Some Preventable Diseases of British Guiana. 143 
cleared of grass and weeds, and also the banks well-weeded. As often as not 
this appears to be attended to only when the Medical Inspector is expected on 
one of his half-yearly visits. Next to drainage comes the clearing of bush, ete. 
around the dwellings. Here again one is met with an extraordinary amount of 
opposition. There is no difficulty in the way of expense, and the authorities 
have it entirely in their power to make the labourers themselves attend to this 
detail. 
The total abolition of all barrels, and such like receptacles, or the insistence 
on their being thoroughly screened, is also mere child’s play. Asa matter of fact, 
I believe that most estates have now effectively dealt with this evil. 
With regard to mechanical means such as protecting the numerous dwellings 
with wire-gauze, I fully admit a difficulty steps im. The expense would be con- 
siderable, and there would be a need of continual repairs to be carried out. 
Certainly, however, the quarters of overseers on estates could be efficiently 
sereened. And surely the staff of overseers is well worth an extra amount of 
expenditure, that is if it is considered worth while looking after their health. 
Another matter quite easy of accomplishment, would be the establishment of 
Mosquito Brigades. A creole gang with the dispenser of the estate, and driver 
in charge, should make a weekly tour of all the yards, and see that no tins, 
calabashes, etc., are left about, and that any barrels there may be are kept efti- 
ciently screened. I am of opinion that sucha gang could do an enormous 
amount of good anti-malarial work, and every estate could well afford the up- 
keep of such a gang. 
I am aware that a great deal is being done by some estates in the Colony 
but I am also painfully aware that there are others which if they take up such 
matters at all, do so only in a very half-hearted manner. In fact so far as | am 
able to judge at present, half-hearted measures appear likely to mar the success 
of anti-malarial methods in British Guiana ! 
VILLAGES :—With a very few exceptions, next to nothing is being done in 
any of the Villages with regard to anti-malarial measures. People seem to have 
made up their minds that to attempt a serious campaign against mosquitos in 
British Guiana is but a fool’s dream ! No one would be foolhardy enough to say 
that he could exterminate all the mosquitos in British Guiana. But I maintain 
that the cost of a malarial campaign in this colony would be nothing like the 
amount of that incurred in certain other countries. With the exception of the 
towns of Georgetown and New Amsterdam the population in British Guiana is 
very scattered, many of the villages indeed consisting of a few houses only, in 
single rows on either side of the public roads. An anti-malarial campaign, there- 
fore, would be confined to Estates, which I maintain could do a very great 
deal more than has yet been attempted, and the Villages which would require 
but a comparatively little outlay. 
Let me again quote Dr. Malcolm Watson with regard to rural communities :— 
“In the case of many small villages, it would probably be possible to eradicate 
