CO885-(23-24) — Page 92

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

།།།།། །

mmimmilu

Reference :-

C.O. 885

23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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district. On the 2nd April Dr. Patrick and I went, in the company of Mr. E. H. D. Nicolls, Director of Public Works, to investigate the villages in the neighbourhood of the large reservoirs in the Mesaoria, to the west of Famagusta. We spent two nights in the irrigation bungalow close to Akhyritou. There was much malaria in these villages; but we could find no larvæ in the reservoirs, which appeared to be to be much too open and full of fish to be very suitable for them. On the other hand we found many larvæ in the small marsh close to Akhyritou made for brick manufacture and partly fed by the discharge from the Akhyritou reservoir. The spleen-rate in this village was 100 per cent. On the 4th April we rode to Famagusta and found anopheline larve in the lake some miles west of that town. During the next two days Mr. Nicolls, Dr. Fuleihan and I examined the conditions at Famagusta, Trikomo, Verynia, Paralimai, and Varosia, and on the 6th April Mr. Nicolls and I returned to Nicosia by trolley in order to inspect the conditions along the railway line. In the meantime His Excellency Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams had gone on leave for England. On the 7th April I discussed with His Excellency the Acting High Commissioner, Captain Orr, and with Dr. Cleveland and Mr. Nicolls some preliminary points of importance, and on the evening of the same day I left Nicosia by Public Works motor car to study the Limassol and the Paphos districts with Dr. Patrick. On the 8th April we examined the barracks of the British troops at Polymidia near Limassol in company with the officer com- manding and the Medical Officer, and also looked at some neigh- bouring villages. The same evening we studied the marsh near Limassol in company with the Mayor of Limassol and the District Medical Officer, Dr. Corsellis, and found numerous anopheline larvæ of full size in the sheep holes and also amongst the reeds of the marsh, and also discovered them in water escaping from the town water works. Next day, the 9th April, we proceeded by car to Paphos, and in the evening, in the company of the Commissioner, Major Bayly, the Mayor of Paphos, the District Medical Officer, Dr. Vassiliades, and several of the Rural Medical Officers, we examined some stagnant water close to the harbour of Paphos, where we found a very large number of auophelines and other mosquito larvae. On the 10th April we returned to Limassol, studying the conditions en route, and in the evening we re-visited the Limassol marsh. On the 11th April we returned to Nicosia, examining the con- ditions en route. On the 12th April I prepared a popular lecture, which was delivered at the theatre in Nicosia before His Excellency the Acting Commissioner and a large audience on Sunday, 13th April. Next day Dr. Cleveland and ourselves met a number of the District and Rural Medical Officers in the Council Room and discussed with them for two hours a number of questions connected with malaria, showing them specimens which we had collected. On the 15th April Dr. Patrick, Mr. Nicolls, and Mr. Day, the Superintendent of the railway, and myself left by special train for Morphou and the west of the Island, and examined the marsh near Syrianochorio where again we found large numbers of anophelines amongst the reeds

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and the sluggish streams, and a very high spleen-rate among the children. On the 16th April Dr. Cleveland and I visited the prison, the lunatic asylum, and the leper colony. Between the 12th and the 16th April I had the privilege of holding a number of informal meetings with the Acting Chief Secretary, Mr. Bolton, and with Dr. Cleveland and Mr. Nicolls, at which I had the opportunity of discussing with them a number of possible proposals for dealing with malaria in the Island. On the 17th April I embarked at Famagusta, en route for Greece, which I wished to re-visit in order to compare the conditions there with those which I had found in Cyprus. I arrived at Athens on the 25th April, and immediately set out for the Copais Valley, which I had studied seven years previously. On returning to Athens I was introduced by His Excellency the British Ambas- sador, Sir Francis Elliot, to His Excellency Mr. Venezelos, the Prime Minister of Greece; with whom, in company with Pro- fessor Savas, the President of the Greek Anti-Malaria League, I discussed several important points in connection with that subject, all of which had much bearing upon the prevention of malaria in Cyprus. On the same day I left for England, where I have had frequent opportunities of consulting His Excellency Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams.

It should be understood that in these tours of inspection we studied principally the practical question of prevention, not so much in each locality as for the whole of the Island. We generally took the spleen-rates in the village schools, and then formed an iden as to the presence and nature of anopheline- breeding waters. But we could not pretend to do so sufficiently thoroughly to cover the whole of future work at each spot. Such investigation will have to be carried on slowly in the future by the organization which I recommend.

Nevertheless, the tour of inspection actually made was, I think, quite sufficient to enable me to come to a conclusion regarding the principal points upon which I have been asked to advise. But I regret that I did not see several important officers with whom I should have liked to have conversed if I had had an opportunity of meeting them; and I should also have liked to have seen one or two of the larger villages, which I was forced to neglect in my itinerary.

Detailed microscopic work upon patients was not at all required; as this had already been done by Drs. Williamson and Cleveland The entomological work on the mosquitoes of the and others. Island has also been done in the past and will be continued in the future by the organization recommended by me, if this is adopted.

3. Interim Recommendations.—During my visit in Cyprus 1 was authorised by the High Commissioner to make any interim recommendations which I thought were urgently necessary and which might be feasible before this report could be prepared. Consequently I made the following ones:-

(1) A general spleen-census of the school children in the

Island.

(2) The issue of thirty grains of free quinine to every scholar suffering from enlarged spleen-that is, enough quinine