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SPECIAL TELEGRAPH FACILITIES PROVIDED DURING TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL TEAM To provide for the prompt handling of overseas press traffic relating to the matches played by the South African soccer football team which toured New Zealand during the year, machine-printing facilities were provided at a number of the football-grounds for direct communication with the overseas cable terminal at Auckland. INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCES, ATLANTIC CITY, U.S.A., 1947 Several international telecommunications conferences were held in Atlantic City, United States of America, extending from May until October. The conferences, which were attended by delegates from seventy-nine countries, dealt with the following matters : (1) Revision of the International Telecommunication Convention of Madrid, 1932. (2) Revision of the Radio-communication Regulations of Cairo, 1938. (3) International High-frequency Broadcasting. Conference on International Telecommunication Convention A new International Telecommunication Convention was drawn up by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries, the following being the more important changes made to the Convention of 1932 : (1) An Article has been provided covering membership and voting ; there was no appropriate provision for this in the 1932 Convention. Full membership with voting rights is retained for those countries or groups of countries which at present form the International Telecommunication Union. Countries now joining the United Nations will be granted membership without ballot, while others which are Sovereign States, upon approval by two-thirds of the Members of the Union. Associate membership is granted to any country, territory, or group of countries upon the approval of a majority of the members of the Union. Associate members have not the right to vote in any conference. (2) The International Telecommunication Union was brought into relationship with the United Nations as a " Specialized Agency " in accordance with Article 57 of the Charter of the United Nations. The agreement giving effect to the relationship provides for reciprocal representation and for co-operation with the United Nations and its principal and subsidiary organs. It also provides for assistance to be given in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the International Telecommunication Convention, taking fully into account the particular position of the individual members of the Union who are not members of the United Nations. (3) An Administrative Council consisting of representatives of eighteen member countries was established to function between conferences and to deal with various matters arising from time to time. Previously such matters had either to await the calling together of a conference or be decided by post. (4) In order to provide for an improved method of dealing with the assignment and registration of radio frequencies due to the great increase in the use of the radio-frequency spectrum, an International Frequency Registration 1 ' Board comprised of eleven members, with headquarters at Geneva, was established.

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