)

MY LORD,

Government House, Penang, 29th December, 1909.

WITH reference to Sir Arthur Young's despatch, No. 166, of the 20th May,* I have the honour to transmit a circular which has been prepared by the Director of Public Works and the Director of the Institute for Medical Research on the subject of ankylostomiasis among labourers on estates.

2. Copies of this circular, with the planst attached, have been sent to the Superintendent of Indian Immigrants for distribution among the managers of estates throughout the Federated Malay States, and it is hoped that the measures advocated will be adopted and will meet with success.

3. I will obtain copies of this circular and the plans for distribution in the Colony.

I have, &o.,

JOHN ANDERSON.

No. 47 in Miscellaneous No. 238.

† Not reproduced.

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