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Inter-governmental Commission on the location and development of an international airport at Fiji. This Commission was set up following a recommendation made at the second meeting of the Council held in 1947. The reports of the third meetings of S.P. CANGO and S.P. COMET were considered and adopted by the Council, subject to certain amendments. 3. International Civil Aviation Organization New Zealand is a contracting State to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, drawn up at Chicago on' the 7th December, 1944, with the principal object of bringing about the orderly development of international civil aviation. In the convention, which was ratified by New Zealand on the 7th March, 1947, it was provided that thirty days after the Governments of twenty-six nations (half the number of those represented at the Chicago Conference) had ratified the Convention, a new organizaton, to be known as the International Civil Aviation Organization, was to come into existence. Anticipating that a considerable time was certain to elapse before twenty-six Governments ratified the Convention, the Conference provided for a provisional body to function in the interim period. This Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization (PICAO) was established in August, 1945, and was replaced by the permanent body—the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) —on the 4th April, 1947. Montreal is the permanent site of the Organization's headquarters. At present there are fifty-one member nations of the Organization. Under the terms of an agreement ratified by the United Nations General Assembly on the 14th December, 1946, ICAO is a specialized agency related to the United Nations. Among international organizations with which ICAO works closely are the International Air Transport Association, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the International Telecommunications Union, the International Meteorological Organization, and the Universal Postal Union. All member States of ICAO are sovereign and equal, the Organization being governed by an Assembly in which each State has one vote. The Assembly meets annually ; the first meeting took place in Montreal in May, 1947, and the second in Geneva in June, 1948. The Assembly is the Organization's legislative body. It elects a Council of twentyone members to serve as the executive body. New Zealand has been represented at both Assemblies. Since August, 1945, when the interim Council first met, ICAO and its provisional predecessor have done much to bring uniformity and co-operation to the world of international air transport. Technical standards have been drawn up to apply to international air transport operations, covering such subjects as rules of the air, meteorological codes, dimensional practices, personnel licensing, aeronautical maps and charts, and aircraft nationality and registration marks. The technical annexes relating to Rules of the Air (Annex 2) and Meteorological Codes (Annex 3) became effective in New Zealand on Ist January, 1949. Annex 5, which contains dimensional units to be used in air-ground communications, was brought into use in international air services operating through" New Zealand on the Ist January, 1949. The Standards and Recommended Practices for Aeronautical Charts (Annex 4) were implemented in principle on the Ist March, 1949. Annex 1, being Standards and Recommended Practices for Personnel Licensing, becomes effective on the Ist May, 1949, but it was necessary to notify ICAO that New Zealand would be unable to implement the annex on the effective date, as the provisions of the annex will be incorporated in the new Civil Aviation Regulations at present in course of preparation. Among other things, the recommendations, both technical and administrative of the United Kingdom Mission, require the most careful examination before the regulations are finally approved.

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