CO885-9 — Page 200

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PÈRMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

2

of such funds as may be allotted, that progress reports are made, and that such accounts and reports are submitted to the Secretary of State for circulation to the colonies, for submission to the Lords of the Treasury, and, if thought advisable hereafter, for publication, in Parliamentary Blue Books or otherwise. It would be the duty of the Board to ensure that the special needs and wishes of the con- tributing colonies are considered in allotting the money, and that the various agencies subsidized are not allowed to duplicate each other's work. In a word, the main object of the Board is to secure the co-operation of the various agencies now or likely to be in existence for the improvement of health and sanitation in the tropical colonies and protectorates, and to ensure that full value is obtained for the contributions which have been or shall be received.

6. Mr. Lyttelton proposes that the Board shall consist of two representatives of the Crown Colonies, one of whom shall be specially connected with West Africa, of a member of the Royal Society, the Medical Adviser of the Colonial Office, a London physician, and two members of the Colonial Office. Mr. Lyttelton instructs me to ask whether you would be good enough to give him the benefit of your services in the matter and become a member of the Board.* Should you be able to accept this invitation a further letter will be addressed to you, giving you the names of the other members of the Board when they have been appointed, and any additional details that may be necessary.

7. The meetings of the Board would be held at this Office at any hour which might be most convenient to non-official members, and it is anticipated that very few meetings need be held in the year, and that each meeting will not occupy any great length of time.

8. Should you wish, before answering this letter, for any personal explana- tions, I should be glad to give them when and where it may be convenient to yourself.

I am, &c.,

20390

SIR,

No. 2.

C. P. LUCAS.

"COLONIAL OFFICE, to THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

[Answered by 26080: not printed.]

Downing Street, July 12, 1904.

· [The first five paragraphs are identical with those in No.1.]

6. Mr. Lyttelton proposes that the Board shall consist of two representatives of the Crown Colonies, one of whom shall be specially connected with West Africa, of a Member of the Royal Society, the Medical Adviser of the Colonial Office, a London physician, and two members of the Colonial Office. Mr. Lyttelton would be glad if the Royal Society could select one of their members to serve on the Board, and would venture to suggest that Sir M. Foster, who has been associated from the beginning with the investigation of tropical diseases which has been carried out at the instance of this Department, and is well acquainted with the scope and aims of the present proposals, should be asked to represent the Society. Should Sir M. Foster be able to accept this invitation, a further letter will be addressed to you giving you the names of the other members of the Board when they have been appointed, and any additional details that may be necessary.†

7. The meetings of the Board would be held at this Office at any hour which might be most convenient to non-official members, and it is anticipated that very few meetings need be held in the year, and that each meeting will not occupy any great length of time.

8. As it is desirable that the Board should be constituted as soon as possible, I am to ask that a reply may be sent to this letter at your early convenience.

am, &o.,

C. P. LUCAS.

*NOTE.-All the gentlemen to whom this invitation was addressed nocepted seats on the Board. † NOTE.-The Royal Society subsequently selected Sir M. Foster as their representative.

10912

3

No. 3.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

MR. LYTTELTON to GOVERNOR SIR G. R. LE HUNTE.

[Copy to Governor, Barbados, September 3, 1904, No. 122. L.F.]

(No. 12.)

[Answered by Nɔ. 37.]

Downing Street, August 31, 1904.

SIR,

I HAVE had under my consideration your despatch, No. 10, of the 24th of February last, in which you state, with reference to Mr. Chamberlain's circular despatch of the 28th of May, 1903,† that you are advised by your Ministers that they considered that the despatch in question referred altogether to the Crown Colonies, but that if it is so desired, the State of South Australia will be willing to join the other Australian States on a population basis, and provide funds for the further investigation of tropical diseases.

2. I much appreciate this offer of assistance on the part of the State of South Australia, but before proceeding further in the matter, I think that I should do well to place before the Governments of the Australian States the following consider- ations.

3. Although the scheme for the investigation of tropical diseases referred to in Mr. Chamberlain's despatch of the 28th of May, 1903, was designed in the first instance for the benefit of the tropical Crown Colonies, I cannot but think that the Australian States will also profit by it, as tropical diseases are prevalent in British New Guinea, and in parts of the Australian Continent, and there is always risk that tropical diseases may be imported from elsewhere as in the case of the recent outbreak of plague at Sydney.

4. I am supported in this view by a despatch which I have received from the Deputy Governor of Queensland, enclosing a report by the Commissioner of Public Health on the circular despatch of the 28th of May, 1903. In this report the Com- missioner states that the Health Officer attached to his Department will shortly furnish a report respecting his recent official inquiries in regard to plague, malaria, ankylostoma, and other tropical diseases at Cairns and other northern places. It also appears from the report that a malarial form of sickness known as " Gulf fever at times exists in the more northern districts of Queensland, and I understand that malaria, dysentery and filariasis are especially prevalent in British New Guinea.

"

5. It is true that the Governor of New South Wales has stated that while his Government is deeply impressed with the importance of the scheme described in Mr. Chamberlain's despatch, the Colony has, fortunately, but little direct concern with the more important of the tropical diseases adverted to. The same remark would, no doubt, apply to the majority of the Australian States; on the other hand not only are the States, as I have mentioned above, always exposed to the risk of the introduction of tropical diseases from the outside, but I understand that, leaving out of consideration the diseases mentioned above as being prevalent only in parts of Queensland and in British New Guinea, beri-beri, dengue fever, and hydatid disease occur elsewhere in Australia. It is, therefore, possible that on further con- sideration all the States may desire to participate, to a limited extent, in the scheme under discussion.

6. In the concluding paragraph of his circular despatch of the 28th of May, 1903,† Mr. Chamberlain stated that he proposed to appoint a Board to advise the Secretary of State as to how the moneys received can at any given time be best allotted, such Board to consist of the medical adviser of the Colonial Office a repre- sentative of the Royal Society, some leading London physician, one or more represen- tatives of the Crown Colonies, and one or more members of the Colonial Office. This

• No. 51 in Miscellaneous No. 170.

19649

† [Cd. 1598], June, 1903.

A 2