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Officers of the Air Traffic Control Section visited Australia on two occasions during the year. The first visit was to attend a conference in Melbourne to discuss and correlate the ICAO South Pacific Supplementary Procedures with those for the North Pacific region and subsequently to redraft the Manual of Operations for International Air Routes within the Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland, and Fiji Flight Information Regions. The second visit was to examine the experimental American-type Flight Progress Display System then on trial at Essendon Airport, with a view to ascertaining its suitability for adoption in New Zealand. The Chief Aeronautical Engineer, the Chief Surveyor, and the Controller of Operations visited Australia on the official survey flight of Tasman Empire Airways Solent flying-boat, and subsequently a member of the Operations Section travelled to Sydney for discussions with the Australian Department of Civil Aviation on the inauguration of scheduled night departures from Sydney by flying-boats on the trans-Tasman service. 5. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) In the report for the year ended 31st March, 1949, the history, constitution, and development of the International Civil Aviation Organization were outlined. The Australian representative on the Council of ICAO, Dr. K. N. E. Bradfield, by courtesy of his Government, watches New Zealand interests and reports on the work of the Organization to this country. Since the last annual report five Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation have been issued by ICAO. These Annexes contain Standards and Recommended Practices for technical and administrative procedures which have received the general agreement of contracting States. Thus— Annex 6 (OPS) contains the Standards and Recommended Practices for the Operation of Aircraft on Scheduled International Air Services. Annex 7 (REG) contains the Standards and Recommended Practices for Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks. Annex 8 (AIR) contains certain Standards and Recommended Practices for the Airworthiness of Aircraft. Annex 9 (FAL) contains the Standards and Recommended Practices for the Facilitation of International Air Transport. Annex 10 (COM) contains the Standards and Recommended Practices for Aeronautical Telecommunications. Authority for the establishment of the standards in the Annexes comes from the Convention on International Civil Aviation drawn up at Chicago in 1944. ICAO standards are designed to foster air safety in two ways : by producing world-wide uniformity of air navigation services and procedures and by ensuring that each nation's aviation practices are maintained at a high standard of quality. At the same time it should be realized that, while some Annexes are substantially complete, others are little more than skeletons upon which ICAO must and will eventually build a complete structure. In the legal field ICAO has undertaken responsibility for the revision and conclusion " of a number of conventions dealing with air law which were formerly the concern of prewar international drafting bodies. These include the Rome Convention (damage to third parties), the Warsaw Convention (liability of air carriers), and the Convention on the International Recognition of Rights in Aircraft. The Legal Committee of the Organization is also studying problems relating to remuneration for search, rescue, and assistance, a matter which is of particular significance in view of the great increase in international air navigation.

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