Joining nations 1947-1990

32

JOINING NATIONS

of assemblies until the introduction of the International Conferences 23 years later. By 1960 the Executive Council faced a grave problem: how to retain on it all the original founders? The Founder President and one of the Founder Vice -Presidents (Professor Portevin) had already been made members for life; Mr Edstrom was transfering from Treasurer to President and Mr Parsloe ·and Mr Leroy were inde– finitely re-eligible. There remained Professor Jaeger, who in 1960 had completed the six years as Past President with a seat on the Executive Council which the constitution then allowed him. The solu– tion adopted was to recommend his election as Treasurer, notwith– standing that he had already served as Vice-President, President and Past President and was still Chairman of Commission II; as a quid pro quo, it was proposed that the Treasurer should only serve for three years instead of being indefinitely re-eligible. The Governing Council approved these arrangements. In fact, Professor Jaeger was accepting a poisoned chalice. In 1959 there had been a small deficit and there was a larger one in l 960. Furthermore, the original draft budget for 1961 showed another small deficit; when this budget was revised in April 1961 the pro– jected income was £5478 and the projected expenditure £6683. In the circumstances the Executive Council felt obliged to recommend that annual subscriptions be increased by one-third in l 962 to re– coup the losses. In the event, a serious discussion took place in the Governing Council when members questioned the ad hoe basis on which member countries' subscriptions were fixed. It was finally agreed that the 1962 subscriptions should be at the same level as those of 1961, but that member countries should be asked to make a special contribution equivalent to one-third of their subscription. On the other hand, the Executive Council undertook to review the whole financial position in the light of the discussion and to report back in 1962. As subsequent events will show, a call for a fundamental review of policy tended to become the standard reaction of the Governing Council to financial problems. This discussion took place in ew York, for in 1961 the IIW was holding its first Assembly outside Europe. Long distance travel had been greatly faci li tated in the late '50s by the introduction of jct aircraft on commercial routes but fares were still expensive and the IIW fo und it economical to charter a jet to bring members of the European delegations to and from the USA. The attendance was not significantly less than in previous years and this prompted the Japanese