§ Dr. Summerskillasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many people suffer from leprosy in the Colonies; and what proportion are treated in leper settlements.
§ Colonel StanleyThe statistics requested in the first part of the Question are not available, but it is known that in those Colonial territories where the disease has the largest incidence only a small proportion of the sufferers are in settlements. The policy generally followed is one of voluntary as opposed to compulsory segregation, and it is encouraging that in certain territories a stage has now been reached when considerable numbers are being discharged annually from such settlements, with the progress of the disease arrested, and returned to their villages, under observation.