FAO's new director-general
The new deputy director-general
Meetings
NORRIS E. DODD, new Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, is a farmer, an agricultural administrator, and a student of inter national affairs.
Mr. Dodd, Undersecretary of Agriculture of the United States of America since April 1946, was named by acclamation of the FAO Conference in a special session at Washington, 14 April. He has succeeded the Organization's first Director-General, Sir John Boyd Orr, of Scotland.
On the occasion of his. successor's election, Sir John said, "It is difficult to get nations to co-operate on a political level. The world is torn by political strife. But through FAO the nations are cooperating. Here round the Council table representatives of governments are not talking about war, not thinking about war. They are planning for the greatest movement that will make for peace...."
The new Director-General has been prominently identified with FAO since 1946. He led the United States delegation at the FAO Copenhagen Conference (1946) and the Geneva Conference (1947), and he represented his country on the Preparatory Commission on World Food Proposals (October 1946-January 1947). He has been the United States representative at both sessions (November 1947 and April 1948) of the recently organized Council of FAO.
Before his appointment as Undersecretary of Agriculture, Mr. Dodd was director of the Field Service Branch of the Department's Production and Marketing Administration from August 1945, and before that he served as chief of the Agricultural Adjustment Agency from June 1943. This agency had the major responsibility for food production during the war.
Mr. Dodd, who still operates his Oregon grain and livestock ranch, came to Washington in the fall of 1938 as assistant director of the AAA's Western Division, which was responsible for ad-. ministering a wide variety of commodity programs in 13 western states. In March 1939 he was made Western Division Director, a position he held for the next four years.
Mr. Dodd's service with the AAA programs goes back to their earliest operations in 1933. His first position was the
chairmanship of his County AAA Wheat Committee, and later he was made State chairman of the Oregon Corn-Hog Board of Review. In 1936 he was named chairman of the Oregon State Agricultural Conservation Committee. Two years later he was selected to serve as the AAA's field representative in the Western States, a position which he held until he was advanced to the assistant directorship.
Mr. Dodd was born 20 July 1879, in Chickasaw County, Iowa, and settled in Oregon in 1900. For many years he has stood as a moral force in the development of the food and agriculture policies that underlie FAO philosophy. He has been a leader in promoting rational programs to stabilize agricultural prices in order to bring to the world a better and more secure food supply.
Norris E. Dodd, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
SIR HERBERT BROADLEY, Deputy Secretary of the United Kingdom Ministry of Food, has been named Deputy Director-General of FAO.
Sir Herbert, an administrator of wide experience, has succeeded Mr. Noble Clark, who served as interim Deputy Director- General on loan to FAO from the University of Wisconsin.
Sir Herbert has had long association with FAO, going back to the first Annual Conference at Quebec in 1945, when he was a member of the United Kingdom delegation. He was chairman of the Committee on Conservation and Expansion of Supplies at the Special
Meeting on Urgent Food Problems held in Washington in 1946. At the 1946 Copenhagen Conference he was chairman of the World Food Board Committee.
Sir Herbert was born 23 November 1892. After attending the University of London, he entered the British Civil Service in 1912 and continued in that service until 1926, the last six years with the Board of Trade. He resigned in 1926 to join an advertising firm as director. At the outbreak of the war in 1939 he returned to government service with the Ministry of Food.
Sir Herbert was made a Knight of the British Empire in 1947.
Sir Herbert Broadley, the Organization's new Deputy Director-General.
STANDING ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY AND FOREST PRODUCTS
The Standing Advisory Committee on Forestry and Forest Products met at the headquarters of the Organization in Washington from 31 May to 5 June, under the chairmanship of Lyle F. Watts, Chief of the United States Forest Service.
After electing H. G. Champion, Professor of Forestry at Oxford University, as rapporteur, the Committee reviewed the activities of the Forestry and Forest Products Division for the past year and considered the Director's report on the work accomplished. Individual members of. the Division's staff reported on the various projects with which they had been especially concerned. In completing its review of these activities, the Committee expressed its satisfaction with the work accomplished by the Division with the limited resources at its disposal.
The Committee next reviewed the program of work proposed by the Director for 1948/49 and its financial implications. It discussed separately the work of the Forestry Branch and of the Forest Products Branch, programs for Asia and the Par East, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, and the regional work of the European Working Group.
Considerable discussion took place regarding the arrangements and agenda for the Third World Forestry Congress, which is being organized by the government of Finland for July 1949 at Helsinki. Professor Osara of Finland was present by invitation when these arrangements were considered. The Committee recognized that the chief purpose of the Congress should be to bring together practicing technical and research foresters, and that discussions should be concentrated on a limited number of outstanding problems rather than, on broad matters of policy, for which the Annual FAO Conference might be the more suitable occasion.
