Amongst the the mortality

except in certain seasons in the fever

S ere a strong and healthy race.

r ^ L r p f e v ^ s ^ n

rities for the action t a t o ? ^ Qf malarial

in sending out Natives to neii remove(i a little too

fever; hut they feel t h e y ] ^ ® eriiraent to make those health early. They appeal to the * ^ ^ at gny and all

visitors a perm^ ei i^-Dle''to serve’ and help their people, times they may be availa . es whioh have come into the

There are certain the S8tl,e medicine

land since the advent of -^em - they canno t cure them,men ere not elle to deal with »J th0 Government toThat is one of the r e w o n . ^ ^ l M d . ap_

have these heelth visi ° r a c£mtsgione disease cen be deteo

pointed permenantly - reported to European doctors and oealtted at an early stage, <nd p kinds of health helpers -with. They have a M g P « U over ^ , re rela-

they are of the datives tances*and a man or woman who is ill

tives, frienas or symptoms and get advice,could go along to them, aetaii 1 tElity in the Native areas

There is a good deal of a o r t e i i ^ ^ m?teruity oases

amongst women owing t ^he Government to have someare handled. They woula appeal (JSiey thin*; that nurses

provision made for helping ^ Qtent to deal with such c&ses Iho have heen trained a n * * mothars „nd hahlee.

coula do a good aeal of good 1 <Prpg 1914/5.J

vr M Mkize is in favour of c o m p u l s o r y education in

the reserves'for children from 6 to IE years

,r. F . Roc^eth, S u p e r i n t e n d e n t s e r v e s ^

Inspector of Native Labourers for t th sugar Prea,

the reason for the influx of ^ ^ ra£ , tion of the hoys 3Pys there is a very stringent m e d i ^ ° * a m i n ^ ^ ^

who are sent to the c gll the ^ f i t s . There is some-

venient off-loading s * medical inspection, there is no

thing very much *mJa® w f 1Q11 whereby the"Government can in­provision under Act 15 of 1 ^ mediGel examination as

aiat on a medical examination. request of the Director of

takes place only takes place M^diQ8l officer is employed

Native Labour. ®hl» he is going to try to pleaseto the recruiter, ana naturally he ' s faeJ>t0Q gtrin68nt, the

his employer, and were the Me m£n who is goingrecruiter would get rid of mm ana empx y fp ^ .R 1 9 5 S .)

to meet his needs.

■mitcn* rsmarks in a Memorandum Mr. Rodseth makes siin ^ ^ Qn r0Cord

enclosed in the file , ^ x ^ h t h i s i s or tuberculosis within a where a Native has diea of ph laxity in aedio8i

z X T i i- j r s -

z x z r x z z : " t : s " * * i n h 0 8 B l t P 1or is repatriated at the expense of t le (PageJL_of

:vTRmorandum..)

The w- w. Hallowes, Missionary of the English

famine and ne hau hsd to bury 54 natives in the three weeks he

was at the Station. (Page 1 9 6 3 .)

Stanger Sitting. 2. 10. 1930.

Mr. G. H. Hulett says tne mortality amongst adults

and children is very considerable, and the Government is very

neglectful in the matter of providing adequate ipedical attention

for the Natives in the Native Reserves. He has advocated this

for some years now - even before Union, in the Natal Government-

that in every Native Reserve there should be established, a Po­

lice Station, and pttached to that Police Station there should

be a medical man, end buildings put up - not elaborate buildings -

and there should be trained Native nurses - say one or two - so

that these Natives, especially the women, in connection with

child-birth, women’ s diseases and treatment for tuberculosis

and that kind of thing could be properly attended to. Today

they die, ana nobody knows anything about them. The mortality

is excessive amongst the Natives now, largely due to the spread

of venereal diseases, largely contracted by the men going to

the towns and coming home infected with the disease, and spread­

ing it through the locations. There is no hospital accommoda­

tion provided for them. He does not advocate very expensive

buildings, but there should be a medical man there, and he should

be alloweu private practice, and the fees should be limited, so

that they come within the capacity of the Natives to pay. He

does not advocate free treatment altogether, except in necessi­

tous cases. A man who wants treatment now from a doctor has

perhaps to travel a day’ s journey, or perhaps be oarried there,

and the doctor who attends to him wants 1 <>/-, Mr. Hulett thinks

that is the general fee . He thinks that is a greet hsruship,

and that the Government should do more for the Natives than

it does. It makes provision for the Indians and yet these

Natives in the Reserves have no treatment at a ll . It is e sad sight to see the little children suffering from syphilis

in the Native Reserves, as he has seen when travelling to and

fro through the Reserves to get to Zululand; it is a sad sight

to see these little children going to school infected with this disease; it is a terrible thing.

