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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

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24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

SIR,

88

Enclosure 4 in No. 72.

DR. HOWARD to ADMINISTRATOR.

Trinidad, 3rd January, 1915. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of 10th and 11th December (Nos. 657 and 659). I am indeed pleased to know that the budget submitted meets with your approval. I will ask you to have a copy of this budget made and have the signatures of yourself and Dr. Branch appear on it and send it to the Commission at Washington, indicating that it replaces the old budget, and also stating to them when the new budget goes into effect.

His Honour

The Acting Administrator,

SIR,

St. Lucia.

*

*

Enclosure 5 in No. 72.

*

I have, &c.,

H. H. HOWARD, M.D.

Director at WashingtON to ADMINISTRATOR.

Washington, D.C., 2nd January, 1915. YOUR letter of 11th December has been received, and in submitting to our Executive Committee the budgets for the year 1915 I had the modified budget as agreed upon by you and Dr. Howard approved. There will be no difficulty, therefore, in beginning work on this new basis as soon as approval is had from the Colonial Office.

The Acting Administrator, Castries, St. Lucia.

8158

No. 73.

I have, &c.,

JOHN A. FERRELL.

WINDWARD ISLANDS: ST. LUCIA.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 19th February, 1915.)

(St. Lucia. No. 8.)

[Answered by No. 76.]

Grenada, 25th January, 1915.

I HAVE extracted paragraph 9 of Dr. Branch's report, and am inquiring of the Administrator, St. Lucia, as to what steps he proposes to take to mitigate the evil.

G. B. HADDON-SMITH,

(No. 8.)

SIR

Governor.

Government House, St. Lucia, 16th January, 1915.

I HAVE the honour to forward herewith, for transmission to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the report of Dr. Stanley Branch, the Medical Officer in charge of the ankylostomiasis campaign in St. Lucia, for the quarter ended 31st December, 1914.

2. Copies of this report have been sent to the International Health Com- mission.

His Excellency

Sir George Basil Haddon-Smith, K.C.M.G.,

I have, &c.,

DOUGLAS YOUNG,

Administrator.

SIR,

89

Enclosure in No. 73.

REPORT BY DR. S. BRANCH.

Castries, St. Lucia, 11th January, 1915. I HAVE the honour to submit the following report on the hookworm eradica- tion campaign in St. Lucia during the quarter ending 31st December, 1914.

2. The arrival of Dr. Rankin in the Colony to take up the duties of Medical Officer, No. 3 District, allowed me to assume the position as Director for St. Lucia and open the campaign. An office was rented at 24, Micoud Street, Castries, from

on 20th November. 16th November, and was opened to the public

3. The following temporary appointments were approved by Your Honour :--- W. B. Harris, clerk; H. Armstrong and J. Henry, microscopists.

4. Through the courtesy of the ministers of religion, the general public were notified that the office was opened to all who considered themselves infected, or wished to know whether they might be.

5. During this period the office has been open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., except on Fridays, when the Director and his staff worked in the Cul-de- Sac Valley, to estimate the degree of infection in the valley preparatory to starting an intensive campaign there.

6. There has been a good regular attendance of patients for examination. This has given ample opportunity to train the microscopists. All those who were found infected have been treated at least once. I believe nearly all who have received medicine have taken it, and a large number have returned for a second, and some even for a third, examination.

7. During the visit of Dr. Howard, the Director for the West Indies, I was fortunate enough to get him to give a public lecture, with lantern demonstration, to a large and appreciative audience. It is, of course, proposed to give a series of popular lectures in various parts of the island as soon as we can obtain the necessary lantern slides. Acting on Dr. Howard's advice and instructions a new budget was drawn, for the first quarter of 1915, to start the intensive campaign.

8. The cases examined at the Central and Field Offices have come almost exclusively from the Castries and Gros Islet quarters or parishes. A few isolated cases from the Dennery, Micoud, Soufrière and Anse-la-Raye quarters, were all found infected.

9. Of the localities under the present survey the town of Castries alone has a satisfactory, though not ideal, sewage disposal, but even here there is evidence of soil contamination, especially along the river banks and where the limits outside the town abut on the Chaussée. In the inhabited areas out of the town limits there is All night-soil is dumped in the gul- no latrine or privy accommodation whatever. lies, ravines, or the banks of running streams. No effort appears to be made at dis- posal even by burying. Among the peasantry at work it is the recognized custom to defecate on the surface of the ground wherever the inclination takes them.

10. We received from the office at Washington copies of the third annual report, which were distributed among the employers of labour and other gentlemen likely to take an interest in the campaign. Copies of the fourth annual report will be distributed as soon as they are received.

11. We had printed at the Government printing office 5,000 copies of a pamphlet on "Hookworm Disease," a simple sketch for laymen. These will be dis- The thymol capsules will be issued out with tributed throughout the island.

envelopes with printed instructions. A copy of the pamphlet✶ and the envelope are herewith attached.

12. A statistical table of the work performed is also appended. In the Cul-de- Sac Valley the settlements of Crown lands, Ferrands, Soucis, and Forestière, repre- sent the labour supply of the Cul-de-Sac Sugar Factory, and consist largely of East Indians. The percentage of infection found in these settlements is very heavy throughout the valley. We have examined 220 cases and found 187 infected, i.e., 85

per cent.

13. I shall be much obliged if Your Honour will forward a copy of this report, with its appendices, to the head office at Washington by the earliest opportunity.

I have, &c.,

STANLEY BRanch, His Honour

&c., &c., &c.,

Grenada.

The Administrator,

St. Lucia.

* Nat reprinted.

A.