The Committee also reviewed the activities and progress of its technical subcommittees E. I. Kotok and T. Gill attended the sessions at which the work of the Research and Unexploited Forests Subcommittees was considered and reported on the activities which they had directed as chairmen. In view of changed circumstances in the composition of the Standing Advisory Committee, the Committee proposed that the title of these subsidiary bodies should be changed to technical committees or special committees. The membership of these committees should be varied to suit the special subjects under consideration at any time.
In forwarding its recommendations to the Director-General in a confidential report, the Committee expressed the view that the execution of the proposed 1948/49 program, in which it concurred, reflected a very judicious selection of the most urgent tasks from the many that the Division should be undertaking. It was confident that the execution of this program would result in steady progress along lines developing from past activities and in certain new fields. It was recognized, however, that shortage of staff and funds has inevitably resulted in the postponement of several activities which call urgently for attention.
Members of the Committee attending the meeting, in addition to those already mentioned, were: A. Fjelstad, Delegate of the Royal Norwegian Government on Agricultural Affairs; S. C. Lee, Chief of the Department of Forestry, Nanking; D. A. MacDonald, Acting Dominion Forester, Canada; H. Mark, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, New York; E. Saari, Forestry Department, University of Helsinki; P. de Souza, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Rio de Janeiro.
B. Dufay (France), G. Cerf (Belgium), and H. Winkelmann (Switzerland), were unable to be present.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON FORESTRY AND FOREST PRODUCTS
The first session of the European Commission on Forestry and Forest Products was held at Geneva from 6 to 12 July 1948 with delegates from 19 countries present. In an opening statement the Director of FAO's Division of Forestry and Forest Products pointed out that the Commission would be primarily concerned with meeting long-term problems, but would work closely with the FAO/ECE Timber Committee. Its principal objective should be self-sufficiency for the continent of Europe as regards timber. This would entail co-ordination of national forest policies to secure increased production and more efficient utilization. The Director suggested that FAO, on the request of interested governments, might make recommendations to appropriate international agencies in cases where external aid was required.
On the proposal of the Chairman, Mr. B. Dufay, Director-general of Waters and Forests, France, the Commission drew up a tentative balance sheet of timber resources and requirements, from which three general conclusions were drawn, namely, the necessity for better utilization, the need to increase the productivity of existing forests by better techniques, and the urgent requirement to increase the area of European productive forests.
Statements of national forest policies, presented by each of the European countries represented, brought out in detail the extensive overcutting and great destruction or damage resulting from the war or its consequences. The Commission was encouraged by the extent to which remedial measures are being applied and the importance attached to the development of proper forest policies in the postwar national plans of European governments.
The Commission set up four committees: inventory and statistics, increased production, expansion of productive forests, and Mediterranean problems. The committee reports were adopted by the Commission. The recommendation of the Mediterranean problems committee for the establishment of a special subcommission on Mediterranean problems was acted upon immediately and the Italian delegation was requested to organize the first meeting to be held in Rome during the fall of 1948.
Advance copies of FAO reports, Forest Resources of the World and Yearbook of Forest Products Statistics, were made available. These reports facilitated the work of the Commission by providing a great quantity of data not otherwise available.
FAO/ECE TIMBER COMMITTEE
The third session of the FAO/ECE Timber Committee was held at Geneva from 28 June to 2 July 1948 under the Chairmanship of Mr. B. Dufay, Director-general of Waters and Forests, France. Forty-seven delegates from 19 countries were present. Primary attention was directed to the increasing shortage of supplies of sawn softwood which will attain serious proportions in 1949/1950. The effective import demand is expected to increase while at the same time normal export availabilities will be considerably less. The gap for 1949 was estimated by the Committee at approximately one million standards, due, in part, to increased diversion of roundwood supplies to pulp and, in part, to an anticipated sharp decline in exports from the Bizone of Germany.
The Committee gave some consideration to the competition of pulpwood for roundwood supplies usable for both sawn timber and pulpwood. Attention was also drawn to the fact that the ECE Committee on Industry and Materials had invited the Executive Secretary to consult with the Timber Committee and with FAO regarding a proposed study of the European wood pulp situation, in view of the close interrelationship between sawn timber, pitprops, pulp, and other forest products. It invited the Executive Secretary of ECE and' the Director-General of FAO to investigate the matter and present a report to the Committee at a later stage.
The Committee expressed great interest in the joint FAO/ECE project on economies in timber consumption. Undertaken in co-operation with FAO and the Housing Subcommittee of ECE, this study should promote the more intelligent use of timber by prevention of waste in the forest and in manufacturing operations and by progressive standardization in housing construction methods.
