IIW History 1948-1958

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Although representation on the Governing Council and the Commissions is by countries and subscriptions fixed by agreement between the national delega– tions and the Governing Council are also on this basis, it is the individual socie– ties concerned with welding which can become members. One result of this has been to stimulate the formation of welding societies in countries where no such body previously existed, in order that the welding interests could enter into a fruitful relationship with IIW. Another res ult has been to bring into exis– t ance central organisations in those countries where several bodies concerned with welcliug had liecome memliers of the International Institute of \i\Telding. Examples of the formation of a welding society where none previously existed are afforded by Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia and Uruguay. Countries in which a central organisation has been created to handle the relations between its several welding societies and IIW are the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Canada. The founder members of IIvV, which adhered to the constitution on its establishment in 1948, number twenty-one, and are dra\vn from thirteen separate countries. Every year has seen the addition of some new member society and normally of some new member country, so that, at the present time, there are fifty societies drawn from bventy five separate countries (r). Communication with and between members is an inherent difficulty of all international organisations. The official languages of the IIW are English and French, both of which are used at meetings of its constituent bodies and for all official documents. rrw documents which are approved for publication are made available in E nglish or French or both to the member societies for issue by them, after translation, if necessary . This means that the most important re– sults of the Institute's work can be readily available to engineers and techni– cians of the countries represented on it in their own languages. The InV may therefore claim to have had some success in dealing with this particular problem of international collaboration. G. PARSLOE. The activity of the IIW as a whole depends essentiall y on the work of its technical commissions. Unlike many international organisations whose principal activity t akes the form of holding, at regular or irregula r intervals, congresses at which papers on certain previously chosen themes are presented, the II\V has tried to obtain its results from the continuous cooperative work of a limited number of members and experts who constitute working technical commissions. The advantages of this formul a, which was deliberately chosen on the foundation of the IIvV, seem today to have been proved by expe rience. It is, of course, more impressive to hold congresses at which many papers are presented; but at such congresses, deference or inertia may prevent useful discussions taking place on the opinions expressed by the authors of the papers; the less striking but more discreet working sessions of the II\V commissions, on the other hand , enable detailed and practically uninterrupted work to be carried out since, between meetings, the members of a commission correspond \Nith each other and, if necessary, with the members and chairmen of the other commissions. In these conditions it is possible not only to compare different opinions and to draw worthwhile conclusions from such comparisons but also to prepare pro– grammes of work, to allocat e this work between the participants, to collect experimental results, to carry out investigations, etc. The commissions, in fact, work as t eams and this is the essential basis for true international collaboration. 2 . TECHNICAL STRUCTURE.

(r) A list of the present member societies is set out in Appendix II.