Dealing with the question of wages, Mr. Hulett adds

that frequently in that district tne employers give their

Natives medical attention free. (Page 1 9 8 3 /4 .)

Mr. Hulett thinks the Health Boards at Urban Locations

are doing fairly well with the powers they have.

(Page 1 9 9 6 .)

Verulam Sitting, o. 10. 1930.

Mr. R. P. Lake, Town Clerk of Verulam, says employers

provide medical attention and medicine for their Native ser­

vants. There are two local practitioners. A combined Indian

and Native Hospital is being experimented with for six months

by the Provincial Administration. The last case of infectiout

disease in Natives notified was on the 25th. March 1925, a

Native in employer’ s barracks. Typhoid fever, isolated and

treated privately. The Medical Officer of Health reports:-

Health very satisfactory. Gases coming unaer observation in

adults - bronchitis and intestinal. In children: mostly ente­

ritis , mainly due to indiscretion of parents feeding at breast

and then the use of some artificial food, which may be un­

necessary and given in dirty bottles.

Very few cases of venereal disease come under obser­

vation in the township itself.

In regord to mortality among adults and children*,

-40- the

the MO 0 . H . reports one death only recorded, a mela adult aged

60. Death due to heart failure and dilated heart. No death

during the year. (Page £062/j . )

Ur. Lake says about £1,000 had been spoken of as the

portion of the beer fund which the Board had thought of giving

towards a Hospital. The Board had applied to the Minister of

Native Affairs and there was a difficulty in that Natives from

all over the District would be provided there with hospital

accommodation. The Board was quite prepared to give the money

towards it . The hospital at that time was purely Native and

Indian, it was run by the Indian Immigration Bureau and during

the time the Provincial Administration was experimenting

with it all Indians under the control of the Bureau were sent

to Durban and not to that hospital.

Unfortunately they were not going to convert it

into a regular hospital for Indians and Natives. The pro­

vincial Administration was closing it down at the end of the

month. The Board would have liked to have seen it kept open.

It appeareu very necessary to have something of the sort there

even though it is only seventeen miles from Durbcn. Natives

from the whole of the Reserve would come in if the hospital

were run permanently, they would come in from ell round the

District.

It was quite f nice building, very airy. He does

not think it had been suggested that it shouid be used as a

training ground for nurses. (Page 2 0 6 6 /6 .)

i-ort aheustone Sitting. 7 . 10. 15 JO.

Dr. H. (x. Phibben. District Surgeon, 3sys there is

very little syphilis there. He thinks that in the last year

he had had about 27 or 28 cases, ana supposes three or four of

these were tertiaey cases. There is very little primary

syphilis about there, but there is great difficulty in getting

them to carry out the full treatment which is prescribed. They

are injected with salvsrsen, commonly known as 606 and they

think that after two injections they are quite all right again,

which of course they are not. They then stay av/ay and the

medical authorities lose touch with them. At the moment he had

not more than four cases under treatment, of whom two were

Europeans.

His practice among the Natives was chiefly as

District Surgeon, privately he does not go in for Native cases.

It is very difficult to give the proportion of these

cases to all Native cases. The number of cases is very low.

Malaria is practically unknown there, except for a

number of imported oases which had been brought down from

malaria districts through Natives on road gangs and so on, but

he has not come across any cases of malaria which had actually

occurred there. There are no anopheles there.

The general state of the health of the Natives is

very good. He points out that he is practically t newcomer,

and when he says that the health is very good there he is

taking it in relation to his experience in the East, in

Zanzibar, and he supposes there is probably 90^ more sickness

among the Natives in Zanzibar then among the local ones. They

have no jiggers, and he has not seen a single case of bilharzia.

They are practically all Zulus there, he has had sy­

philis cases in a few of the coloured races. People from Basu­

toland and that way. Among the coloured people there are al­

most more cases of syphilis in proportion than among the

sefcx&asNatives there. He has not come across any oases of

Pondos there that he knows of suffering from venereal disease,(Page 2082. )

Harding pitting. b. 10. 19J0.Llr. H. S^ngmeister. Acting Magistrate of the District,

says it is somewhat difficult to deal with the question of mor­

tality among edu.lts and children as births and depths are no

longer registered. V/ant of knowledge of the rudiments of health

and diagnosis of disease - everything, more or less, being

"bkchlano"- is the cause of many deaths. 'That practically co­

vers anything - anybold is included, chest troubles etc ., every­

thing is put down to the same thing, ana he thinks they even call

malaria the same thing. Correct treatment would undoubtedly snve

many a l i fe . Want of knowledge of hygiene, especially in esse

of epidemics, also takes its toll. Dieting is unknown to the

Native.So far as children rre concerned, it is, generally

speaking, a cr.se of the survival of the fittest: owing to want

of knowledge of prox>er treatment infant mortality is fairly

heavy. (I age 2 1 1 9 /^ 0 .)

