CO885-9 — Page 203

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

| ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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No better centre for such an establishment could be found than the London School of Tropical Medicine. Almost 100 qualified men pass through it every year; many of them would be attracted to these special studies, and any or all of them could send material or information from different parts of the tropical world.

To send out men on expeditions for the study of various diseases is in any instances, to provide these men with an opportunity of educating themselves and acquiring experience which will probably become of value only when the expedition comes to a close. Persistent and sustained effort are necessary to qualify a man adequately as an investigator, and to employ anyone other than a thoroughly qualified man is, in many cases, to fritter away money which, applied in the way I suggest, would in time yield good value in man and results to the Empire.

MINUTES OF Meeting.

น

PRESENT:

Sir J. WEST RIDGEWAY (Chairman).

Sir M. FOSTER.

Sir T. BARLOW.

Sir P. MANBON.

Sir R. MOOR.

Mr. C. P. Lucas.

P. MANSUN.

Mr. T. W. HOLDERNESS.

Mr. H. J. READ.

Mr. Holderness stated that he only attended this meeting as a member pro- visionally, as the consent of the Secretary of State for India in Council had not yet been obtained.

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1. It was decided that the fund should be called The Tropical Disease Research Fund," and that the Committee should be called "The Advisory Board for the Tropical Disease Research Fund."

2. It was recognised that the fund would be devoted to other purposes besides research (e.g., education), but research was admitted to be the chief object- Mr. Holderness pointing out that the Indian contribution was promised for research -and the name adopted was chosen as the most convenient.

3. It was decided to hold two ordinary meetings every year, one in November, at which the funds for the ensuing calendar year would usually be allotted, and one in June; and that special meetings might be called by the Colonial Office members, with the approval of the chairman.

4. An explanation was given as to the funds already available or promised from various sources. They are shown in the following statement:-

Eource.

Imperial Government

India

Various Colonies

Malaris Commission Fund

Total

---

Annual for Ave Annual for three

Lump sums.

years.

years.

£

£

£

500

500

1,500 (a)

2,500

।। ૐ

100 (b)

347 (c)

180 (d)

527

100

(a) Gold Coast and Southern Nigeria, 4200 each; Lagos, 150; Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States, Hong Kong, Trinidad, Mauritius, Fiji, Sierra Leone, Gambia, 4100 each; Grenada, 450.

(b) British Guiana, £50.

(o) Basutoland, 4100; British Honduras, Orange River Colony, Malta, 450 each; Seychelles, 447; St. Kitts and Dominion, 835 mah. Some of these contributions may be renewed.

(d) Balance of funds of Malaria Commission (approximate).

5. It was agreed that all grants from the fund, even if of a recurrent character, should be voted year by year; that the continuation of annual grants should be subject to the Board's being satisfied with the manner in which the grant for the current year had been spent and approving of the purposes to which thats for the emuing year was to be devoted; and that some part of the annual income of the fund should be reserved for grants for special purposes, such as research expeditions.

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School.

6. It was decided, subject to the approval of the Secretary of State, to offer Liverpool to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine a grant of £500 a year for five years, the money to be spent on some definite and specific object approved by the Board, and the grant to be continued year by year, subject to the conditions stated in the previous paragraph, and to ask them to state how they would propose to spend the money.

7. In justification of the grant of different amounts to the London and Liverpool Schools, it was pointed out that the Government stood in different positions with regard to the two schools, and that the Liverpool School had fewer students than the London School, and already possessed a permanent endowment of one professorship.

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8. The proposal to grant £1,000 a year for five years to the London School on London the same conditions was discussed.

9. Sir P. Manson explained that he would propose to spend this grant as in the scheme described in the agenda paper, on the addition to the establishment of the School of two teachers and investigators for protozoology and helminthology respectively.

10. Sir M. Foster attached primary importance to protozoology, and suggested that the arrangements for this subject should be placed on a broader basis, and that, while £500 a year should be placed at the disposal of the London School on the same conditions as the grant to the Liverpool School, the remaining £500 a year should be offered to the University of London for the maintenance of a professor of protozoology in connexion with the London School, who would devote the greater part of his time to research, but would work and give lectures at the School. He pointed out that this scheme would remove any objections that might be made to the grant of a larger sum to the London than the Liverpool School.

11. Sir T. Barlow supported Sir M. Foster's suggestions.

He

12. Mr. Lucas explained that the Colonial Office attached much importance to the affiliation of the London School, immediate or eventual, to the University of London; and it was agreed that endeavours should be made to bring this about.

13. Sir M. Foster thought it quite possible that a professor of protozoology, already fully trained to teach the subject so far as it is known at present, and capable of carrying on research, could be obtained at once for a salary of between £500 and £750 a year. Sir P. Manson was doubtful about this point, and thought that it would be preferable to train a professor as explained in his scheme. also objected to Sir M. Foster's proposal that the payment of so large a salary as £500 or more to a professor working at the School night create discontent among the present teaching staff, who receive smaller and in some cases merely nominal salaries; and that the conditions imposed by the University in connexion with the professorship would probably involve his appointment being vested in the University, would remove the control over him from the authorities of the School to such an extent as to be detrimental to discipline and teaching at the School, and would perhaps be inconsistent with the constitution of the Seamen's Hospital Society, or otherwise unacceptable to the Society.

14. The question was considered which of the alternative proposals would be more effective in bringing about the affiliation of the School to the University. On the one hand it was argued that the establishment of a University professorship would naturally lead in due course to affiliation; and, on the other, that the University might be more likely to accept affiliation if, after two professorships were first endowed and established in working order independently, they were asked to take the school over as a "going concern." It was recognised as a difficulty in either case, that no permanent endowment could be guaranteed from the fund, for which no income was at present certain after five years,

15. It was finally agreed that further consideration of the matter should be postponed till the next meeting, and that meanwhile the chairman should see Sir A. Rücker, in order to ascertain the probable views of the University, and a letter should be written to the London School, in terms to be prepared by Mr. Lucas and Mr. Read, offering them £500 a year on similar conditions to those attaching to the grant to the Liverpool School, and explaining generally the views of the Board as regards the remaining £500.

16. Sir P. Manson asked that, pending the decision of the matter, authority might be given to the London School at once to spend a sum not exceeding £250 in

19649

B

School.

II.

III.