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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
TPI
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C.O. 885
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5. It would be interesting to ascertain if the increased susceptibility of the North Country people was due to the circumstance that they live in zongos in proxi- mity to cattle kraals, and also nearer the bush and its fauna.
6. In conclusion, I would like to bring to the notice of His Excellency the Governor the manner in which Dr. Wade, a very capable officer; has done his work under trying circumstances.
7. I also submit a letter from Dr. Wade, which I refrained from forwarding until I was able to submit his Report, and ask that it may receive the due consideration which I venture to suggest it deserves.
The Honourable
SIR,
the Colonial Secretary,
Victoriaberg, Accra.
I have, &c.,
F. G. HOPKINS;
Principal Medical Officer.
Enclosure 4 in No. 4.
Sunyani, Western Province,
+
Ashanti, 26th January, 1913.
I HAVE the honour to apply through you for an increase in my consolidated allowance while on tour on sleeping sickness investigation.
At present I am in receipt of £10 per month, or about 6s. 7d. per diem.
I shall briefly give my reasons for applying:-
(1) When travelling round I am obliged to pay 1s. 6d. per night for shelter. Rest-houses only exist on the main roads, and it is chiefly in bush villages remote from these roads that I spend most of my time. The discomfort one has to put up with at times is very considerable.
(2) On entering these villages it is customary for the Chiefs to bring "dashes "; these I have tried hard to escape from, but in the interests of my investigations I find it necessary to accept some, as a refusal to accept same constitutes an insult to the Chief, and one may not be able to get as much assistance from him as one otherwise would, and this I have always tried to avoid.
(3) A "dash" from a Chief means a return dash in money, which I must pay out of my own pocket, as I am not provided with a fund for "Presents to Chiefs."
(4) In many of these villages, where white men have seldom been, and the natives seem very nervous, I find it necessary to make a few small presents to children to try and allay their fears and so be allowed to examine them. These, of course, have to come out of my own pocket.
(5) Food. This is a much more expensive item when travelling than when in a
station.
On only one occasion during the past month have I been able to buy fresh meat; this means either fowls, when procurable, or tinned meat. are 1s. 6d. each.
Fowls in this Province
I hope you may be able to see your way to recommend this my application, as it seems hard to have to put up with such discomfort and find oneself worse off financially than if in a station.
The Provincial Medical Officer,
Coomassie.
I have, &c.,
W. M. WADE,
Medical Officer, Sleeping Sickness Duty.
36736
SIR,
II. TROPICAL DISEASES BUREAU.
No. 5.
COLONIAL OFFICE to INDIA OFFICE.
[Answered by No. 6.]
Downing Street, 12 January, 1912. WITH reference to your letter of the 22nd of November last and previous correspondence, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to request you to inform the Secretary of State that replies have now been received from the several Colonial Governments to which application has been made for grants towards the expansion of the existing Sleeping Sickness Bureau into a Bureau dealing with the tropical diseases of man and animals generally.
2. The following contributions have been promised by the several Colonial Governments, in each case for five years :-
Ceylon
Federated Malay States
Southern Nigeria
Gold Coast
Sierra Leone
Gambia
Fiji
British Guiana Jamaica
£
100
100
200
150
100
50
50
100
100
A contribution of £100 from Trinidad will no doubt also be made though the formal reply from the Colonial Government has not yet been received, while a con- tribution of £300 has been promised by General Botha on behalf of the Union of South Africa.
3. As it is desirable, in Mr. Harcourt's opinion, that steps should be taken to carry out the extension of the Bureau with the least possible delay, he has now instructed the Director of the Bureau to prepare a scheme for the expansion of its activities, which it is proposed to submit to the Managing Committee of the Bureau. It would clearly be desirable that at this discussion the Secretary of State for India should be represented, and Mr. Harcourt would, therefore, be glad if the Secretary of State could now see his way to nominate a representative of India to serve on the Managing Committee of the Bureau in accordance with the last paragraph of your letter of the 4th of May, 1911.†
1799
No. 6.
I am, &c.,
G. V. FIDDES.
SIR,
INDIA OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received January 18, 1912.) [Answered by No. 8.]
India Office, Whitehall, London, S.W., 18th January, 1912. WITH reference to your letter of the 12th January, 1912, No. 36736/11,‡ in which it is suggested that the Secretary of State for India should nominate a repre- sentative of India to serve on the Managing Committee of the Tropical Diseases Bureau, I am directed to refer to paragraph 7 of the Colonial Office letter, No. 7701, of the 1st April, 1909,§ and to the letter from this Office, No. 798, of the 4th May, 1911, on the subject of the provision of funds for the Bureau. I am to suggest that, if Mr. Secretary Harcourt sees no objection, a statement of the total contribu- tions now promised from all sources and of the amount which is now considered
* 37597: not printed.
t No. 54 in Miscellaneous No. 254.
No. 54 in Miscellaneous No. 254.
+ No. 5.
No. 29 in Miscellaneous No. 238.
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22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
40
necessary to cover the annual cost of the operations of the Bureau might be fur- nished for the consideration of the Secretary of State for India in Council in con- nection with the present proposal.
It is observed that in the Colonial Office letter of the 1st April, 1909, the annual cost of the Bureau was estimated at £3,500, towards which it was suggested that the Indian Government should contribute £1,000. As the Indian contribution has now been fixed at £500, some modification of the aggregate estimated expenditure or some increase in the amount of the contributions from other sources will appar- ently be requisite.
Attached to 1799
No. 7.
I have, &c.,
LIONEL ABRAHAMS.
DR. BAGSHAWE (Director, Sleeping SICKNESS BUREAU) to MR. A. B. KEITH (COLONIAL OFFICE.)
