reports of meetings of the Conference, the Committee, and the commissions. It is headed by a chief appointed by the Meteorological Committee. The commissions of the Iмo carry on a large share of its activities. The standing technical commissions cover the following fields: aerology, bibliography and publications, climatology, aeronautical meteorology, agricultural meteorology, hydrology, instruments and methods of observation, maritime meteorology, synoptic weather information, polar meteorology, and radio-electric meteorology. The technical commissions vary in size. Members of these commissions and their subcommissions are elected in their personal capacity of experts rather than as representatives of the services to which they belong. They have no prescribed term of office. New members may be nominated by a director or any member of the commission and the election is made by the commission itself. There are six regional commissions: I, Africa; II, Asia; III, South America; IV, North and Central America; V, the Southwest Pacific; and VI, Europe. Their membership is limited to the directors of the national weather bureaus within or adjoining each region. The regional commissions assist in giving effect to the resolutions of the Organization, and, in turn, they adopt resolutions and enter into agreements which are reported for final approval to the International Meteorological Committee and the Conference of Directors. The official languages are English, French, and German. The structure and functions of the several bodies of the proposed WMO will follow the same pattern as the Iмo except that the new organization will merge the International Meteorological Committee and the Executive Council into one body to be known as the Executive Committee. The new organization will then comprise the World Meteorological Congress, the Executive Committee, regional meteorological associations, technical commissions, and the secretariat. Meetings of the Congress will be held at intervals not to exceed four years. The present chief of the secretariat of the Imo is Gustave Swoboda. FINANCES Budget. The budget of the organization for the fiscal year 1949 was 392,000 Swiss francs ($91,589). Member contributions have been the major source of income. Members' Quotas. Members of the organization contribute to the expenses of the organization according to a schedule of contributions, based on population and ability to pay, which is recommended by the Executive Council to the Conference Director. This schedule involves seven categories which presently range from 630 Swiss francs ($147) to 16,200 Swiss francs ($3,785) a year. UNITED STATES RELATIONS Authorization. Annual appropriations acts since that for the fiscal year 1930 have permitted the expenditure of funds for U.S. contributions to the organization. The Convention of the World Meteorological Organization, concluded at the Washington Conference of Directors in 1947, was ratified by the President on May 4, 1949, with the advice and consent of the Senate.13 Payments. The United States quota is paid from funds appropriated to the Department of Commerce. Its contribution for the fiscal year 1949 was 16,200 Swiss francs ($3,785), or approximately 4.6 percent of total assessments. Agencies Chiefly Concerned. The United States Weather Bureau is the agency concerned with United States relations with the Iмo. Participation. The Chief of the United States Weather Bureau is a member of the Conference of Directors, vice president of the International Meteorological Committee and a member of the Executive Council. He is also president of Regional Commission IV. Members of the Bureau staff serve on the technical commissions and subcommissions and hold the following presidencies and vice presidencies: president, Commission for Synoptic Weather Information; president and vice president, Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology; vice president, Commission for Maritime Meteorology; vice president, Climatology Commission; and vice president, Commission for Hydrology. RELATIONS WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS The Organization cooperates with and coordinates its work with the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the International Ice Patrol, the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics; it has also cooperated with the United Nations in the Preparatory Committee of Experts to consider the coordination of activities in the fields of aviation, shipping, and telecommunications with regard to safety of life at sea and in the air. The proposed Wмo as a specialized agency will presumably have close relations with the United Nations. BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS Gt. Brit. Parliament Papers. Cmd. 7427. H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1948. Contains text of Wмo Convention. International Meteorological Organization. Statutes of the International Meteorological Organization. Leyde, the Proceedings of Meetings. Those published have been the following: The congresses of 1873, 1878, 1879, 1889, 1893, 1900; the conferences of 1872, 1891, 1896, 1905, 1919, 1923, 1929, 1935, 1946, 1947 ; International Meteorological Committee meetings of 1880, 1882, 1885, 1888, 1894, 1899, 1903, 1907, 1910, 1913, 1921, 1926, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1946. The secretariat also publishes the lists of weather stations, the manual of international codes for synoptic weather messages, reports of commissions, and general information of international importance. For additional documentary references see: International Agencies in which the United States Participates. Department of State Pub. 2699, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1946, pp. 126–129. Pan American Institute of Geography Avenida del Observatorio 192, Mexico City, Mexico ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT The Pan American Institute of Geography and History was created