similar engineering works of interest to the delegates; and by publishing papers, proceedings, and various other documents. The congresses have been held at irregular intervals, usually of 3 or 4 years, in various countries.

STRUCTURE

The governing body is the Permanent International Commission, composed of representatives appointed by the subsidizing governments and corporations which usually meets once a year. Each country is entitled to from 1 to 10 members depending on the amount of the country's contribution. The Commission prepares for congresses, approves the budget, and makes regulations governing the Association.

The Permanent Council is composed of one or two members of each government chosen from the commissions but designated by governments. It prepares the budget, elects new members, and performs other related duties.

The Executive Committee is appointed by the Permanent International Commission and is composed of two presidents and a general secretary, necessarily Belgians. It has charge of the permanent office, which attends to the dispatch of current business, keeps the accounts, prepares the estimates of expenses to be defrayed out of the resources of the Association, keeps the expenditures within the limits of the approved estimates, signs orders, and collects the subscriptions and all other sums due to the Association.

There are three official languages: English, French, and German. The present Secretary General is M. J. Millecam.

FINANCES

Budget. The organization's expenditures totaled 339,345 Belgian francs (approximately $7,740) in 1948 and were estimated at 1,748,000 Belgian francs (approximately $39,850) in 1949. Expenditures are financed principally by contributions from governments, corporations, and individual members. The expenses for 1949, which included costs in connection with the Seventeenth International Congress, were to be met largely by savings realized in previous years.

Members' Quotas. Governments and corporations fix their own contributions except that the minimum for corporations is 200 Belgian francs a year. Individual members pay 75 francs annually. A state may send to the congresses one delegate for each 1,000 Belgian francs forthcoming from the country regardless of whether from the Government, corporations, or individuals.

In 1948 the Association received 276,390 Belgian francs (approximately $6,300) from governments and 122,592 Belgian francs (approximately $2,795) from corporations and individual members.

UNITED STATES RELATIONS

Authorization. An act of June 28, 1902 authorized a permanent appropriation of $3,000 for support and maintenance of the Commission and for the payment of expenses of United States delegates to meetings of the congresses and the Commission.19 The Act of June 26, 1934, repealed the earlier act and placed the appropriation on an annual basis.19 The Rivers and Harbors Act, approved June 30, 1948, increased the amount authorized to be appropriated to $5,000.19

Payments. The regular annual United States Government contribution is $1,000. An amount not to exceed $3,000 was appropriated to the Department of the Army for the fiscal year 1949 for payment of the United States contribution to the organization and for the expenses of the delegates to the meetings of the Commission and the Congress. A sum not to exceed $5,000 was appropriated for the fiscal year 1950 for these purposes.

Agencies Chiefly Concerned. The Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, the agency of our Government in charge of Federal River and Harbor Works, is responsible for United States participation in the Association.

Participation. The United States, through the Department of the Army, has continued an active interest in the Association since 1902.

RELATIONS WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The Association has no formal relations with other organizations, except for the international commissions which are members of the Association.

BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS

United States Participation: 32 Stat. 485; 48 Stat. 1225 (Sec. 2 (b) (12)) 62 Stat. pt. 1, p. 1174.

Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses. Regulations of the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses. 1929 edition. Published by the Executive Committee-Office of the General Secretary-Rue de Louvain, 38, Brussels.

Bulletin of the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses. Published semiannually at Brussels since 1926.

Account of the XVIth Congress. Brussels, published by the General Secretary, 1935. 474 pp.

In addition to the proceedings of the Sixteenth Congress, listed above, the proceedings of previous congresses have been published,

with slightly varying titles, in French, English, or German. Congresses were held at Brussels (1885); Vienna (1886); Frankfurt (1888); Manchester (1890); Paris (1892); The Hague (1894); Brussels (1898); Paris (1900); Düsseldorf (1902); Milan (1905); St. Petersburg (1908); Philadelphia (1912); London (1923); Cairo (1926); and Venice (1931).

The Organization also publishes certain special studies and is in the process of publishing an Illustrated Technical Dictionary in six languages.

Postal Union of the Americas and Spain

International Office, Montevideo, Uruguay

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

A regional postal organization was formed in the Americas because its members, although belonging to the Universal Postal Union, have been opposed to some of the provisions of the universal convention and regulations, particularly those sanctioning charges on intransit mail, fixing international postal rates at a relatively high level, and granting votes to dependent areas. Such regional organizations are authorized by the provisions of the Universal Postal Union Conven tions.

