CO885-(23-24) — Page 51

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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to introduce into the Legislative Council a Bill to amend Section 10 of Ordinance No. 28 of 1911, so as to give effect to the advice of the Council, and to make any consequential amendments in the Ordinance that I may be advised are required.

3. The time is not far distant when it will become necessary for the Govern- ment to relieve of its present duties the Municipal Council of Suva, and to make other arrangements for the adequate performance of those duties by a Commissioner or Commissioners under the direct control of the Government. But I do not recom- mend that such a change should be made at present, and I should prefer to await the time when the intervention of the Government will be sought by the ratepayers of Suva. The transfer to the Central Board of Health, which is practically a Govern- ment body, as it contains a majority of public officers, of the powers, now exercised by the Municipal Councils of Suva and Levuka as local authorities under the Public Health Ordinance, 1911, will be welcomed, not only by the public generally, but, unless I am mistaken, by the Municipal Councils themselves, and, when that transfer has been effected, the work of mosquito destruction can be dealt with efficiently in the municipal areas of Suva and Levuka on the lines indicated by Dr. Lynch.

5. I suggest that, in the first instance, you should authorise me to approach the two Municipal Councils with the view of obtaining their acquiescence in the transfer to the Central Board of Health of their powers and functions as local authorities, and that if, contrary to my expectation, the Municipal Councils do not concur in the suggested alterations in the Public Health Ordinance, you should still approve of the change being made.

I have, &c.,

BICKHAM ESCOTT,

Sub-enclosure to Enclosure 1 in No. 85.

Governor.

MEMORANDUM ON THE SUBJECT OF DEALING WITH THE MOSQUITOES OF SUVA BY THE

FORMATION OF MOSQUITO BRIGADES.

It may be said in the beginning that a start has already been made in the work of dealing with mosquitoes in Suva, by the work done under the direction of the Medical Officer of Health by the sanitary gang of ten prisoners under a European

Overseer.

This work consists in the improving, clearing, and straightening many of the existing water-courses of the town of Suva, whereby holes in the soapstone are filled, and water, which formerly stagnated in these holes, is made to run-the stagnation occurred, of course, in the main in the drier parts of the year when many of these water-courses tend to dry up and leave only the larger pools full or half-full of stagnant water. The gang goes over these channels periodically and clears and re-clears the banks of the heavy growth of weeds that grow so rapidly, and repairs the sides in those channels which run through soil.

2. Another step in the same direction is the passage, at the suggestion of the Central Board of Health, of by-laws* made under Section 96 of Ordinance No. XXVIII. of 1911, dealing with mosquitoes, a copy of which is attached.

3. But for more rapid and more effective work in this direction more will be needed.

4. It is not suggested that there should be a very large expenditure of money in the first instance, but rather that the advice of Ross should be taken, and that the heginning should be small, and that with a superintending staff, a small brigade, and the assistance of the sanitary inspectors of the town, the inhabitants should be educated to do a great deal of the work themselves. A good deal is done at one, at least, of the centres of the C. S. R. Company (Nausori), where systematic inspection of premises is carried out under the supervision of the Conipany's officials.

5. I suggest that there should be a Central Bureau with the Medical Officer of Health as the head of it, that he should have the assistance of the Government Ento- mologist and the Chief Medical Officer, and that under him there should be one Euro- pean Overseer, assisted by two labourers.

• Not printed.

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6. The Medical Officer of Health should direct the work of the overseer, and it would be the overseer's duty to make from day to day systematic house to house inspections of the whole municipal area, and of all vacant as well as occupied plots of land. He should inspect premises and surroundings, water spouting and gutter- ing, and especially the latter, to see that it is in proper working order and not blocked.

7. His labourers would remove empty tins and see that they were carried away and disposed of in some reclamation or carried out to sea (in municipal punts) or buried.

8. The great difficulty in Suva in dealing with the vast collection of empty tins is that the Municipal Council refuses to remove tins from premises free of cost -it would therefore be necessary to provide for the effectual removal by the pro- vision or loan of a horse and cart either from the Council or from the Public Works Department, and if this cart could be provided the expense of the staff would be limited to the salary of the overseer, say, £150 per annum, and the wages of his two labourers at £2 per mensem each.

9. At present the Central Board of Health in Suva has difficulty in dealing with all kinds of sanitary reform and improvement, because the local authority, which is the Municipal Council, is difficult to move in sanitary matters; if a mosquito brigade were formed, it would, in my opinion, be essential that the brigade should work entirely independently of the local authority, and it might therefore be neces- sary to provide for the necessary powers by some alteration in the existing public health law thus the mosquito by-laws are passed, as has been said, by the local authority, and it is their duty to enforce them, but this authority is so busy with other matters that it leaves the entire direction of sanitary work to the Sanitary Inspector, who is, fortunately, directed by the Government Medical Officer of Health.

10. The staff, therefore, for the initiation of anti-mosquito measures on more strenuous lines than can at present be carried out should be—

One European overseer

Two labourers at £24

Driver for cart

Feed for horse

Purchase of horse, cart and harness

£150 0 0

48 0 0

24 0 0

18 0 0

£230 0 0

£70 0 0

(To.be stabled at Public Works Department.)

11. Outlay annually for making permanent the storm water channels of the town: £200.

April 20th, 1914.

21716

G. W. C. LYNCH,

Chief Medical Officer.

No. 86.

AUSTRALIA.

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 15th June, 1914.)

[Answered by No. 88.].

(No. 143.)

Governor-General's Office, Melbourne,

8th May, 1914.

SIR,

REFERRING to your despatch, No. 487, dated 23rd August, 1913,* relative to the distribution of Stegomyia fasciata in Eastern colonial and foreign ports, I have the honour to inform you that the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine, which is situated at Townsville in the State of Queensland, is at the present time under- taking the work of classifying and investigating all entomological specimens from tropical Australia and Papua.

33318

No. 27.

G