of its President or of any two of its members, the conflict in the Far East remaining, however, a matter of concern to all the powers assembled at Brussels. Under authority of the decision of the Acting Comptroller General, A-89659, dated October 16, 1937, funds were made available to defray the cost of American participation in this Conference from the appropriation for the International Monetary and Economic Conference, contained in Public 121, approved May 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 228). MEETING OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON RADIO-WAVE PROPAGATION' (London, England, November 23-25, 1937) Representative: John Howard Dellinger, Ph.D., D.Sc., Chief, Radio Division, National Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce. The meeting of this Subcommittee, which was established at the Fourth Meeting of the International Radio Consulting Committee, Bucharest, Rumania, 1937,2 was attended by representatives of Great Britain, Netherlands, United States of America, and the Union Internationale de Radiodiffusion (International Broadcasting Union). The Subcommittee met for the purpose of preparing a report on radio-wave propagation for submission to the Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union for the use of the Radio Conference which was scheduled to meet at Cairo in February 1938. The Bucharest meeting suggested that the report summarize the principal facts of radio-wave propagation throughout the radio spectrum in as concise form as would be useful to the practical radio engineer having to do with the allocation of frequencies and with the operation of radio stations carrying on international services. Special papers were prepared for the meeting by the various participants and their associates in the several interested countries. The valuable up-to-date information contained in these papers was used as the basis for the Subcommittee's report, which presented the data collected in the following four sections: 1 (1) Medium frequencies, ground wave; (2) Medium frequencies, sky wave; (3) High frequencies; (4) Ultra-high frequencies. 1 See account of the Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union, p. 138 of this publication. The report, as prepared by the Subcommittee for the use of the Cairo conference, was a condensed summary of existing quantitative knowledge of radio-wave propagation and should be of assistance in the choice of frequencies for particular use. FIFTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON OPHTHALMOLOGY (Cairo, Egypt, December 8-14, 1937) Delegates: Harry S. Gradle, M.D., Director of Staff, Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago, Illinois, Chairman of the Delegation; E. V. L. Brown, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Frank E. Burch, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; F. Park Lewis, M.D., Ophthalmologist, Buffalo, New York; Henry P. Wagener, M.D., Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Among the 225 persons who attended the Fifteenth International Congress on Ophthalmology were official delegates from 25 countries. The international congresses on ophthalmology deal exclusively with the scientific aspects of the subject, all sociological and political phases of this branch of medicine being rigidly excluded. The papers presented at the Fifteenth Congress offered nothing radically new but gave the delegates an opportunity for discussion on the following subjects: (1) Arterial hypertension of the retina; (2) Endocrinology and the eye: (a) Thyroid and the eye; (b) Sexual organs and the eye; (d) Parathyroid and the eye. The invitation extended by the city government of Vienna for the Sixteenth International Congress on Ophthalmology to meet in that city in 1941 was accepted. SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE UNIFICATION OF PENAL LAW (Cairo, Egypt, January 12-18, 1938) Delegate: Leland B. Morris, Counselor, American Legation, Cairo. Conferences on the unification of penal law are held every two years under the auspices of the International Office for the Unifica tion of Penal Law, which was established in 1928, for the purpose of discussing problems and projects in the unification of certain parts of the penal law on an international basis. The Office collaborates closely with other international organizations active in promoting international cooperation and coordination in the solution of sociolegal problems. The Seventh International Conference for the Unification of Penal Law was attended by 63 official delegates representing 28 countries and various institutions, among them being the Interparliamentary Union and the International Penal and Penitentiary Commission. The delegates to the Conference were organized into committees for the purpose of studying the following questions: 1 (1) Standardization of charges in the matter of breach of trust; (3) Forgery of passports and false declarations of identity; prison. In conformity with