pursuant to a resolution of the Sixth International Conference of American States, Habana, 1928.14 This resolution was the culmination of proposals which had originally been made as early as 1903 and stemmed particularly from two related resolutions adopted by the Third Pan American Scientific Conference at Lima in 1924, recommending that a Pan American Federation of Geographic Societies be constituted and that an Institute of Oceanography and Cartography be founded. As an inter-American Specialized Organization, the Institute is closely related to the Organization of American States whose secretariat, the Pan American Union, was instrumental in obtaining the site for the Institute in Mexico City where the headquarters building was dedicated in 1930. Following the preliminary assembly held in Mexico City in 1929, there have been four general assemblies, held in 1932, 1935, 1941, and 1946. The fifth is to be held in Santiago in 1950. Four consultations of the Institute's Commission on Cartography have been held: 1943, 1944, 1946, and 1948. The first consultation of the Commission on History was held in 1947, and the first consultation of the Commission on Geography will be held the latter part of 1949. MEMBERSHIP All 21 American republics are members of the Institute. Since 1942 the Dominion of Canada has taken an increasing interest in the 14 See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 139. activities of the Institute and has been represented by observers at meetings held since that time. PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS The purpose of the Institute is to develop, coordinate, and disseminate geographical, historical, and related scientific studies, and to initiate investigations and activities pertaining thereto. In achieving these ends, the Institute promotes cooperation between geographical and historical institutes of the American states and other American organizations in these fields. The Institute is thus primarily an initiating and coordinating organization. It engages in actual field operations only in those instances where there is no existing national organization capable of undertaking the project and/or where the scope of the project is of an international character, as for example, geophysical explorations in Central America. Such operations may be undertaken at the request of one member government with the cooperation of others. STRUCTURE According to the new bylaws adopted by the Fourth General Assembly, Caracas, 1946, the Institute is composed of the following organs: The General Assembly, composed of national delegations, and meeting quadriennially, is the supreme deliberative organ; The Governing Board, composed of the president and two vice presidents of the Institute, elected by the Assembly, and the chairmen of the National Sections, exercises the functions of the General Assembly between meetings of the latter; The Executive Committee, composed of the same three officers who make up the Governing Board (with the first vice president as chairman) and the chairmen of the statutory commissions, is an organ of the Governing Board and acts as the central coordinating and administrative agency for the activities of the Institute; Commissions, composed of one representative designated by the Governments of each of the member states, and their committees ; General Secretariat, located at the Institute's headquarters, performs all functions entrusted to it by the General Assembly, the Governing Board, or the Executive Committee; The National Sections, (see below) which replace the national committees, as envisioned by section XI of the Habana Resolution. The Commissions, of which there are three, on cartography, geography, and history, respectively, are responsible for carrying out the scientific and cultural activities of the Institute. These Commissions are empowered to set up the technical committees necessary to the execution of their programs, which are developed at periodic consultative meetings, termed "consultations." 842727-50-10 The National Sections serve as liaison between the Institute and their respective governments. Each Section, consisting of three members, is composed of those persons designated by the member states as their representative on each of the three Commissions. The function of a National Section is to facilitate, coordinate, and disseminate, in its country, studies on cartography, geography, history, and the related sciences. The Directors of the Institute is Pedro C. Sánchez. The official languages are Spanish, French, Portuguese and English. FINANCES Budget. In accordance with the terms of the statutes of the Institute, the Governing Board submits to the General Assembly a recommendation on the expenditures of all the organs of the Institute for the period which is to transpire between General Assembly meetings. At present the budgets of the Institute and its respective Commissions are as follows: General administration and publications. Commission on Cartography Commission on Geography Commission on History $27, 600 27, 600 11, 800 16, 120 $83, 120 The Institute is financially supported through annual contributions of governments and by grants and subsidies from other sources such as the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the Guggenheim Foundation. Members' Quotas. The statutes of the Institute provide that the General Assembly, "by a two-thirds majority, shall recommend to the governments the payment of quotas it deems necessary." Annual quotas to meet expenses of general administration and publications for the 21 member states are calculated on the basis of the following population categories: Less than 2,000,000 . (Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, El Salvador, Uruguay) From 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 (Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Venezuela) $200 each 500 do. 1,000 do. 2,500 do. 5, 000 do. 10,000 do. $27, 600 |