CO885-(23-24) — Page 498

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

། ། ། ། ། ། mimimmim C.O. 885

23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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have not sufficient knowledge to be able to give any hints about it. Do you that it exists there, or are you going to see?

MR. WICKLIFFE ROSE: It does exist.

know

CHAIRMAN: Has anyone anything to say about the Straits Settlements? SIR HENRY MCCALLUM: I have resided there twenty years. The remarks which I have made to you about Ceylon will apply very much to the Straits. You will I left there in 1898, and I do not find the Malays a most docile lot of people. know exactly how far it is prevalent with the Malays as compared with the Tamils, but from all I have read and heard I believe that it is found amongst the Malays, but not so prevalent as amongst the Tamils. The Tamils are exactly the same type of people who come to Ceylon, so that in dealing with one you know how to deal with the other. The Malays are gentlemen; they are as nice a race as you ever dealt with, and I do not think they have any particular prejudice like the Buddhists. They are nearly all Mohammedans.

CHAIRMAN: How is it with regard to the Chinese?

SIR HENRY MCCallum: The Straits get a lot of Chinese, and I should say you will find the Chinese very much infected. In the old days we used to find it, but no attention was paid to it. Coolies came there from Amoy and Foochow affected with this particular disease; they were very healthy and strong fellows, and you did not find that it affected them much. I have had 60,000 Chinamen under me at one time on a work, and they never seemed to be affected by it.

CHAIRMAN: Is there a very large Chinese population in Singapore?

You would find the disease SIR HENRY MCCALLUM: About 130,000, I think. in the islands there because they are engaged in agricultural pursuits, and growing vegetables. In Malacca they grow a lot of vegetables. Wherever you find damp about you will find this hook worm. Of course, they get beri-beri, and other

diseases there.

MR. WICKLIFFE ROSE: Can you readily reach all portions of the country from Singapore?

MR. READ: There are railways everywhere now.

SIR HENRY MCCALLUM: They are very civilized out there.

MR. READ: It is an extraordinarily rich place.

SIR HENRY MCCALLUM: As I said just now about Ceylon, I am sure you will have no difficulty about money. I do not know whether the other members of the Committee agree with me that a Colony which can afford to have such splendid work as this ought to pay for it, and ought not to be dependent upon this Commission. We are grateful enough to the Commission for undertaking the work; but as to their defraying the cost, I think the money would be put in the wrong place. You should keep the money for the more impoverished portions of His Majesty's Empire. I know that the West Indies are badly off, but where there is a Colony like the Straits Settlements, or Ceylon, that can afford it, I think they ought to provide the funds, and I feel sure that the Legislative Council will suggest it.

SIR F. HODGSON: Is there not a large sum required in connexion with sanita- tion?

SIR HENRY MCCALLUM: In Ceylon I have been for six years trying to spend up surplus balances as hard as I could go, and I could not do it.

CHAIRMAN: We find that education is a very bottomless pit to spend money in.

Is there any other point you would like any suggestions upon?

MR. WICKLIFFE ROSE: I have nothing further. Of course, this country I am going to is such an unknown land that it is very difficult to formulate definite questions. I should probably have many to ask after I have gone.

CHAIRMAN: Anything we can do to supply you with information will be sup- plied most gladly, and I am certain that everyone out there will be only too happy to give you all the assistance you require.

MR. WICKLIFFE ROSE: I found in the West Indies that the co-operation with the Colonial Office opened up all sources of information, and I found it very easy to get all available information.

SIR HENRY MCCALLUM: If there are any returns or maps or anything of the sort which could be prepared before you went out there (vou will be some little time in Egypt), you could ask the Colonial Office to send a despatch and get them.

THE SECRETARY: A considerable number have already been furnished, and the Malav States have them in preparation.

SIR HENRY MCCALLUM : "At a number of these places they may have waited to see what effect the existing measures have had.

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CHAIRMAN: You would not call at Bombay; you would go straight from Aden to Colombo?

MR. WICKLIFFE ROSE: Yes. India is so very complex that it would be very well to get a little more experience under more settled conditions before attacking that part of the problem.

CHAIRMAN: If you have nothing further to ask I should like to convey to you, and to ask you to convey to the Trustees of this great foundation, that we deeply appreciate the public spirit and sentiment of affection of America which has prompted them to undertake this inquiry, and to give this assistance to the pro- motion of better conditions in the British dominions. We are exceedingly grateful for the fact that this American institution does not confine its benefits to the pro- motion of the health and energy of the population of its own country. We are sure that nothing could be more deeply appreciated than the way we have been treated in connexion with this great work. We all wish you a successful journey and a safe return.

10340

No. 28.

INTERNATIONAL HEALTH COMMISSION to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 19th March, 1914.)

DEAR MR. COWELL,

London, 18th March, 1914.

I AM enclosing, for your information, copy of a letter which I am sending to

the Governor of Trinidad.

2. The minute which I am sending him is one showing the enclosed recom- mendations adopted.

3. When you send this Trinidad budget to Washington, please indicate whether we shall send the funds to Trinidad in advance, or whether the expense is to be assumed in the first instance by Trinidad and recovered quarterly from the Com- mission. The two methods of handling the business are equally convenient for us.

Very truly yours,

WICKLIFFE ROSE.

SIR,

Enclosure in No. 28.

International Health Commission, London, 18th March, 1914.

I AM enclosing copy of minute of the action of the Executive Committee of the International Health Commission on the proposed plan of work for the relief and control of ankylostomiasis in Trinidad.

2.

I have seen the budget as approved by the Colonial Office; and, exercising

the authority given me by our Executive Committee, have approved this budget, for the International Health Commission.

I am enclosing copy of that portion of the budget which provides for the staff. That portion covering cost of equipment will be given in the completed budget, which will be sent from the Colonial Office.

3. This budget provides for three Medical Officers, with microscopists and equipment to correspond. With this beginning it is expected that the work will soon point the way to a full working programme.

His Excellency

The Governor,

Docket:

Trinidad.

I have, &c.,

WICKLIFFE ROSE.

FOR action of the Executive Committee of the International Health Com- mission of the Rockefeller Foundation, 27th February, 1914. Recommended:

1. That the plan of work as approved by the Governor, the Auditor, and the Surgeon-General of Trinidad for the relief and control of ankylostomiasis in that island be approved, subject to such modification from time to time as the work may require.