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COLONIAL MEDICAL SERVICES COMMITTEE.

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The Governor of Cyprus agrees, but the appropriation depends on local circumstances. Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States memo. says medical reference libraries are most necessary. The Principal Medical Officer of Zanzibar says they are well provided in this respect, but a fixed sum should be allotted annually, and the books carefully selected and looked after. The Surgeon General of Trinidad is going to make the Bacteriological Laboratory the intelligence department of the medical service, and (as opportunity offers) to establish a library and museum. The Principal Medical Officer, Gold Coast, says the necessity is recognised, and will be better met when the Head of the Department gets more time, under reorganisation.

AUXILIARY MEDICAL SERVICE.

Paragraph 43.-The Committee are of opinion that there is room in the West African Colonies for an Auxiliary Medical Service on the lines of that of India or Ceylon, but a medical school would have to be founded first.

The Principal Medical Officer, Kenya, thinks an auxiliary service would be a good thing for Kenya too. The Senior Medical Officer, Somaliland, says that natives who can read and write and know a little arithmetic can be trained as dispensers, but the supply is short. The Principal Medical Officer, Zanzibar, says that the mentality of the East African native is insufficient to qualify him for any post higher than that of hospital boy, or (rarely) of dispenser, and the Resident agrees.

The Governor of Cyprus says that the colony is not yet in a position to found a medical school. The Governor of Sierra Leone does not think that the Committee has dealt at all with the question of native medical men. He thinks that the sanitary services should be to a major extent in European hands, but that, apart from the case of European officials and their wives, the medical services and hospitals should be largely entrusted to African medical men. The Acting Principal Medical Officer thinks that there should be a single training centre in West Africa for sanitary inspectors. The Principal Medical Officer, Gold Coast, thinks there might well be a medical school for native West Africans at Accra, in connection with the new Native Hospital, but nine of his colleagues think the time not yet ripe. The Director of Medical and Sanitary Services, Nigeria, says that an auxiliary service is impracticable at present; personnel and accommodation are inadequate. The Governor does not think action in that direction can be taken at present, though he is in favour of the idea of a medical school.

RESEARCH.

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Paragraph 44.-The Committee recommend the creation of a Research Department as part of the Colonial Medical Service, and express the hope that it will not be necessary in future to go outside the Colonial Medical Service to find officers fit to undertake special medical and scientific work. Appointment by special selection should, however, not be excluded. Medical Research Institute should be established in every important colony or group of colonies, and wherever possible the Institute should be placed near the largest and best equipped hospital. The Principal Medical Officer, Ceylon, says funds have been provided in the estimates for commencing the construction of a Medical Research Institute near the Colombo Hospitals. The Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States memo, says that the Federated Malay States Medical Research Institute is a success, workers not being hampered by routine duties. Men showing capacity for research should always be given an opportunity. Nothing gives & better return than money spent on medical research. The work of institutes in various colonies should be correlated with one another, and with similar institutions in Great Britain. Administrator of St. Vincent says that the Executive Council concur especially with the Com- mittee's recommendations as to Research Institutes. The Governor of the Windward Islands suggests that Trinidad should start a Research Institution, the medical officers from other West Indian Colonies to benefit by it; the Legislative Councils would contribute. The Senior Medical Officer, Somaliland, thinks a Research Department is certainly required, though it need not be elaborate in character, but that it must be carried on in connection with a laboratory. Principal Medical Officer, Tanganyika, regards this recommendation as specially important. The Surgeon General of Trinidad is going to create research facilities as opportunity offers, and makes the suggestion that Tropical Research Studentships should be founded at the cost of the Colonial Government; the students to be nominated by schools of tropical medicine, and to study in the Colony. The Governor of Cyprus says that a Bacteriological Laboratory is about to be provided in the Colony. The Governor of the Gambia says that research can be arranged for without appointing a Director General. The Principal Medical Officer of the Gold Coast says a new Pathological Institute will be put up near the new Native Hospital, and a Pathological Research branch is to be organised. The Director of Medical and Sanitary Services, Nigeria, is in favour of laboratories generally, but says that at present there are neither the staff nor the buildings nor the money.

PRECEDENOR OF HONOURS.

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Paragraph 45.-The Committee somewhat delicately suggest that it would be a good thing to put the heads of the medical departments on the Executive Councils generally, and remark that this would of itself give them a higher place in the table of précedence. They observe on the very small proportion of members of the Colonial Medical Service who have been given the C.M.G. for services under this department.

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Bir G. Haddon Smith says that in his experience Secretaries of State have been liberal in giving honours to the medical profession, and that the Colonial Surgeon is generally on the Legislative Council. The Governor of Cyprus does not think that in any Colony a medical or public health question would be decided without the Chief Medical Officer's advice, and does not consider that any definite regulation as to putting him on the Executive Council is advisable. The Acting Principal Medical Officer, Sierra Leone, seems to claim precedence for the Principal Medical Officer on the Executive Council after the Colonial Secretary and Senior Military Officer. The Director of Medical and Sanitary Services, Nigeria, does not think that the West African Medical Service have much to complain of in the matter of precedence, but the West African Medical Service is not as well off as other Departments in the matter of honours.

COLONIAL MEDICAL SERVICE LIST.

Paragraph 46.-The Committee recommend the establishment of a Colonial Medical Service List.

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