Quite a number of female Native servants who find

their way to the villages and towns generally suffer from ve­

nereal disease. It is much advocated, and Llr. Ssngneister

agrees, that all female domestic servants, more especially

nurse-girls, should be compelled to submit themselves to a

medical examination, and if necessary of course treatment,

before being employed. The same would apply to Natives general­

ly working with fooastuffs, such as meat and milk, for instance.

(t'aECe 2 1 2 1 . )

He would not worry the gir^i with regard to undergoing

an examination until they came to apply for a situation, and he

would not extend it, he fully realises that it might affect the

labour supply. It might hf-ve s serious effect, and they would

probably not appreciate such an examination, he would not ex­

pect them to a.o so, but in time he thinks tney might appreciate

it, because the girl who is suffering from disease might avail

herself of the chance of being cured. When they see the bene­

ficial effect of such a thing, they come forward readily, and

that is what is wanted. The idea is that the master of the

household should say to the girl "you must go to my doctor."(Page 2 1 2 8 /9 .)

There is a medical examination there of Natives re­

cruited, they fre examined, llr. Sangneister does not know if

they are all examined before they go away, but he knows that they

are all examined at the other end. (Page 213.5.)

A Statement by Llr. Sangneister, incluaea in the file ,

contains the same remarks.

Llr. Li. 2, Hancock, representing the Farmers’ Vigilance

Society, ana the Agricultural Society puts in a Statement, con­

taining, inter alia , the following resolutions:-

It is recommended that the Law regarding the reporting

of deaths among the Natives be more strictly enforced, as it is

believed that many deaths occur by foul means and are not re­

ported.Tnat attention be drawn to the prevalence of con­

sumption among Natives. (Page £ 197 .)

The fvev. E . Icumalo. dealing with the treatment re­

ceived by young Natives on the farms, says that in cases of i l l ­

ness the parents h* ve to provide medicine and meaicf l aid.

(i age ZZu'j. )

Estcourt Sitting, io. 10. 1930.

r . .7. a . vi taiier. Tov-n Clerk of Estcourt, ssys he

thinks the state of the health of the Natives there is very

good. (Pape 2 3 2 8 .)

I!r . ,]. .t. Odendaal. Chairman Native Administration

Committee, says he is not practising as a Medical doctor, hut

is a dentist, but he thinks on the whole the health of the Na­

tives in that particular part is fairly good. One hears very

few complaints. He thinks the same applies to the district,

though ha does not know very much about that.

He thinks they have good teeth.

(Page d'62B . )

Ladysmith Sitting. 15. 10. 1930.

Mr. C. W. 7/right. representing the Elandslaagte Farmers’

Association, ssys in cases of sickness, he is sure every one of

tne farmers tries to help the Natives. (Page £ 459 .)

Mr. .7. K . dhun. Chief Compound Manager of the Dundee

Coal Company, ssys the health condition of the boys, generally

speaking is quite good. He fef.s not had any report in regard to

tuberculosis in his mine, ana rep>ests that generally speaking

the Natives are fairly healthy. (Page £ 466 .)

Mr. T. G. Holmes. Chief Compound Manager of the Burnside

ISo. 1 . Shaft, seriously asks the Commission to approach the pro­

per authorities with a view to having the regulations of the

Public Health Act Ho. 36 of 1919 governing venereal diseases

properly enforced. At present there is no lazaretto^in the

Dundee District, neither is there a venereal clinic for rural

natives to receive attention.

It is his experience that cases of venereal diseases

are on the increase amongst Natives, and he gives the following

figures in support, which he has compiled from his records and

those kept at the Burnside Colliery Hospital.

M A L E S : 1927. 1928. 1929. 1930

(9 moi"Syphilis" males treated. 25 40 48 36"Gonorrhea" males treated 3 13 8 15Shifts lost by abovei-

"Syphilis" 563 1294 977 1028"Gonorrhea" 51 262 82 282Average NO. Native employees 2315 2144 2256 2324Percentage detected and treated 1 . 2 1 2.47 2.48 2.19

F E M A L E S :

"Syphilis" females treated — 4 7 18"Gonorrhea" females treated — — _Average No. female residents 512 460 472 491Percentage detected and treated — .99 1.48 3.66Total cases treated (male and (9 mosfemale) 28 57 63 69

A private venereal clinic was established at the Burn­

side Colliery Jfif the then Medical Officer ouring September,

1927, since which date Native employees and their womenfolk

haa been enoouraged to present themselves for treatment at a

nominal fee of 10/- per injection, two injections being the

average required to cure a case of syphilis, and when necessary-43-

the amount is paid by the dative in instalments.14 Females received free treatment. About Zjo of the

total number of cases treated there have come forward voluntari­

ly for treatment. The majority have been detected by having sus­

pected persons medically examined.In an endeavour to detect female cases, Mr. Holmes

has three female detectives who are paid 2/ 6d. for every oase

they are responsible for bringing to light.

