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well as for the execution of the other duties falling in the province of a Health 
Board. Such an official is wanted for the effective and sympathetic execution 
of those measures which science has proved to be most efficacious in dealing 
with tropical sanitation. An official out of touch with this form of sanitation, 
and who, from his past training, does not realise the significance of modern 
methods, is useless. I would recommend that this officer have the charge of 
Assistant Inspectors, scavengers, and the appliances necessary for carrying out 
the Health Ordinances, subject to the authority of the Board. He should 
be appointed by the Governor. I do not think that it would be necessary, 
if such an officer as mentioned above were appointed, that there should also 
be. a Medical Officer of Health as a part of the executive machinery of the 
Local Board. The experience of the past shows that the failure to keep out 
yellow fever and to stamp out malaria is due to want of sufficient trained 
executive. If the principal medical officer of the Colony as well as one or 
more of the local medical men are on the Local Board they are sufficient to 
advise on the sanitary policy of the Board, without going to the expense of 
securing the services of another medical expert adviser directly under their 
control. The Local Board has in the past been the machinery through which 
the Central Board has operated, and as such it has gained considerable ex- 
perience, and the lay members of the Board have been encouraged to take 
an active part in the administration of the city ; if it is not strengthened 
then the sanitary execution must be taken over by the Central Board, who 
would appoint and direct their own officers. 
A good sanitary engineer or surveyor, if left entirely to his work and 
not taken off by clerical duties, would get the maximum of work out of his 
workmen, and would thus save the Board. I am convinced that it is very 
false economy to oblige a practical outdoor sanitary engineer to do clerical 
work ; it is exceedingly rare to find a man of this class gifted in both 
directions. The District Board possesses a clerical staff and good premises, this 
staff should do all the clerical work necessary. 
Sanitation of the Colony . — This rests with the Central Board. Their 
duty is to obtain the maximum of efficiency from the various Health Boards 
throughout the Colony, and to guard the coast and frontiers from the invasion 
of disease. The executive officer for this supreme Board should be the 
principal medical officer. 
Quarantine can with advantage be administered either by special quarantine 
boards appointed (see chapter on quarantine), or by the Local Boards of Health, 
in conjunction with the District Medical Officer, who would make the inspections 
and who would issue a certificate of Health before the Bill of Health was made 
out. The quarantine at Belize is under the direct charge of the Quarantine 
Board, its executive medical officer might be the principal medical officer. 
With regard to the large local hospital, asylum and prison, and the 
medical work entailed by them, I am of opinion that the present very 
excellent hospital and asylum are essentially local institutions, that is, that 
they have no share in guarding the Colony from the entrance of disease or 
in preventing the spread of infectious diseases, all of which are of vital 
importance to the whole Colony. Apart from the salaries of the medical 
officers — viz., the Colonial Surgeon and Assistant Colonial Surgeon, they 
