SLEEPING SICKNESS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13596, 16 May 1908, Page 3

SLEEPING SICKNESS.

The second International Sleeping Sickness Conference has terminated without being able to agree on the draft convention before it, says Reuter. The French and Italian plenipotentiaries declared themselves unable to accept the proposal for the establishment of a central bureau in London, proposing instead that it should be established in Paris.

This was opposed by the German plenipotentiaries, who strongly supported the British plan for the establishment of a bureau in London. The French plenipotentiaries were also unable to agree to other parts of the draft convention, and although the majority of the Powers represened supported these proposals, it was found useless to proceed further in the absence of unanimity.

The president. Lord Fitzmaurice, in closing the proceedings, said it was not his opinion that the conference had been useless. It was now clear that much might be done among the Powers themselves in East Africa by separate conventions to secure uniformity of treatment of the disease, especially on the frontiers, and he hoped and believed that this could be done diplomatically. Thereby a further step would be taken towards 'ultimate agreement on the larger question of the establishment of a central bureau for combating the disease.