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1.5.2 Minutę 38 is worded as follows:

'The President, in consultation with Professor Kerisel agreed that the following new Committees should be appointed:

(i)    A Sub-Committee to deal with advertisements in the List of Members (including Professional cards).

(ii)    A new Conference Advisorg Sub-Committee to act for the next four years.

(iii)    A Dudget and Finance Sub-Committee to make recommendations on the subject of dues.

(iv)    A Sub-Committee to advise CSIRO on the Institute for the publicity and exchange of geomechanics Computer programmes.

It was agreed that the members of these committees need not be named at this juncture and dele-gates were invited to make suggestions as to names of suitable persons to serve either to the President or to Professor Kerisel.'

1.6 A Sufc— committee was appointed by the Executive Committee as follows:

Dr. G. D. Aitchison (Chairman)

Mr. A.E. Furley

Mons. J.P. Giroud

Prof. Za-Chieh Moh

Prof. E. Togrol

Prof. C. Viggiani

1.7 In addition to the original list of nominations for the Sub-Committee, the President appointed Dr. C. M. Gerrard as Secretary and Professors H. Meissner (F.R. Germany), B. Ladanyi (Canada) and R.L. Schiffman (USA), as members.

2. REPORT OF ACTIVITIES

2.1    The activities which followed the endorsement of the proposal and the appointment of the Sub-commit-tee members are reported beIow (2.3 and 2.4) in two parts, viz.:

2.11    those activities (2.3) relating to the imple-mentation of the above proposal within the original terms of reference and with advice to CSIRO (see Minutes 19 and 38 above) from the Sub-committee members,

and

2.12    those activities (2.4) relating to the further definition of the functions of the Institute (or equivalent body) for the Publicity and Exchange of Geomechanics Computer Programs and to the reąuire-ment for the endorsement of relevant terms of reference by the Executive Committee.

2.2    Rather surprisingly the two sets of activities outlined in 2.11 and 2.12 above (and further detail-ed in 2.3 and 2.4 below) came into conflict to the severe detriment of progress.

2.21 It was assumed by the writer, upon notification of appointment as Chairman of the Sub-committee, together with advice that the offer by the Division of Applied Geomechanics, CSIRO (under the leader-ship of the writer) to operate IPEGCP had been accepted, that the terms of reference contained in the proposal (1.4 above) were endorsed adequately to provide a basis for the operations of the Institute (in accordance with these terms of reference) during the period between the VIIIth and IXth Conferences.

Ali early action by the writer followed this assumption which seemed to be reasonable sińce it offered an extended trial of the proposed system at no cost to members of ISSMFE.

2.22    However, it became apparent following the Istanbul meeting of the Executive Committee of ISSMFE that the Executive did not consider that any such mandate for immediate action had been given. Indeed, it was then stressed that the first func-tion of the Sub-committee should be to agree on new terms of reference and methods of operation - not necessarily closely related to those originally proposed - and again requiring approval by the Executive Committee.

2.23    In the circumstances of para. 2.22 above, the current role of IPEGCP is unclear. Equally unclear is the ability of any agency to act as voluntary sponsor for the relevant activities sińce the level of commitment is undefined.

2.24    Regrettably the impasse between the intention of the original submission and the intention of the Executive Committee as interpreted at Istanbul has led to a period of hiatus in the activities of IPEGCP.

This hiatus can only be resolved by an adequate clarification of terms of reference and methods of operation prior to endorsement by the Executive Committee and the subsequent acceptance by a sponsoring agency.

2.3 Actiyities relating to the functions of IPEGCP as defined in the submission to the VIIIth Conference

Following the VIIIth Conference it was accepted that the responsibilities for action (in terms of the original proposal) passed through the Australian National Committee to CSIRO for the operation of IPEGCP and, through the undersigned, as Sub-committee Chairman, to members of the Sub-committee for advice on the operation of IPEGCP.

2.31    An action group was established within the Division of Applied Geomechanics under the leader-ship of the undersigned and Dr. C. M. Gerrard.

2.32    In correspondence with all committee members, opinions were invited concerning scope of actiyities, materiał to be handled, format to be used and principles to be adopted in the selection and publication of abstracts.

2.33    It proved to be entirely feasible to accommo-

date all points raised by all committee members with only one exception. (Professor Schiffman submitted an altemative proposal which would have required a scalę of operation incompatible with the resources of CSIRO:    nevertheless such a dissenting

yiewpoint was accepted as a legitimate topie for presentation for consideration by the Executive Committee at the IXth Conference).

2.34 A period of IS years was required to establish contact and effect the above exchange of views. Thereafter the support of committee members was sought in the procuring and transmission of properly documented geomechanics Computer programs.

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