Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: British West Indian Conference on Quarantine, 1888. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
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![with the Ordinance until we get the copies from the printer, and if it is agreeable to members we might spend the time by going into the resolutions, notice of which has been given, and I think that in oi'der to save time in dealing with the resolutions we will take them in the order in which they are upon the minutes, and adhere more strictly to the rules of debate in dealing with the resolutions, that is, the mover will move and members speaking on it shall only be allowed the right to speak once, the mover to have the right of reply. In that way we shall shorten the time. I propose we should not deal with any more of the terms until we get the Ordinance. Mr. low : There is one clause I wish to add to the Ordinance, to throw the onus of proof on the defendant in any case. The PEESIDENT : If you will take a note of that, and submit a draft of the section, we may then consider its being added to the Ordinance. The first resolution of which notice is given is that by Mr. Berkeley, with reference to the abolition of fees, under the Ordinance. Mr. BERKELEY: I have not drafted it yet, Mr. President, therefore I am not quite prepared at the present moment ; but I shall move it later on. The president : Every resolution should be put in writing. The next of which we had notice is by Capt. Maling. Capt. MALING: I ask leave to move the following resolution, of which I gave notice at a former meeting :— [See Minutes, Fifth Sitting, Page 73.] Dr. Q-RIEVE : I am going to second it. I think it of very great importance that we should at the earliest possi- ble moment receive the information re- ferred to in this resolution. It does not pledge us to take any action. I was going on further, but as I do not wish to move an amendment I should like to have the sense of the Conference whether it would not be advisable to form among the British West Indies some general system of inter-communica- tion on the health of the colonies. This provides for the information of the breaking out of infectious diseases— which I presume are those defined in the Ordinance—being forwarded from one colony to another. I should like to see it further extended by the establishment of some method, whereby each colony should receive information say once a month from all the other colonies as to the general health of the communities. I formally second the resolution, at the same time asking the members of the Conference to be so kind as to express their opinion on the suggestion now made; and if the sense of the Confer- ence is in my favour I shall draw up a separate resolution on the point. Dr. crane : I move to amend by inserting after existence of disease, the words and particulars of such disease. The fact of existence is scarcely sufficient information. Mr. SANDERSON: The mere fact of existence would not be sufficient for a colony to act upon. We want some- thing more, to know whether it was spreading, whether it was a bad epidemic, or simply one case. The president : I think you must take the two words *' existence and breaking out. Capt. MALING: I suggest that the information shall be forthwith forwarded by telegram. I don't think other particulars as suggested by the repre- sentative from Trinidad could well be conveyed in the first information. If the existence be telegraphed the first following opportunity you might have the particulars. I think there would be ample time indeed to deal with all the matters. After the fact of the prevalance of the disease in such a colony, steps might easily be taken to guard against arrivals from such a port. This is the main thing to be considered. Particulars, I think, might well come afterwards by the first opportunity. It would be a lengthy matter to deal with in a telegram. Mr. SANDERSON : The only objec- tion I see is this : Supposing one colony, as we had the other day—we had an outbreak of yellow fever in one house supposing they telegraphed to you, one thing or the other, you would not know](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21297678_0191.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
