CO885-(23-24) — Page 312

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

FULL CO. 885

23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

22411

30

No. 43.

NIGERIA.

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(No. 540.) SIR,

(Received 20th June, 1914.)

[Answered by No. 55.]

London, 19th June, 1914.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 516, of the 27th March, 1914, suggesting that the contribution of Nigeria to the Tropical Diseases Research Fund should be increased from £350 to £500 for a period of five years.

2. I fully realize the very great importance and value of the work done by means of the Fund, and I recognize the obligation of the Tropical Colonies and Protec- I need not dwell upon the very heavy torates to contribute liberally towards it. liabilities which, at the present time, have to be met from the common revenues of Nigeria, in consequence of the withdrawal of the greater part of the grant-in-aid for the Northern Provinces (nearly a half of the ordinary revenue of which is allocated to native treasuries), and owing to the capital demands of the railway and the expansion in the staff of all departments. Nigeria, in spite of its large revenue, has not, I venture to think, at the present moment, larger funds at its disposal for contributions of this kind than the Gold Coast Colony.

3. In these circumstances, I venture to hope that if Nigeria is asked to con- tribute £500, the Gold Coast should increase its contribution (which it appears from the Advisory Committee's report has only been £100) to £400, and Sierra Leone should contribute in a similar proportion for the common object in view.

22604

(No. 275.) SIR,

No. 44.

I have, &c.,

F. D. LUGARD,

Governor-General.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 22nd June, 1914.)

Government House, Singapore, 25th May, 1914.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Circular of the 25th March last,t and to inform you that the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council have agreed with the suggestion that an annual payment of £100 be made for five more years from the funds of the Colony as a contribution to the Tropical Diseases Research Fund.

I have, &c.,

23149

No. 45.

ARTHUR YOUNG,

Governor.

TREASURY to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received 26th June, 1914.) [Answered by No. 54.]

Treasury Chambers, 26th June, 1914.

SIR,

I HAVE laid before the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury Mr. Strachey's letter of the 1st instant (17606/1914), further relative to the continu- ance after the 31st March, 1915, of the grant of £1,000 per annum made from the Imperial Exchequer on behalf of the Exchequer-aided Protectorates to the Tropical Diseases Research Fund.

81

My Lords note that Mr. Secretary Harcourt proposes to ask the Governments of the East Africa Protectorate and of Zanzibar to contribute £200 and £100 per annum respectively, and the Government of Nigeria to contribute an additional £150 per annum, and that the question of asking for contributions from Nyasaland and Uganda will be considered in connexion with next year's estimates. In these circumstances, My Lords are willing to agree to continue the existing grant of £1,000 per annum for a further two years, i.e., to 31st March, 1917. They consider, however, that, in view of the growing prosperity of the various Protectorates, on whose behalf the Imperial grant was originally made, a reduction in the charge on the Exchequer to a sum not exceeding £500 per annum should be made after the financial year 1916-17.

I am, &c.,

23274

SIR,

(No. 222.)

No. 46.

JAMAICA.

JOHN BRADBURY.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 27th June, 1914.)

[Answered by Nos. 49 and 63.]

King's House, Jamaica, 6th June, 1914. WITH reference to your despatch No. 339, of the 18th November, 1913,* and to previous correspondence, on the subject of the treatment of yaws by salvarsan, I have the honour to transmit to you two authenticated and twelve ordinary copies of Law 19 of 1914, entitled "A Law to provide for the Compulsory Treatment of persons suffering from Yaws," which has been passed by the Legislative Council, and a copy of the Attorney-General's report thereon.

2. Steps have been taken in the Colony in the past to provide for free treat- ment of yaws by District Medical Officers, but from my observations, and from the various reports on the results which have been obtained elsewhere from the treat- ment of the disease by salvarsan, I have formed the opinion that the most effective method of eradicating the disease, which is very prevalent in various remote districts of the island, would be to establish a form of field hospital, and to make the treatment compulsory by legal enactment.

3. Provision has been made on the estimates of the current year for the equip- ment of a "Travelling dispensary," including the salary of an additional Super- numerary Medical Officer, who will be placed in charge of it, and the necessary measure of compulsion will be afforded by this law.

4. Before the introduction of this measure into the Legislative Council I sanctioned, as an experiment, the treatment of the disease by salvarsan in two of the districts in which it is most prevalent, and I enclose copies of the reports of I also enclose a copy of a the Medical Officers who administered the treatment. report by the Medical Officer in charge of the Kingston and St. Andrew Union Poor House, on results obtained from the treatment in that institution.

5. Whilst misfortunes may be expected occasionally in the treatment by salvarsan, as there are in ordinary vaccination for smallpox, and possibly the compulsion which will be brought into force by this law will be opposed by some, yet I consider that the treatment will make for the good of the majority of inhabitants. and that the mild form of compulsion prescribed in the law is justifiable.

I have, &c.,

W. H. MANNING,

* L.F. forwarding a copy of No. 11 in [Cd. 7261], March, 1914.

Governor.

* No. 19.

† No. 17.

No. 41.