(Received January 24, 1912.)
Sleeping Sickness Bureau, The Royal Society, Burlington House,
London, W., January 23rd, 1912.
DEAR MR. KEITH,
I AM sending you my draft scheme for the expansion of the Bureau, which has been somewhat delayed. You will, I suppose, have it copied and sent to the members of the Managing Committee before or at the time the meeting is called. I think the points to be settled at the meeting are--
(1) Whether an Assistant Director should be appointed and, if so, on what
terms?
(2) Whether in the event of a Tropical Diseases Bulletin being issued the Sleeping Sickness Bulletin shall be continued in its present form
or not?
(3) Whether the publications are to be free to everyone as heretofore or sold
except to Government Medical Officers?
(4) The new quarters would also be discussed. Perhaps you would be able to
find out where we could go?
Yours, &c.,
ARTHUR G. BAGSHAWE.
Enclosure in No. 7.
SCHEME FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE SLEEPING SICKNESS BUREAU. PRESENT POSITION OF BUREAU.
1. Work. At present, January, 1912, the Bureau publishes--
2.
(a) The Sleeping Sickness Bulletin, ten numbers a year, making in 1911 a All the matter for this is found by the Director, pages.
volume of 484
the bulk of whose time is thus taken up. The output of papers on this subject keeps at a high level and tends, if anything, to increase. (b) Occasional publications on sleeping sickness, such as the pamphlet for the lay public, and the maps of distribution of sleeping sickness and tsetse flies.
(c) The Kala Azar Bulletin, four numbers a year. This is written by Dr. Wenyon and edited by the Director. The editorial work on the first number was heavy, and though that on others will probably be less, the office of Editor cannot be regarded as a sinecure.
Staff-The present whole-time staff consists of myself, as Director; Mr. Sheppard, as Librarian, taking charge also of the references and doing the work of a secretary; and Miss Staples, shorthand writer and typist. She addresses the Bulletin envelopes and takes charge of the correspondence files. Mr. Sheppard and I are fully occupied.
41
3. Offices.-The Bureau consists of a single room at the Royal Society, in which the library is housed and where I and Mr. Sheppard work. Miss Staples types in another room when it is not required by the Society.
4. Expenditure. The ordinary expenditure for the first nine months of the financial year 1911-12 was £840, that of the whole year is estimated to be £1,140. The special expenditure on Kala Azar up to March, 1912, will probably be £106; for 1912-13 it is estimated at £170. The total expenditure for 1912-13 therefore, if nothing further was undertaken, would be £1,310, say £1,350.
5. Conclusions. From (1) and (2) it may be concluded that with the present staff no more work can profitably be undertaken. An attempt on my part to do more would mean some loss of efficiency in what is now done. It follows that any extension of the Bureau must synchronise with the appointment of an expert assistant; he must be able to devote at least half a day to the work and to carry it on in my absence. Should a suitable man be found, it would be better to make him a full-time officer.
6. From (3) it is evident that any increase in staff will necessitate a move to more spacious quarters. Even a part-time assistant would require at least a desk for his papers, &c., and this he cannot have here. I understand that we can obtain quarters rent free.
7. From (4) it appears that the rate of expenditure at the end of this financial year may be taken as £1,350. The available income, I am informed by Mr. Keith, will be at least £3,050, leaving £1,700 for an extension.
EXTENDED Bureau.
8. Work. In what should the extensión consist? It has been decided, I think, that a Tropical Veterinary Section will be formed and a Quarterly Bulletin published. It would have its own Sub-Editor and its connection with the Bureau would be little more than nominal,
9. Our funds now enable us to treat all the tropical diseases of man in the same way as sleeping sickness, if less fully; malaria and yellow fever are, or will be, dealt with elsewhere. The alternatives are the publication of a single journal, or of many.
(a) I would advocate the publication, at first, perhaps, monthly, afterwards twice a month, of a Tropical Diseases Bulletin rather than of a series of separate journals. Each number would contain summaries of original papers classified under the heads of the various diseases, and would contain about sixty pages. It would correspond to some extent to the Bulletin of the l'asteur Institute; this, however, covers a wider field and is of more value to the laboratory worker than to the doctor who practises in the tropics. Each subject would be in charge of an expert, to be styled a sub-editor. He would be supplied from the Bureau with the titles of papers on his subject or subjects, and, if possible, with reprints, and would furnish sum- maries, with such critical remarks as he thought required, as promptly as possible. He would be paid at a fixed rate, to be decided for each subject. From time to time he would write an original article on his subject, summarising recent work in one of its branches. One such would appear in, say, every second number. The journal would be supplied free to members of the Colonial and Indian Medical Services. To others it might be sold at a guinea a year, or two shillings a number.
I do not think that free distribution to Government Medical Officers would interfere with the sale of such publications as the Annals of Tropical Medicine (Liverpool School). It is just as likely to stimulate it, for keen men will buy the journal from which some paper is summarised, in order to read the complete article. am against free distribution to all the world, for general reasons as well as those given by Sir Ronald Ross.
10. (b) The alternative would be a series of separate journals. This would advantage the Director and his staff, because the organisation could be evolved gradually, but the scheme would be difficult to work. The objection is that it is more convenient for the Colonial Medical Officers, few of whom are specialists, to have information on various diseases within the same journal. The difficulty of classification also would be great. A preliminary list of diseases, which I have made, includes dysentery, ankylostomiasis, beri-beri, schistosomiasis, filariasis, and guinea-worm, elephantiasis, leprosy, Malta fever, pellagra, plague, relapsing fever. yaws, cholera, sprue, tropical abscess of liver, tropical diseases of skin, pappataci fever.
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