Further consideration was given to proposals for International Bank credits to enable exporting countries to increase production and exports of softwood and pitprops by substantial amounts in 1949 and 1950. Tentative agreement was reached on revised proposals which involve the submission of additional details as to equipment requirements and purchase possibilities. The Committee decided that a further discussion would be necessary when this information had been received, and agreed not to adjourn, but to recess, and reconvene as soon as the necessary material had been assembled.
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON WOOD CHEMISTRY
Second Meeting
On 14 and 15 May the FAO Technical Committee on Wood Chemistry held its second meeting in the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Chairman of the meeting was Herman Mark, Director, Polymer Research Institute, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. The Conference was attended by delegates of 9 European countries.
Austria. R. Scheuble, Director, Forestry Research Institute, Mariabrunn, and A. von Wacek, Director, Division of Organic Wood Chemistry, Chemical Institute, Vienna.
Belgium. E. Castagne, Director, Chemical Research Laboratory, Ministry of Colonies, Tervuren, and A. Gillet, Dean, University of Liege.
Finland. B. R. Nyberg, Director, Central Laboratories, Helsinki, and O. Ant-Wuorinen, Director, Chemical Laboratories, State Institute of Technical Research, Helsinki.
France. J. Campredon, Director, National Wood Institute, Paris; E. W. Fauconeau, Director, Pine Institute, Faculty of Science, Bordeaux; and A. C. Villiere, Chief, Industrial Chemistry Division, National Wood Institute, Paris.
Italy. G. Centola, Director, Pulp Research Station; Milan.
Netherlands. J. L. Bienfait, Director, Forest Products Division, Central Institute for Testing Materials, Delft.
Norway. S. Samuelson, Director, Paper Research Institute, Oslo.
Sweden. Eric Haegglund, Director, Central Laboratories of the Pulp Industry, Stockholm, and E. Waldenstrom, Director, Swedish Pulp Company, Stockholm.
Switzerland. A. Kung, Pulp Factory, Attisholz.
Secretary of the meeting was D. Roy Cameron, Chief, FAO Forestry Working Group, Geneva.
The chief purpose of the meeting was to familiarize the European delegates with the discussions and conversations which had taken place in America during the past few years in conjunction with the establishment and possible activities of this Committee and to obtain their views about the desirability of such a committee and about its functions. The Chairman, therefore, gave a brief report on the meetings in New York in February and Appleton in September 1947, and submitted the ideas and suggestions of the American wood chemists to their European colleagues. There followed an animated discussion amongst all members, the focal point of which was whether, in view of the many existing organizations, a committee of this kind is at all necessary or desirable Many good arguments were offered pro and con and, after A careful analysis of the entire situation, the members reached the conclusion that the establishment and maintenance of a technical committee on wood chemistry appears to be desirable. In conclusion, the Chairman summarized the essential points which might usefully form the basis of the committee's work, as follows: (a) advising FAO on technical projects and studies in the field of wood chemistry which FAO is requested to undertake; (b) collection of information concerning laboratory and library facilities; (c) promotion of rapid, world-wide distribution of scientific literature; (d) study of the possibilities of initiating an abstracting service. in the field of wood chemistry; and (e) informal exchange of information on various methods of research.
The Chairman's summary of the general lines which the activities of, the Committee might usefully follow was approved. It was also noted that it seemed generally agreed that the Committee should meet about once a year.
The Committee then heard the reports of the various delegates which essentially described for each country, (a) the available facilities for research and development work in the entire field of wood chemistry, and (b) the specific problems to be faced in the field of wood chemistry and chemical wood utilization.
These reports were discussed during the meeting; they presented a very impressive picture of the wealth and complexity of the problems which face FAO and its Forestry and Forest Products Division.
Third Meeting
The Third Meeting of the Committee on Wood Chemistry was convened on 14 and 15 August in Cleveland, Wisconsin. Besides the American, delegates, outstanding European wood chemists from Sweden, Holland, and Great Britain attended.
On the agenda for the meeting were such important items as educational problems and the exchange of technicians, tree farms in the United States, a World plan for forestry combines, and the Chemistry World Congress in Stockholm.
COMMITTEE ON MECHANICAL WOOD TECHNOLOGY
The FAO Committee on Mechanical Wood Technology held an important meeting at the Palais des Nations at Geneva, Switzerland, 8 to 12 June. Mr. Jean Campredon, France, was Chairman.
The Conference was attended by delegates of 12 countries.
Argentina. O. Planella, Chief, Division of Forestry Products, Institute of Technology SIC, Buenos Aires.
Australia. K. L. Cooper, Officer in charge, Timber Mechanics Section, Division of Forest Products, C.S.I.R., Australia.
Austria. G. Giannelia, Secretary-General of the Austrian Society of Forest Products Research, Vienna; E. Melan, Professor, Institute of Technology of the University of Vienna; and M. Schlager, Austrian Association for Wood Construction, Linz.
