§ Mr. COOPER (Southwark, Bermondsey)To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether any scientific inquiry is being made by the Board into the cause of beri-beri; and if not, whether he will consider the advisability of making a grant either to the Royal Society or the School of Tropical Medicine, to be expended in experimental research to discover specific organism or toxin causing this disease.
(Answered by Mr. Kearley.) The Board of Trade have been in communication with the Royal College of Physicians on the subject of beri-beri on board merchant ships, and the matter is now before a special committee of Fellows of the College. On receipt of the Committee's Report the Board of Trade will consider whether any and, if so, what further steps should be taken.
§ Mr. COOPERTo ask the President of the Board of Trade whether, as deficiency of nitrogenous food, overcrowding, and defective sanitation are conditions which, if combined, have been found favourable to the development of beri-beri, he will consider the advisability, when directing inquiries into the deaths, from this disease of Chinese or Indian lascars on British ships, that these conditions shall be reported upon as well as; the adequacy and cost of the food-supplied daily.
(Answered by Mr. Kearley.) Yes, Sir The suggestion made in my hon. friend's Question shall be borne in mind.