INAUGURAL PLENARY SESSION 
17 
Our own four-yearly Congress has gradually evolved for itself a certain pattern 
which has not changed greatly over the years. We have built up — or so I believe — a 
certain desirable continuity between past achievement and future undertaking. It is 
well, I am sure you will agree with me, that we should maintain such traditions, whilst 
continuing a gradual evolution. On this occasion, as the Minister has said, the invited 
papers are an innovation; they arise from the resolution we passed at Stockholm, 
spurred on by various people. The problem they are aimed to solve is this: how to 
impose that amount of discipline upon ourselves which will prevent some gross wastage 
of time and a certain diverseness, even chaos, in our proceedings, while, at the same 
time, not risking the loss of valuable contributions or suppressing profitable and desir 
able free discussion. The resolution on invited papers has already borne some fruit. 
Commission Boards have, I believe, been more than usually stimulated to hold meetings 
and discussions and to decide upon the focal points for the centre of their deliberations 
at this Congress in 1960. 
The invited papers have been written, they have been studied in advance by 
small groups, who have now come prepared to discuss them, and, moreover, they have 
been published in advance and for the most part, though not entirely, they have been 
distributed in advance, so that, at least, some of you will have read the papers and 
studied them. You may thus be able to listen to the discussions and take part in them 
with greater understanding and with more profit. 
All this represents much effort and considerable expenditure. I should like, if I 
may, to congratulate the Presidents of the Commissions on what they have done and to 
thank them on your behalf. It now remains to be seen during the course of this Congress 
what effect this innovation will have and whether it will, in fact, solve the problem set. 
Of course, I am aware — as certainly you must be too — that there is more than one 
way of solving most problems. However, I have hopes that we have now taken a step in 
the right direction on the road of our evolution. 
We are very much indebted to the Editorial Board of Photogrammetria for their 
help in publishing these invited papers. They have devoted the space of three standard 
issues of that Journal to the invited papers — that is about 120 pages — thus relieving 
the Congress funds of about one quarter of the cost of printing the three congress- 
numbers. 
Before closing, there is one more important Item on which 1 wish to touch. The 
Statutes of the Society have been under consideration and examination ever since 
Stockholm when we set up the Committee to review them and to report to us. No 
specific recommendations have yet been presented. I think perhaps I, myself, must 
bear some of the onus for not having done this, for being insufficiently persistent 
and pushing. Nevertheless, I and others have given a lot of thought and study to various 
aspects of this problem, and 1 have become aware as your President, through these 
discussions, of five major points in which it would be well to examine the possible need 
for restatement or for additions or for change. I do not propose to deal with this subject 
at any length. However, I wish to draw your attention to these five points so that during 
the course of the Congress you may find opportunities of exchanging ideas upon these 
matters. Freedom of discussion is a very good thing in elucidating these difficult 
problems. 
The five points are as follows: the statement of the objects of the Society; the 
need for the expression of its international and non-political character; the method by 
which countries adhere to the Society; the method of calculating the subscriptions 
which, as you know, are infinitesimal, and are only intended to cover the postage; and 
the possible need for by-laws to regulate matters which by their very nature are more 
appropriately and easily regulated by by-laws than by Statutes. Of course, changes in 
Statutes should not be made without all Members having ample opportunity to examine