MISSION TO SAMOA

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 17, 21 January 1924, Page 6

MISSION TO SAMOA

NEW ZEALAND'S MORAL OBLIGATION. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.} LONDON, 29th November. The British Medical Journal give; special prominence to the news of the departure of Dr. P. A. Buxton and Mr. G. W. Hopkins for Samoa, where they are to inaugurate preventive measures against the prevalent filarial diseases, on" behalf of the London School pi Tropical Medicine. The expedition has gone out at the suggestion of the High Commissioner for New Zealand. Much of the scientific data must' necessarily form the basis of the sanitary campaign about to be instituted has, it is pointed out, already been collected by an expedition from the Tropical School which visited this region in 1921-22. It was shown that of the six species of mosquitoes in Samoa Stegomyia pseudoscutellaris was the efficient carrier, and occurred everywhere and at ail seasons. Its chief breeding places are provided by mail in the heaps of coconut husks, which accumulate from the making of copra, but the burrowings o{ the rhinoceros beetle and crevices left by Nature in the palms have also been implicated. According to present arrangements the mission will remain in Samoa for two years, but the chronic nature of filarial infection will necessitate the maintenance of the sanitary control in the experimental area for "many more years before its influence or success is obvious.

"It is to be hoped." adds the British Medical Journal, "that the New Zealand Government realises th 6 moral obligation it is assuming, and is prepared to ensure that the public-spirited initiative of the London School of Tropical Medicinei in undertaking the experiment is not afterwards rendered futile. 'Hie mission is being financed from the -\lilner Research Fund, which is intended for _ the promotion of original investigations, and not to subsidise or replace local efforts in sanitation."

"Nature," too, draws attention to the work of the expedition, and it is noted that an investigation of all biting insects will be made, and the party is equipped to study the problems of ventilation and temperature in various types of house. An effort will be made to collect insects in general, even f.hose of no economic importance, because it is presumed that a peculiar fauna still exists in the virgin forests which cover the .centres of tho islands, ami simt, this fauna is in danger of beine exu-r----minated by enemies introduced fr.iii other islands.