The first inter-American postal organization, known as the South American Postal Union, was established by 10 South American states in accordance with the South American Postal Convention signed February 2, 1911, in Montevideo. In 1929, at the First Pan American Postal Congress, held in Buenos Aires, this agency was transformed into the Pan American Postal Union, pursuant to the Pan American Postal Convention signed September 15, 1921. The International Office of the South American Postal Union, which had been set up in Montevideo, was retained as the International Office of the Pan American Postal Union. The convention signed at Buenos Aires was revised at the Second Pan American Postal Congress convened in Mexico City, November 9, 1926. At the Third Pan American Postal Congress, held in Madrid, November 10, 1931, the name of the organization was changed to the Postal Union of the Americas and Spain, the latter country having joined in 1924. The Fourth Pan American Postal Congress was held in Panama in 1936 and the Fifth Congress at Rio de Janeiro in 1946.

The Rio de Janeiro convention is now the basic instrument of the Union.20 Under this convention each member is guaranteed free transit of its mail across the territories and by the ships of the registry or flag of other member states which they utilize for transportation of their own correspondence to any destination. The convention also provides that domestic rates will be applicable to regular mail exchanged between the member states, and generous franking privileges are granted to diplomatic, consular, official, and cultural correspond

ence.

MEMBERSHIP

The American republics, Canada, and Spain are members of the Union. Membership in the Union is not restricted to governments of any region.

PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS

In the Panama Convention of 1936 the member states indicated that their purpose in maintaining the Union was ". to extend, facilitate and perfect their postal relations and establish a solidarity of action capable of representing effectively in Universal Postal Congresses their common interests in regard to communications by mail

The International Office is specifically charged with a long series of functions, among them, assembling, coordinating, publishing and distributing information of all kinds which specifically concerns the Americo-Spanish postal service; giving, at the express request of the parties concerned, its opinion on disputed questions; distributing postal maps and guides which the respective administrations send to it; making a summary of Americo-Spanish postal statistics on the basis of data which each administration communicates to it annually; publishing a report relative to the most rapid routes for transmission of correspondence from one of the contracting countries to another; preparing a table giving in detail all maritime services dependent upon countries of the Postal Union of the Americas and Spain, which may be utilized gratuitously for the transportation of their correspondence, under the conditions laid down by article 3; publishing the tariff of postage rates of the domestic service of each of the countries concerned.

STRUCTURE

Congresses normally meet every 5 years to modify the convention, protocol, and regulations adopted at the preceding Congress. The 20 See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 300.

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convention and regulations may be modified between congresses through correspondence. Certain articles of the convention may be amended only by unanimous consent, but other articles may be amended by a simple or two-thirds majority. Such modifications enter into effect 4 months after notification by the International Office of their adoption. When ratified the convention adopted by each Congress abrogates the last one. Spanish is declared to be the official language for matters relative to the postal service, but states using other languages may employ their own.

The International Office of the Postal Union of the Americas and Spain is under the general supervision of the Administration of Posts of Uruguay, which nominates the director (appointment is made by the Government of Uruguay), approves the director's selection of his staff members, and supervises the expenses of the office.

An International Transfers Office, located in Panama City, functions under the joint supervision of the International Office of the Union and the Postal Administration of Panama. Under the terms of the convention of 1946, the Transfer Office receives and forwards mail in transit through the Isthmus and originating in states members of the Union which do not have their own service. The expenses of the Transfer Office are borne by the states which utilize its services, i. e. Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Uruguay, and Venezuela, in proportion to the number of sacks which they exchange through the Office. Brazil and Paraguay make use of the Transfer Office services through the intermediary of the postal administrations of Argentina and Chile respectively.

FINANCES

Budget. Article 110 of the Regulations of Execution of the Convention of the Postal Union of Americas and Spain states that the expenses of the International Office of the Union may not exceed 55,000 Uruguayan gold pesos annually. Expenses of the Office for the year 1946 were 34,580 Uruguayan pesos (approximately $18,200). Its 1947 expenses were 55,000 Uruguayan pesos (approximately $29,500).

The Administration of Posts of Uruguay supervises the expenses of the Office and makes the necessary advances which are repaid by the member countries.

Members' Quotas. For determining contributions of members, the regulations of execution divide the countries into three groups: those of the first group contributing eight units; those of the second, four units; and those of the third, two units. Members are classified in the following manner: