Magyar László szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 174-177. (Budapest, 2001)

TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - Máthé-Shires László: Who Lives Where? British Anti-Malaria Policy in Southern-Nigeria (1899-1912)

viewed Egerton'

s policy was only mirrored by the very different policy of William MacGregor just two years before. The Eastern Province saw some recent segregation measures were introduced in the townships of Calabar as soon as 1911. Here some native houses were already pulled down close to the governor's house on Governor Hill by this time.

46 Following the departure of Strachan, some administrative changes took place in the colony's medical service in 1912 which removed the medical personnel probably of African origin

47 from the formerly Lagos administration.

48 Governor Egerton certainly had different ideas about colonial anti-malaria policy as late as 1911 when he questioned the use of free distribution of quinine for African children.

49 The same altered tone already appeared in the 1911 AMR when it stated that 'segregation is reaping its fruits', referring to the European health statistic of the south-eastern region.

50 This view clearly reflected the opinion of Simpson who highlighted the European dwellings at Calabar in his 1908 report. The public health legislation of the amalgamated southern colony which was providing basis for plans and executive actions in town-planning and actually segregation, was based on the 'European Residency Proclamation' of 1902. This legislative act was still a reminder of the Company rule period although the Niger Coast Protectorate was at least in its name controlled by the CO after the Royal Niger Company was seized to the Crown in 1899. This legislative act provided the basis for sanitary measures similar to the Northern Nigerian and the Gold Coast examples, including the expropriation of land for European homes and strict interference based sanitary principles. It was however not applied to any former Lagos territory until 1912 when the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria was initiated. In 1912 Frederick Lugard returned to Nigeria to initiate the amalgamation of the southern and the northern parts of the country. He most certainly had a definite opinion on segregation and its adaptability in malaria policies. He favoured its application, and acted accoxdingly between 1912 and 1914 to the extent that even surprised sometime the Colonial Office. A comparison between the malaria policy of MacGregor's Lagos and that of the Southern Nigerian Protectorate under the Moor and later, under the Egerton governorship points towards some interesting results. In Lagos there existed a definite and firm idea initiated and coordinated by William MacGregor that would have extended the use of anti-malaria operations to the whole population regardless of their ethnic and racial oxigin. The lectures and the drainage altogether suggest a care for the African population, following the recsegregation and the opposition it received from Africans, Gale re-directs the attention to the link between the development of Lagosian nationalism and the role this episode played in it. This link is first established by James Coleman in his Nigeria: Background to Nationalism. London, 1958, 451., quoted by Gale, Ibid. 46 Egerton to CO, 27

th January 1908, CO 520/58. William Simpson in his Plague report indicated Calabar as a place where European housing is well-developed and the governor's residency is in a proper surrounding. See PP 1909 LXI [Cd.4718] Report by Professor W.J. Simpson on sanitary Matters in various West African Colonies and the Outbreak of Plague in the Gold Coast. The attached photographs draw a parallel between the Oil River residencies and the Calabar residency. Calabar was the capital of the Eastern province. The house today serves as a museum on a hill, standing on its own. 47 CO 592/ 13 Annual Medical Report 1991. Based on the names (Abayomi, Aidoo, Eyo), it is a probability although the WAMS did not accept anyone who was not of European origin at this. 48 Ibid. 49 Egerton to CO, 20

th June 1911, CO 520/115 50 CO to Egerton, 5

th November 1912, Confidential Print Africa 992., Document 143. CO 879/110