58 
REPORT OF THE MALARIA EXPEDITION. 
ordered tor the use of the surgeons in the Colonial service. A laboratory for research is also being built, 
and cannot fail to do good work. In the hinterland, too, facilities for microscopical investigation are being 
provided. 
There remains the water supply of Lagos to be mentioned. The absence of a proper water supply, 
as in Accra, must necessarily bear its share of responsibility for much of the unhealthiness that obtains. In 
Lagos, again, the people are dependent on the rainfiill alone for their supply of water. 
The rainfall in Lagos amounts on an average to 70 inches per annum, and must be stored in tanks 
for use during long periods. The risk of contamination is great, and until lately no great effort was made 
to keep the tanks in good order. Recently, in consequence of the recommendations of the C.M.O., a 
better state of things has been inaugurated, and ever}- effort is now being made to keep the tanks clean and 
free from vegetable growth and mosquito larvae. Public latrines are provided by the Government. Some 
arc open to the lagoons ; others, the most sanitar}' I think, are earth latrines; and it would be well if more 
of the latter were provided, and those open to the lagoons closed. 
I should have mentioned that there are in places shallow surface wells from which the natives obtain 
most of their water : into many of them tlie sub-soil water drains, and their use can only be viewed with 
suspicion. 
The hinterland is in many parts healthy, man)' districts affording high lands and good water, where 
white men could live in perfect securit)". It was suggested by the late governor, Sir William Macallum, 
that the seat of government should be removed some twelve miles up the railway from Abutemetta. This 
should present no insuperable difficulties, and would be an untold benefit to the Government officials, who 
form at present a large proportion of the white population of Lagos. 