the usual practice of this organization, the permanent Office will decide on the meeting place of the next conference. THE CAIRO INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS Delegates: CONFERENCES' (Cairo, Egypt, February 1-April 8, 1938) Wallace H. White, Jr., LL.D., of Maine, United States Senator, Chairman of the Delegation; T. A. M. Craven, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission;* Francis Colt de Wolf, Treaty Division, Department of State; Captain Stanford C. Hooper, Office of Naval Operations, Navy Department; Ewell K. Jett, Chief Engineer, Federal Communications Commission.5 Technical Advisers: William G. Butts, Chief, Tariff Section, Federal Communications Commission; 1 See pp. 37 and 135 of this publication. See p. 109 of this publication. For an account of the Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union, see p. 138 of this publication. 4 Did not attend. 'Mr. Jett was appointed Chief Engineer, Federal Communications Commission, January 1, 1938. Lieutenant Colonel David McLean Crawford, Signal Corps, United States Army, War Department; Commander J. F. Farley, Chief Communication Officer, United States Coast Guard, Treasury Department; Gerald C. Gross, Chief, International Section, Federal Communications Commission; John H. Payne, Chief, Electrical Division, Department of Commerce; Commander Joseph R. Redman, Office of Naval Operations, Navy Department; Lloyd H. Simson, Communications Specialist, Radio Development Section, Department of Commerce; Edward M. Webster, Acting Assistant Chief Engineer, Federal Communications Commission; Marion H. Woodward, Senior Telegraph Engineer, Federal Communications Commission. Secretary General: Joseph C. Satterthwaite, Second Secretary, American Legation, Baghdad, Iraq. Secretary: Arthur L. Richards, American Vice Consul, Cairo. The International Telecommunications Conferences of Cairo convened on February 1, 1938. The two conferences, namely, the Telegraph and Telephone Conference, and the Radio Conference, sat concurrently. The Telegraph and Telephone Conference adjourned on April 4 and the Radio Conference on April 8. The purpose of the Conferences was to revise the regulations adopted at the Madrid Telecommunication Conference in 1932,1 and annexed to the International Telecommunication Convention of December 9, 1932 (49 Stat. 2391), namely, the telegraph regulations, the telephone regulations, the general radio regulations and the additional radio regulations. Upward of 80 administrations were represented at the Conferences by official delegations. In addition, about 60 private operating companies and 20 or more international organizations and private groups, such as the International Amateur Radio Union, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the Union Internationale de Radiodiffu sion (International Broadcasting Union), also participated in the labors of the Conferences. THE TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CONFERENCE The Telegraph and Telephone Conference set up five committees on telegraph regulations, on telegraph rates, on telephone regulations, on 1 See Conference Series 17, p. 7. drafting, and on examination of the management of the Bureau of the Union. The following are some of the more important results of the Conference: (1) Maintenance of the status quo in the rate structure for clear (3) Maintenance of the 200 percent rate on urgent messages; (5) Maintenance of existing regulations with regard to press (6) Opening of meetings of the International Consulting Committee on Telegraphy (C.C.I.T.)1 to administrations not adhering to the telegraph regulations and widening of the scope of C.C.I.T. meetings which will now be authorized to consider tariff matters; (7) Maintenance of the existing regulations relating to the notifications of the equivalents for the gold franc which is used as the unit for the computation of rates and the establishment of international accounts. THE RADIO CONFERENCE In the five-year period which elapsed between the Madrid and Cairo Conferences, increased demands for additional radio frequencies by the mobile, fixed, and broadcasting services called for more restrictive rules to make the most economical use possible of existing facilities as well as a new consideration of the table of frequencies adopted at Madrid. Some of the more important decisions of the Cairo Radio Conference included the following: (1) Adoption of a plan for radio channels for the world's seven main intercontinental air routes, including calling and safety service channels; (2) Widening of the high-frequency broadcast bands to a total of 300 kilocycles and the adoption of special bands for tropical regions for regional use; (3) The limitation of the use of spark sets to three channels and the outlawing of spark sets except below 300 watts' output; (4) Improved tolerance and band-width tables; 1 'From the initials of the French name of the Committee, "Comité Consultatif International Télégraphique". |