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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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C.O. 885

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14084

No. 13.

MEMORANDUM COMMUNICATED TO THE PRESS, 11TH MAY, 1912.

From July 1st the Sleeping Sickness Bureau will be known as the Tropical Diseases Bureau.

The Sleeping Sickness Bureau had its origin in the International Conference on Sleeping Sickness held in London, under the presidency of Lord Fitzmaurice, in June, 1907, and March, 1908, to concert measures for the control of that disease, which was spreading rapidly in tropical Africa. It was then proposed to have a central international bureau" to extract and circulate all new literature on sleeping sickness." This project fell through, because the delegates were not unanimous as to the seat of the bureau, or even the necessity for its separate existence. Arrange- ments were therefore made by Lord Elgin, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, for the establishment of a British Bureau, maintained by Imperial funds, with a contribution from the Sudan Government. The Royal Society agreed to house the Bureau, and was thus indirectly a third contributor. Lord Elgin appointed an Honorary Committee, with Sir J. West Ridgeway as Chairman, to manage the Bureau, and the first meeting took place at the Colonial Office in April, 1908.

It is generally agreed that the Bureau has performed a useful function. It has issued 36 numbers of its Bulletin, each containing an account of current work in the field and laboratory on sleeping sickness and other trypanosome diseases, maps of distribution of sleeping sickness and tsetse flies, an exhaustive bibliography, a popular pamphlet on the means of prevention of sleeping sickness, and more recently Bulletins on Kala Azar. These publications have had a wide circulation. Of the monthly Bulletin 1,100 copies are issued, of which about half go to Africa. The Bureau has gradually acquired a library containing 360 volumes and some 1,500 pamphlets, most of which relate to the trypanosome diseases. It has initiated the despatch of several expeditions to investigate sleeping sickness in tropical Africa. It has supplied information to many enquirers.

It soon became evident that what the Sleeping Sickness Bureau was doing for sleeping sickness could be done in the same way for tropical diseases generally. Medical men in the tropics are unable to consult the very numerous papers published in many languages in journals all over the world; even in London few have the time to read, much less digest, the vast mass of new literature relating to tropical diseases. Lord Crewe, during his term of office as Secretary of State for the Colonies, and Mr. Lewis Harcourt have interested themselves in the expansion of the Bureau, and, as was indicated above, the arrangements are now completed. The expansion of the Bureau entails increased expenditure; the funds are being found by the Treasury, the Indian Government (now represented on the Committee by Sir A. Branfoot), the Sudan Government, the Union of South Africa, Ceylon, the Federated Malay States, Southern Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Fiji, Trinidad, and Jamaica; the annual available sum is approximately £3,000. The Bureau, having outgrown the accommodation generously provided by the Royal Society, will have its quarters at the Imperial Institute.

The new Bureau will deal with all exotic diseases which are prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical regions, and will publish at frequent intervals a Tropical Diseases Bulletin which will take the place of the present Sleeping Sickness Bulletin. The Director will have the help of an Assistant Director and a number of experts, who will be responsible for the different subjects, and will furnish authoritative reviews and summaries of published papers, to appear in the Bulletin. Thus, the results of the most recent researches on every tropical disease in every country, new methods of treatment, improved means of prevention, will quickly become available for the remote worker in the tropics. The tropical diseases of animals will be treated in a separate publication; to represent veterinary science Sir John Macfadyean and Mr. Stewart Stockman have joined the Committee, which includes among its members Sir P. Manson, Sir D. Bruce, Sir W. Leishman, and Sir J. Rose Bradford. The Bulletins will be supplied free to medical and veterinary officers of India and of the subscribing Colonies; to others they will be on sale. The present library, in which current files of all the journals of tropical medicine are to be found, forms the nucleus of a good tropical diseases library. It is expected to grow rapidly, and to become of great value to medical officers home on leave from the tropics. Colonial Office,

9 May, 1912.

14401

No. 14.

MINUTES OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE TROPICAL DISEASES BUREAU HELD AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE ON THE 17TH OF MAY, 1912, AT 4.30 P.M.

PRESENT:

Sir J. WEST RIDGEWAY (in the Chair).

Sir J. Rose Bradford.

Surgeon General Sir A. BRANfoot. Sir JOHN MCFADYEAN.

Sir PATRICK MANSON.

Mr. READ.

Mr. KEITH (Secretary).

Dr. BAGSHAWE also attended.

1. The minutes of the thirty-second meeting of the Sleeping Sickness Bureau

of the 27th of February* were approved.

2. The Director of the Bureau submitted proposals with regard to the staff.

(a) He stated that he had been in communication with Dr. Low with a view to his undertaking the work of Assistant Director. Dr. Low was willing to perform the duties of the post on the understanding that he would not be required to work at the Bureau for the whole of the time which he gave to the work. As he lived near the Imperial Insti- tute he would, as a rule, be able to look in every day and by arrange- ment with the Director he would be able to attend the Bureau regularly during the latter's absence on leave. He would also undertake the special duties of a sub-editor with regard to Filariasis and other sub- jects which might be assigned to him. It was agreed that he should be appointed for six months from July 1st in the first instance with a salary of £300 a year.

(b) For the post of Veterinary Sub-Editor, Dr. Bagshawe submitted the name of Mr. Sheather, who was recommended by Sir John McFadyean as being well qualified for the work by his training and his experience. It was agreed that he should be appointed from July 1st with salary at the rate of £150 per annum. Dr. Bagshawe explained that the cost

of printing the " Veterinary Bulletin was estimated at £100, so that the total cost of the " Veterinary Bulletin " should be £250 a year. (c) Dr. Bagsliawe suggested that as further work and further responsibility would devolve on Mr. Sheppard, who would now be in sole charge of the library, he should receive an increase of salary. He suggested that in place of £3 10s. a week, his present pay, he should receive £3 17s.. which was approximately £200 a year, involving an increase in his salary of £18. This was agreed to, with effect from July 1st.

Dr. Bagshawe also proposed that the salary of his typist, whose work he com- mended, should be increased from 30s. to 33s. 6d. a week, of which 1s. would, in effect, be accounted for by the additional cost involved to her in travelling to the new offices of the Bureau at the Imperial Institute. This proposal was agreed to, with effect from July 1st, and it was also agreed that Dr. Bagshawe should be authorised, when he found it necessary, to select another typist at a salary of 25s. a week.

3. It was agreed that a Sub-Committee should be appointed consisting of Sir W. Leishman, Sir A. Branfoot, and Dr. Bagshawe, to select the sub-editors, to apportion the subjects among them. and to decide upon their remuneration, the report of the Sub-Committee to be circulated to the other members of the Committee for their approval.

4. The Director brought forward certain matters regarding the new Bulletin. (a) It was agreed that the present format should be kept and that the first

number should be brought out in October.

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(b) It was agreed that advertisements should be admitted to the Bulletin.

• No. 10.

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