CO885-9 — Page 72

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

21565

SIR,

62

No. 110.

MALTA.

THE ROYAL SOCIETY to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received June 18, 1904.)

[Answered by No. 115.]

Burlington House, London, W., June 17, 1904.

I HAVE to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th instant* (19824/ 1904) on the subject of the conduct of the financial arrangements in the investigation of the Malta fever, and I am directed to express the satisfaction of the Royal Society with these arrangements as detailed in your letter of the 13th instant to the War Office and the Admiralty.

I have also to enclose a copy of a letter from the Royal Society to the Treasury in reference to a proposal that the Society should undertake the cost of the scientific equipment of the investigation. It would be desirable that applications for instru- ments, materials or other scientific equipment should be approved by the Chairman of the Commission of Enquiry into Miltà Fever, Colonel Bruce, before any disburse- ments are made in regard to them.

SIR,

I am, &c.,

ARCH, GEIKIE,

Secretary, Royal Society.

Enclosure in No. 110.

The Royal Society,

Burlington House, London, W., June 16, 1904. THE President and Council have this day had under their consideration a pro- posal made to the officers of the Society by Mr. Chalmers of the Treasury at a Con- ference held here on the 15th instant. He stated that in the investigation of the Malta fever which the Royal Society has undertaken to conduct on behalf of the Colonial Office, the Admiralty, and the War Office, the personal expenses of the investigators will be defrayed by the Government, but he submitted that it would be of service to the Treasury if the Royal Society would mark its sense of the importance of the enquiry by undertaking a small part of the financial expenditure required in the research, and he suggested that the Society might be willing to defray the cost of the scientific equipment.

རྐ

I am directed to transmit to you the following resolution which the President and Council have adopted in regard to this proposal:-

+

Resolved that in regard to this particular research the expenses of scientific equipment (such as instruments and materials) be defrayed out of the Reserve Fund of the Government Grant to an amount not exceeding £200,"

The Secretary to His Majesty's Treasury. Downing Street, S.W.

I am, &c.,

ARCH. GEIKIE.

Secretary, Royal Society.

63

Colonial Government, being desirous of diminishing the sickness and mortality which are caused by Mediterranean fever among His Majesty's forces at Malta and the civil population of the island, have approached the Royal Society with a view to obtaining a thorough investigation of the disease by competent experts.

2. The Royal Society has been good enough to undertake this onerous and difficult task and has shown its sense of the importance of the inquiry by agreeing that the expenses of the scientific equipment (such as instruments and materials) required for the research shall be defrayed out of the Reserve Fund of its Government Grant to an amount not exceeding £200.

In

3. The investigations on the spot will be conducted by a Joint Commission, consisting of Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce, R.A.M.C., F.R.S., Director of research; Major W. H. Horrocks, R.A.M.C., who has been lent by the Sanitary Commissioners of Gibraltar, and will represent the Army; Staff Surgeon E. A. Shaw, M.B., repre- senting the Navy; and Dr. Zammit, representing the Colonial Government. addition to these officers it is proposed to appoint an experienced observer from the Medical Department of the Local Government Board for the purpose of carrying out the necessary epidemiological work, and it is understood that the Board have been in communication with their Lordships on the subject.

4. The work of the Local Commission will be supervised and directed in this country by the Tropical Diseases Committee of the Royal Society.

5. The additional expenditure which will be thrown on Army and Navy funds by the inquiry will require their Lordships' sanction, and, as it will be seen from the correspondence, of which a copy is enclosed, that it is desired that the financial arrangements should be made by this Department, I am to ask whether their Lord- ships approve of one-third of the net cost of the investigation being charged to Army and Navy funds, respectively. By "net cost" is meant the balance left after deducting from the total expenditure the contribution of the Royal Society and the salaries and allowances which would have been payable to the Military, Naval, and Colonial Officers in the ordinary course from Army, Navy, and Colonial funds, if no inquiry had been undertaken.

6. If their Lordships approve of one-third of the additional expenditure, which should be of moderate amount, being charged to Army and Navy funds, respectively, Mr. Lyttelton would suggest that this Department should be charged with the re- sponsibility of criticising, if necessary, the details, and that the War Office and Admiralty should be authorized to meet the claims presented to them by the Colonial Office without further question.

SCHEDULE OF. ENCLOSURES.*

War Office.

January 2.

Colonial Office to- Admiralty.

3. Admiralty. January 20.

5. Admiralty. April 5.

7. Admiralty. June 17.

2.

War Office. January 11.

4.

War Office. March 29.

6.

War Office.

June 15.

I am, &c.,

H. BERTRAM COX.

21451

No. 112.

FIJI.

Reference :-

885

9PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

SIR,

COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY.

[Answered by No. 114.]

Downing Street, June 21, 1904. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton to state, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, that the Admiralty, the War Office, and the

• No. 105

† No. 104.

(No. 49:)

SIR.

MR. LYTTELTON to ACTING-GOVERNOR MAJOR.

Downing Street, June 24, 1904.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 39, of the 22nd April,† reporting that the Legislative Council of Fiji have unanimously voted

the sum of £100 for five years towards the expenses of the investigation and preven tion of malaria and other tropical diseases.

Nos. 1, 2, 3, 56, 60, 107, and 109.

† No. 83.

21517

No. 111.

MALTA.