CO885-(18-19) — Page 593

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

19 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

11619

SIR,

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II-SLEEPING SICKNESS BUREAU.

No. 19./

COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY.

[Answered by No. 20.]

Downing Street, 3 April, 1908. WITH reference to previous correspondence on the subject of sleeping sickness in Uganda, I am directed by the Earl of Elgin to request you to place the following matters before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury for their consideration.

2. Their Lordships are well aware of the serious situation produced by this epidemic in Uganda, in the Congo Free State, and in the French Congo. disease has now made its appearance in German East Africa and in Rhodesia, and is threatening to invade the Soudan and Nyasaland, and the question of the measures to be taken to combat it is one of the most difficult and important with which the European administrations in tropical Africa are at present confronted.

The

3. Some progress has been made in the investigation of the disease and towards the discovery of a remedy, while in some of the districts affected adminis- trative measures have, with a certain measure of success, been put in force for the purpose of restricting its spread as far as possible. With a view to co-ordinating the efforts of the different administrations both on the scientific and on the adminis- trative side, and thus obtaining the maximum effect from the resources at their disposal, Lord Elgin suggested to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs that the different Powers concerned should be asked to send representatives to London to discuss the whole question, and, if possible, concert some scheme of co-operation.

4. An International Conference was arranged and met at the Foreign Office in June last under the presidency of the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The Conference included representatives both of administrative and of scientific experience, and certain conclusions were arrived at which are embodied in the draft Convention* enclosed herewith. But, as most of the representatives were not invested with full powers which allowed of their signing a definitive Convention, and as they thought that it might also be desirable to obtain further information before they submitted final recommendations to their respective Governments, the Confer- ence was adjourned until the 1st of November, 1907, on which date it was hoped that the delegates would be able to re-assemble furnished with the full powers necessary for the signature of an agreement.

5. After a regrettable delay, for which His Majesty's Government had no responsibility, the Conference met again in March of this year, but, in consequence of the opposition of the French and Italian representatives, it was found impossible to arrive at any general agreement.

6. In view of the various and conflicting statements made by the French and Italian plenipotentiaries it is difficult to state with absolute certainty the grounds of their action, but they appear to have considered that the Central Bureau, which it was proposed by the Convention to establish in London upon the model of the bureaus established in Brussels and Berne for more than one subject of general interest, would detract from the importance of the General Bureau which the repre- sentatives of certain Powers had provisionally agreed at the International Congress of Hygiene held at Rome in November last should be established in Paris. The object for which this General Bureau was contemplated was to collect information regarding all infectious diseases, especially those diseases which are dealt with under the Venice and Paris Sanitary Conventions, such as cholera, plague, and yellow fever

For such an objection His Majesty's Government were prepared by the terms of a despatch from the French Government of the 23rd December, but the arguments of the French and Italian Plenipotentiaries went much beyond this objection, and seemed altogether to question the desirability of a Central Bureau of the kind pro- posed being established in London or elsewhere.

7. So far as this country was concerned it was made clear at the first Confer- ence that the British Government had no desire to insist on London as the home of the Central Bureau, and it was indeed the two principal French delegates who on that occasion suggested that the Central Bureau should be located in London as a

• Not reprinted.

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compliment to this country for the leading part which it had taken in the investiga- In any case, it appeared to be tion of tropical disease, as well as for other reasons. out of the question that the Bureau for sleeping-sickness should be treated as part of the General Bureau to be established at Paris, for neither Germany nor the Congo Free State had agreed to the establishment of the latter Bureau. The Paris Bureau, moreover, was intended to deal with diseases which had reached the routine stage, while sleeping sickness is still in the stage of investigation, and requires more con- centrated and active work, which it is to be desired should be undertaken with the least possible delay.

8. Efforts are now being made by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to negotiate separate Conventions through the ordinary diplomatic channels with Germany, Portugal, and the Congo Free State, on administrative matters connected with sleeping sickness. In the case of Germany a draft Convention has been practi- cally settled, and this draft it is proposed to use as a model for subsequent Conven- tions with other States which are limitrophe

9. If these Conventions can be arranged this country will have obtained all concerned, for that it requires, so far as the administrative side of the question

the territories of the above-mentioned Powers adjoin those of Great Britain in Central Africa, while the French Congo lies at a distance, and there is, therefore, no intercourse between its natives and those in the British sphere.

10. There remains to be considered the scientific side of the question with which the Central Bureau was to have been mainly occupied.

11. There can be no doubt regarding the great value, and indeed the necessity, of a central organization of this kind. The Conference at its sittings last year was unanimously in favour of the proposal, and would have been equally favourable when it reassembled but for the action of the French and Italian Governments as explained above. The literature on the subject of sleeping sickness is becoming so extensive that it is difficult for men working in Europe, and impossible for those working in Africa, to keep themselves in touch with all that is being done in different parts of the world. It is, therefore, very desirable that all this informa- tion should be co-ordinated, condensed, translated where necessary, and put into a form which would be of real use not only to the ordinary medical officers in the Colonies concerned, but also to the highly-skilled investigators who are engaged in this particular line of research.

12. In addition to technical summaries of this kind, instructions of a more popular nature are required for the ordinary officials, missionaries, and others, and, unless there is some central organization, these instructions will not be properly drawn up and revised from time to time. Further, a map for the whole of tropical Africa showing the distribution of the disease and the different kinds of fly suspected of conveying it is urgently required. A map of this kind, indicating as it would the extent to which the distribution of the disease coincides with the distribution of the different species of fly would furnish valuable clues to the scientific investigators, and would also indicate to the administrative officials what areas were threatened and required protection. But it would be useless unless prepared with scientific skill and technical knowledge, and its preparation would involve much time and attention.

13. For reasons of general policy which their Lordships will readily appreciate, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was unwilling that the Conference should proceed without the French and Italian delegates and that an international Agree- ment should be arrived at which might appear to exclude France and Italy in a marked and unfriendly manner, and, therefore, it is now impossible to obtain con tributions from the others Powers towards the establishment of the Central Bureau. It remains, therefore, to be considered whether this country should not itself establish a National Bureau which could be supplied with most of the information which would have been sent to the proposed Central Bureau, and which, for all practical purposes, could be made to take its place.

14. It appears to Lord Elgin that the interests which Great Britain has in the matter fully justify such a course, and he is inclined to think that a bureau of this kind is likely to work at least as effectively as the Central Bureau for the purposes immediately contemplated, and more speedily than an International Bureau, such as that proposed to be established at Paris.

15. Before the Second Conference met it had been ascertained from the Royal Society that they would be willing to accommodate the Central Bureau free of charge at Burlington House, and a strong Committee of Management had been provision-