Mr. CATHCART WASONasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is aware that numbers of natives have been recruited from the Luangwa, Valley, which has been declared a sleeping-sickness area, for the mines of Southern Rhodesia; if he will state what precautions are taken to prevent the spread of the disease; and if he has been made aware that the Dutch Reformed Church sent resolutions of protest to the administration of Northern Rhodesia on the subject?
Mr. HARCOURTIt is correct that recruiting has been carried out in the Luangwa Valley, which is a sleeping sickness area, and some members of the Dutch2384W Reformed Church in the Mpangwe district urged that there was danger of infection and that all movements of natives along all fly infested roads should be absolutely forbidden. The local administration has, however, pointed out that the prevention of emigration was impossible, and stated that strict supervision was kept at the Southern Rhodesian bottler; the recruits were taken from the camp to their destination by fly-free routes and employed in fly-free areas, and the probabilities of sleeping sickness being carried to the south were practically eliminated. I referred the papers to the managing committee of the Tropical Diseases Bureau, who informed me that as it was clearly impossible to prevent natives leaving Northern Rhodesia in search of employment, it was, in their opinion, advantageous that the natives and their movements should be under the supervision of the Government.