DELEGATES MEETINGS
49
Mais je voudrais souligner pour cette assemblée des délégués que c’est seulement
par un vote que l’on pourra décider, mais les quatre votes viendraient à peu près au
même - c'est à dire qu’un quart voterait pour l’Allemagne, un quart pour un autre
groupe, etc etc et il serait bien difficile qu’il y ait une majorité nette pour l’un de ces
quatre pays. Dès lors je répète mon argument d’hier. Etant donné que le seul pays
qui présente une différence par rapport aux autres est le Portugal, je me permets de
proposer le Portugal.
Professeur G. Poivilliers: Je voulais simplement dire que la France est com
plètement d'accord avec l’Italie et avec l’exposé que vient de faire Monsieur Cas
sinis.
The President thanked these delegates for their remarks and for their in
vitations. He said that the IS P was fortunate in having so many attractive offers
presented to it and in having so many members who were willing and able at such
short notice, not only to undertake to organise the congress in 1964, but also to
conduct the affairs of the Society for the next four years. He would like to express
the sincere gratitude and appreciation which he knew the Society felt. Nevertheless
the choice before the delegates was one of some delicacy, since factors, such as
national or personal prestige for instance, which might not be strictly germane to the
relative merits of the various facilities offered, would need to be taken into account
even though not perhaps openly discussed. He knew that delegates would wish to
decide this matter in a diplomatic and friendly way, and that their chief consideration
would be the welfare of the Society. He would now ask the delegates to express their
views. He assured them that, though their words were being recorded, he had no
intention of publishing a verbatim report of what would be said or of attributing
particular views to particular speakers in the record. It would be quite wrong to do
so, and he hoped this assurance would enable them to speak more freely so that the
meeting might the more easily find the most agreeable solution.
A useful discussion then ensued in which many delegates took part and expres
sed their thoughts on the matter. The following points were put forward in a variety
of forms.
* That all the invitations were very attractive. Any one of these countries was
fully capable of organising an excellent Congress and no doubt of surpassing
former congresses in excellence. The difficulty lay in choosing between them.
* That the hosts would not only have to organise the next congress and publish
the Archives, but would also have to provide the President and administer the
Society’s affairs for the next four years.
* That some greater degree of continuity from one Administration to the
next might be desirable. There was none within the Administration and very
little within the Council.
* That the conduct of the affairs of the seven Technical Commissions was
distributed between many other countries.
* That Portugal’s invitation differed from all the others in that all the others
had been hosts on previous occasions, while Portugal had not.
* That there were advantages in going to a fresh country.
* That the time might come when the congress might wish to visit fresh con
tinents also.
* That there were advantages in going to a country that was in the van of
photogrammetric progress and practice, where stimulating contacts and leader
ship could be found, and advantages also in going to less developed countries,