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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

། ༄། ། ། ། mnimnim c. 885

9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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The Reverend Father Meehan.

The Reverend J. L. Davis.

The President explained the purpose of the meeting, and invited Dr. Baldwin to state his opinion on the subject.

4

Dr. Baldwin stated that he should like to point out that hygiene as a course of lectures to be of any practical good can only be given to a community whose surroundings are such that each point may in some way have a practical applica- tion.

The main points of a course of lectures in general follow a beaten path of some eight or ten headings, as the lecturer may divide his subjects.

The only deviations are those that touch some purely local point, whether industrial, artificial, or natural.

I will give eleven headings and show how inapplicable these are to Bathurst; and where there is no application there can be no teaching, nor can a lecture be very well given at all.

All series of lectures commence :-

I. Introduction, which touches on the meaning of the word hygiene, refers to Roman aqueducts, cloacae; the Plague and Great Fire of London, and the benefits derived by that city from it.

II. The functions of the body (with reference to special organs). A lecture only suitable to medical students.

III. Personal habits, exercise, &c. Suitable as No. II.

IV.

Surroundings and Overcrowding.-Applicable to European cities.

V. Air-Its chemical composition and ventilation, of which there is a super- abundance in Bathurst.

VI. Water-No cases of illness amongst the natives here can be traced to their wells. Typhoid is almost unknown.

VII. Food-The native diet leaves nothing to be desired.

VIII. Clothing.-The same as point VII.

IX. Dwellings.-These are suitable to the climate and to the inhabitants. X. Prevention of Infection. We have no epidemic diseases in Bathurst. XI. Sewage. The disposal of sewage in Bathurst, I have been told by Professor Simpson, of the London Tropical School, could not be better. He strongly advocates the latrine pan emptied daily into a tidal river, and subject to the direct rays of a tropical sun. For these latter reasons the "latrine grounds" adjacent to every Protectorate town never cause any disease.

The Senior Medical Officer has already given all these points in his lectures, but with no beneficial result.

The only practical points that can be conveyed to the inhabitants of Bathurst

are:--

1. That they should not deposit sewage near their wells. I refer to dirty

water and urine.

2. That they should raise the level of their compounds against the inunda-

tions of the wet season.

3. And that they should use mosquito nets.

The first point cannot be very serious, as we have no disease (typhoid, &c.) traced to drinking water.

The second, they do attempt to carry out we know; and as to the third point, all but the poorest have some form of curtain or net surrounding their beds.

These three points could be impressed on the people, but I cannot see how they can be made into a course of lectures.

The Committee were of opinion that, having regard to the statement made by Dr. Baldwin, no useful result would be attained by giving hygienic lectures at the schools.

W. R. TOWNSEND,

F. A. BALDWIN.

J. MEEHAN.

T. F. NICHOLAS.

J. L. DAVIS.

36169

(No. 482.) MY LORD,

.61

No. 33.

EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE.

THE COMMISSIONER to THE EARL OF ELGIN.

(Received October 1, 1906.)

Commissioner's Office, Nairobi, August 31, 1906. I HAVE had the honour to receive Your Lordship's General despatch of August 4th, 1906,* and Mr. Lyttelton's Circular of August 26th, 1906, on the subject of the teaching of the rudiments of hygiene in the schools of tropical countries.

2. Although fully recognising the importance of this subject, education in the East Africa Protectorate is not yet sufficiently advanced to render instruction in tropical hygiene practicable or profitable. matter to the notice of the Board which I propose to appoint shortly to formulate I shall, however, not fail to bring the an educational scheme to meet the wants of the various sections of the community. Should it be considered advisable to include this branch of science among the subjects taught, I will request the Principal Medical Officer to write out a few elementary rules under such headings as personal hygiene, air and ventilation, light, food, &c., and brief descriptions of the commoner diseases of the country, with directions how to avoid them.

I have, &c.,

F. J. JACKSON, (In the absence of His Majesty's Commissioner).

36230

No. 34.

TRINIDAD.

ACTING GOVERNOR CLIFFORD to THE EARL OF ELGIN. (Received October 1, 1906.)

(No. 266.) MY LORD,

Government House, September 7, 1906. REFERRING to your Lordship's despatch, "General," of the 4th ultimo,* I have the honour to state that the instructions contained in Mr. Lyttelton's circular despatch of the 26th August, 1905,† in regard to the teaching of the rudiments of hygiene in the schools of the tropical Colonies, have been carried out, and that lectures on the subject are given by Dr. J. R. Dickson, Assistant Medical Officer of Health.

2. I may add that a pamphlet, containing notes of these lectures, has been compiled by Dr. Dickson and published, copies of which were forwarded under cover of Sir Henry Jackson's despatch, No. 318, of the 29th November last.

38181

No. 35.

I have, &c.,

HUGH CLIFFORD,

Acting Governor.

WINDWARD ISLANDS (ST. Vincent).

GOVERNOR SIR R. B. LLEWELYN to THE EARL OF ELGIN. (Received October 16, 1906.)

Grenada, September 24, 1908.

R. B. LLEWELYN,

(No. 74.)

Forwarded.

Governor.

• Not printed.

† No. 4.

45401; not printed.