This system had been in force since the beginning of

the year and had borne good results. (See figures quoted.)

Previously women were only detected on questioning men who were

treated.Every Native male who is treated for this disease

there is questioned, and in 75jb of the flases they admit to

having contracted the disease from professional prostitutes

who wander from place to place, 2070 contract it from women on

adjacent farms and mines, the remaining 5;0 from their v/ives or

concubines resident at Burnside Colliery.

While the Colliery people are(doing all they can to

eradicate this disease from amongst the Native employees at

Burnsiue Colliery, they feel that they do not get sufficient

assistance from the local authorities, in fact the Police re­

fuse to prosecute Natives for concealing and spreading venereal

disease even when the cases are of obvious long standing.

On 2 0 /8 /50 . Mr. Holmes caused two Mative females,

who were badly infected with syphilis, to be taken to the Glencoe

tolice with a request to have them given medical treatment and

to the best of his knowledge they were simply warned by the

Court to return to their kraals.

On other occasions he has gone to the trouble of

charging Native female professional prostitutes with trespass,

given evidence to the effect that they admit being syphilitio

and the Court has simply cautioned and discharged, them with a

warning to return to their kraals. Having no kraals, or no

fixed abode, they simply pass along to the next town or mine

to continue spreading disease.

Mr. ryTYrrteg-r Holmes is of the opinion:-

1 . That a lszaretto is necessary in the Dundee District.

2 . That venereal clinics should be established at ell towns,

mines and villages under Regulation 66, Act 36 of 1919, with

the recognition of Government, where treatment free of charge

should be given.0. That while treatment free of oherge is necessary to en-

oourage the maximum number of voluntary patients, strong mea­

sures should be taken against persons concealing the disease,

or neglecting to have themselves cured.

At the time there were two cases of interest pending.

1 . On 2 . 10 . 30 . one of his female Native detec­

tives brought to Mr. Holmes* notice that a certain Native female,

a resiuent of an adjacent farm was visiting her mother at Burn­

siue Colliery and was syphilitic. The woman admitted that she

was syphilitic, had not been treated, and had contracted the

disease from her husband more than a month previously. He sent

her to the Glencoe Police and understood from them that they

were waiting instructions as to how to deal with her. Nine days

l&ter that woman reported to him that she had been reporting

daily to the police, and had not been treated. That case was

still pending.

2 . On 6 . 10. 30. a Native employee of Burnside

Colliery complaineu. of having some chest trouble. On having

him examined by the Mine iiiedical Officer he was found to be

syphilitic. The boy refused to stay in Hospital and also re­

fused treatment. Persuasion was of no avail, and Mr. Holmes

had no option but to have him prosecuted by the Glenooe Po­

lice . The case was to be tried by the Dundee Magistrate on

14. 10. 30.

'This evidence was given on the 15th. and the case had -44- been

been tried the previous asy, and. the boy wes fined £5. or six

months imprisonment with hard labour. After the flsse was tried

the Doctor ana Mr. Holmes interviewed the Magistrate end he

promised strongly to support any application which the Company

might make to him for free drugs in connection with this pri­

vate clinic which they have established, ana he had also pro­

mised to instruct the Glencoe police that in future all cases

of trespass should be sent to Dundee to be tried by him, as the

officer at Dunaee is very unsatisfactory. He slso mentioned

that he himself was astounded at^the number of females running

about. Mr. Holmes pointed out thet in view of the unsympa­

thetic manner in which the Mine authorities had been treated

in connection with these cases, it meant that these women were

simply chased away.

trior to 1927 the boys were treated at the hospital

but there was no clinic.The figures of ceses treatea are obtained from the

hospital ana clinic which are in one and the same plsce. The

olinic is not a separate establishment, ^fter 1927 there were

better facilities for treatment, it was put on a proper footing,

it is likely that the figures ere not so complete for 1927 as

for 1926 and 1929. Taking the total number of cases treatea -

leeving out 1927 - there were 57 in 1928, 63 in 1929, and for

the nine months of 1930 there were 69.

The women were more closely watched, previously they

were not so closely watcheu., tney were chased away, and those

chased eway are not shown in the list . (Page 2 4 6 7 /7 2 .)

Collection Number: AD1438

NATIVE ECONOMIC COMMISSION 1930-1932, Evidence and Memoranda

PUBLISHER: Collection funder:- Atlantic Philanthropies Foundation

Publisher:- Historical Papers Research Archive

Location:- Johannesburg

©2013

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