§ 43. Mr. Sorensenasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the recently published report of the Gold Coast Medical Department for 1936 in which the senior medical officer in the western provinces describes the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis in the mining area as abnormally high and likely to assume the gravest importance in the near future; what steps are being taken to deal with this question; and whether the committee which this officer suggests has yet been convened to consider the necessity of a complete investigation?
Mr. M. MacDonaldThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. A new hospital equipped with high power X-ray apparatus has been built at Tarkwa, and two officers of the Medical Department, who are working in close collaboration with the mines medical officers, have been posted to Tarkwa in order to conduct an investigation into the incidence of tuberculosis and silicosis.
§ Mr. SorensenCan the right hon. Gentleman answer the latter part of the question?
Mr. MacDonaldThe latter part of the question is with regard to a committee which would inquire into the necessity of a complete investigation. My answer indicates that this investigation is now taking place, so that the question of a committee does not arise.
§ Mr. MacquistenIt there any compensation in the case of miners who die, as there is in Johannesburg?