§ Mr. NEWBOULDasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can give statistics showing the death and invaliding rates of European officers in Nigeria for the years 1919 and 1920; whether they show an increase on previous years; and, if so, whether the increase is due to the after-effects of 319W extended tours and the consequent lowering of vitality?
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYThe figures for 1920 are not yet available. Those for 1919, which were contained in the paper laid before Parliament as Cmd. 920, are; death rate 12.1 per 1,000, invaliding rate 30.0 per 1,000. The former figure compares favourably with those of previous years, the latter shows a slight increase, due no doubt to the extra strain caused by the War, and its consequences including depletion of staff and continuous overwork, in some cases unduly extended tours in unhealthy districts, and in many others the after-effects of the torpedoing of the West African mail boats, which adversely affected the health of a number of officers.
§ Mr. NEWB0ULDasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, in view of the fact that the higher death and invaliding rates of European officers in Nigeria for the year 1918 were due to extended tours consequent upon the depletion of staff, he will see that the recommendations contained in the Report of the Committee appointed by the Secretary of State that the period of tours should be extended to between 18 and 24 months, or even longer in some districts, be not acted upon until the health and residential, conditions have been further materially improved?
§ Lieut.-Colonel AMERYThe increase in the death rate was entirely, and that in the invaliding rate principally, due, not to extended tours, but to the influenza pandemic which reached West Africa towards the end of 1918. The question of the length of tour, between 12 and 24 months, which each individual officer is required to serve is left to the discretion of the Governor, who in accordance with the regulations on the subject has to take into account, not only the necessities of the service, but also the character of the station or stations at which the officer has been serving, and his previous medical history, and who will, I am confident, not require any officer to serve a tour so long as to be prejudicial to his health.