into play I 'do not believe. I do not believe that you will ever 

 keep a large population of white married men with their wives 

 and families engaged in tropical agriculture in any part of the 

 world, even in Queensland. But that is, of course, a matter 

 of personal opinion, which I may be pardoned for expressing. 

 It is only necessary for me to say with regard to the health 

 problems there that we have never had any difficulty or any 

 outbreak of disease. Australia is a very healthy place, even in 

 the tropics, and although all our sugar factories there are 

 almost on the sea level, and in districts which have a high 

 rainfall and are wooded, we have had no outbreak of disease 

 and a very small death-rate, because only extremely healthy 

 men can take up the work. I think there is nothing I need 

 say further about Queensland. In Fiji, on the other hand, 

 although the islands are in the same latitude as the districts 

 in Queensland where we work, we have had somewhat different 

 problems. In the first place, the whole of the field labour is 

 supplied by labourers imported from India, and we have to 

 care for their wives and children as well as for themselves. In 

 speaking of our care for them, I should first state that the 

 whole of the Government regulations are very stringent in 

 regard to the housing and feeding of the people, so far as the 

 feeding devolves upon the employers; and the arrangements 

 made, I think, are exceedingly good and effective. I only 

 regret that there is not somebody here to-day connected with 

 the medical service of Fiji, who could tell you what is done. 

 But on the whole our thirty years' experience in Fiji with this 

 labour question has been satisfactory from the point of view 

 of health. There also we have no malaria. Another im- 

 portant factor is that the wages paid in Fiji exceed very con- 

 siderably those which have been stated by Mr. Evans for the 

 Malay States. 



Dr. FERNANDO (Ceylon) : Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen I 

 should like to make a few remarks in connection with this 

 subject from the experience I have gained in Ceylon. I quite 

 agree with Dr. Sansom and Mr. Evans as to the importance of 

 preventive measures connected with tropical diseases in order 

 to secure an improvement of the efficiency of the labour supply 

 on tropical estates. As regards Ceylon, we have practically 

 three important diseases to contend with, namely, dysentery, 

 ankylostomiasis, and malaria. Fortunately for us, both cholera 

 and small-pox are efficiently dealt with by the ordinary measures 

 of quarantine and vaccination. As regards dysentery and 

 ankylostomiasis, general measures of water supply, sanitation, 

 and so on will diminish these diseases very rapidly, but as 

 regards ankylostomiasis I should like to say that, apart from 

 clean water supply and sanitation of estates, we find it 



