The IMO Conference of Directors, Washington DC (continued)

The official visual record of the Conference of Directors includes photographs of 44 individuals signing the Convention but in some cases more than one individual from the same country was a signatory, and in others the signatory was from a colonial dependency which did not have full status under the Convention

It is interesting to note that of the 44 individuals who signed the Conventione from meteorological services in Europe, seven from North and Central America, eight from Asia and the Middle East, six from South America, three from Africa and three from the South-west Pacific, Warren, Barnett (NZ) and del Rosario (Philippines).

The important outcome was that agreement had been obtained to the wording of the Convention. There had been four alternative proposals, from Canada, UK, France and the US, to the wording which had been agreed at the meeting of the IMC in France in mid-1946 after considering the original proposed in 1939 by Hesselberg.

During discussion of these proposals H. N. Warren was asked to chair a committee (which included Hesselberg, Sir Nelson Johnson and Reichelderfer) which produced the version which was finally found acceptable. It was significant that Warren was asked to join Sir Nelson Johnson in a photograph showing Reichelderfer signing the Convention.

Figure 19 H. N. Warren signs newly drafted Convention of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on behalf of Australia.

Figure 20 Reichelderfer signs Convention of WMO on behalf of USA watched by the President of IMO, Sir Nelson Johnson (UK) and H. N. Warren.

It is a tribute to the practical commonsense of Warren that he was able to persuade Hesselberg, Johnson and Reichelderfer to agree to a final version. Although not a qualified meteorologist Warren had obviously impressed the other delegates at the meetings in Toronto and Washington. They obviously had great confidence in his judgement and integrity.

In addition to the sessions concerned with the Convention there were 400 resolutions of the Technical Commissions and the Regional Associations to consider. These discussions were somewhat boring as we had already been involved in the deliberations at Toronto and the three weeks available in Washington permitted only a cursory examination of these matters.

There is much more to tell of the transition from IMO to WMO but this must wait for a while.

Bureau of Meteorology