E.— GEOGRAPHY. 125 



ment in the scale of civilisation of the peoples for whom we have become 

 trustees. It is now generally accepted that throughout Tropical Africa 

 we are in the position of trustees. In the words of Article 22 of the 

 Covenant of the League, we are entrusted with the guidance of ' peoples 

 not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the 

 modern world.' 



The field of work covered by the phrase ' public health ' is a gigantic 

 one, especially in Tropical Africa. In addition to certain disi. ases peculiar 

 to the tropics, we find practically all the diseases common to temperate 

 climates. Some of the latter appear to have been introduced as a result 

 of European contact, and with regard to these it sometimes happens that, 

 being new, there is no acquired resistance on the part of the populations 

 affected. As an instance, I was told iu my recent tour in West Africa 

 that an African who gets tuberculosis rarely, if ever, recovers. 



The special tropical diseases, such as malaria, sleeping-sickness, and 

 the like, aj^pear in both endemic and epidemic forms. It sometimes 

 happens that an infectious disease will suddenly flare up and spread in 

 tropical conditions with terrible results. The task of combating these 

 epidemics is a gigantic one, and the field for research as well as treatment 

 and cure is still large. I cannot overestimate the importance or value 

 of research workers of all kinds in Africa. 



I include in this field and in the field of ' public health ' the animal as 

 well as human diseases. The scourges of rinderpest, pleuro-pneumonia, 

 east-coast fever, red- water fever and trypanosomiasis require the services 

 of an increasing number of veterinary research officers and veterinary 

 staff throughout Tropical Africa. 



We have been, so far, able to do little in the way of developing the 

 immense potential resources of Tropical Africa in animal foods. I am 

 told there are something like 6,000,000 head of cattle within 200 miles 

 of the Uganda railway system, but at present there is no export of meat, 

 and the first small shipment of East African butter reached England this 

 summer. 



In Northern Nigeria there are approximately 3,000,000 cattle cut oflE 

 from the coast by a wide belt of tsetse-ridden country. 



The development of animal husbandry is still in its infancy, as it is 

 only in the European highlands of East Africa and among a few natives 

 in Uganda and Tanganyika that the plough has been introduced. Else- 

 where the land is cultivated by means of exclusively human labour with 

 the hoe. 



Finally there is transport. In many parts of Africa the principal 

 means of transportiug produce is still the human carrier. The human 

 carrier is the most expensive and wasteful form of transport, as each 

 individual is limited to an average load of approximately 60 lb., with a 

 speed of 15 to 18 miles a day. 



During my recent tour in West Africa I was at great pains to collect 

 some figures regarding the comparative costs of different forms of transport. 

 In the populous cotton-growing area round Zaria in Northern Nigeria 

 head transport costs from 2s. 6c^. to 3s. Qd. per ton-mile, motor transport 

 Is. per ton-mile, and animal transport 9d. per ton-mile, but the railway 

 is carrying cotton and groundnuts at approximately l^d. per ton-mile. 