Belgium. J. A. G. Fouarge, Forestry Laboratory, Institute of Agriculture, Gembloux.
Czechoslovakia. A Travnik, Forest Products Research Institute, Bratislava.
Finland. F. E. Siimes, State Technical Research Institute of Finland, Helsinki.
France. J. Campredon, Chief, Central Wood Research Laboratory, Paris.
Italy. G. Giordano, Professor of Wood Technology at the Forestry Institute of the University of Florence.
Netherlands. J. L. Bienfait, Director of the Forest Products Research Laboratory, Central Institute for Testing Materials, Delft.
Switzerland. H. Kuhne, Section Chief, Federal Laboratories for Testing Materials.
United Kingdom. J. Latham, Officer in Charge of Timber Mechanics, Forest Products Research Laboratory, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Princes Risborough.
United States of America. L. J. Markwardt, Assistant Director, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin.
The agenda of the meeting called for consideration of three broad problems of international interest in the field of forest products as follows:
(1) International Standardization of Methods for Testing Small Clear Specimens,(2) Wood Utilization Studies,
(3) Combined Forestry and Utilization Problems Relating to the Development of Forest Resources.
The deliberations on International Standardization of Methods of Testing Small Clear Specimens included (a) a discussion of the general underlying principles; (b) consideration of detailed procedures for five principal tests, namely compression parallel to grain, tension parallel to grain, shear parallel to grain, static bending, and impact bending; (c) review of a second group of tests comprising tension perpendicular to grain, compression perpendicular to grain, cleavage, and hardness; and (d) a report on the standardization of methods of testing fiberboards.
The Committee adopted a number of resolutions covering the question of preferred sizes for test material and various detailed requirements for the compression-parallel-to-grain test, and the static-bending and impact-bending tests. Because of the many factors and details involved, the entire time was taken up with problems relating to the standardization of methods of testing, and it was accordingly not possible to cover the other items on the agenda.
A draft report was presented to the Committee summarizing certain present and recommended practices relating to tests of structural fiberboards. It was pointed out that this draft incorporated also the results of some recent research studies relating to size and form of specimen and testing speeds. The delegates were invited to submit comments and suggestions on the draft entitled "Methods of Test for Evaluating the Properties of Building Boards" to Mr. L. J. Markwardt at the U. S. Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, with the thought that these will be summarized for further consideration by the Committee.
In order to carry forward still further the work of the Committee with respect to methods of testing, assignments were made for a number of special studies, on which a report is to be made to the Committee at some forthcoming meeting. The specific study assignments are as follows:
(a) General requirements on factors related to strength:
(Mr. COOPER, Australia)
i. The calibration and use of test equipment.ii. Methods for determining the moisture content and the distribution thereof in the samples.
iii. The interrelation between moisture content, specific gravity, and other physical and mechanical properties.
iv. The swelling and shrinking properties and the influence thereof on the behavior of wood.
v. Methods of presenting data.
(b) Tension parallel to grain:
(Mr. KUEHNE, Switzerland)
i. To study the methods and procedures used in the tension-parallel-to-grain test, particularly with respect to the influence on test results of such factors as size and proportion of test piece, stress distribution, and density.ii. To prepare a summary of various methods and procedures as furnished by the delegates for distribution to the Committee membership and for later discussion.
iii. To make such further studies as are necessary to compare better the various methods used, as a guide for future progress in standardization.
(c) Shear parallel to grain:
(Mr. MARKWARDT, U.S.A.)
To assemble information on different shear test methods and procedures used, with special consideration to the cube as a form of test specimen; to compare results as far as possible and summarize procedures and findings as the basis for a. study report to the Committee.(d) Impact bending:
(Mr. MARKWARDT, U.S.A.)
To prepare a summary of the various test methods and procedures used; to secure data from other members on the effect of notched specimens in the Izod test for correlation with other data; and to summarize procedures and findings as the basis for a study report to the Committee.(e) Group Two Tests (Tension perpendicular to grain, compression perpendicular to grain, cleavage, and hardness):
(Mr. BIENFAIT, Holland)
To report on the standardization of all the tests mentioned in the second group in the General Agenda, June 1948, for the discussion of which time was lacking. The item, abrasion, if possible, should be added to the subjects already mentioned.(f) Fiberboards:
(Mr. MARKWARDT, U.S.A.)
Subsequent to the presentation of the special report on methods of testing fiberboards (FPL mimeograph R1712, entitled "Methods of Test for Evaluating the Properties of Building Boards"), the members are requested to submit comments and suggestions to Mr, Markwardt for analysis and summarization in connection with a subsequent report for consideration point by point by the Committee at the next meeting. Study should be made also of additional methods, including puncture resistance and behavior when subjected to high humidities.(g) Plywood, laminated wood, and modified wood:
(Mr. SIIMES, Finland)
To summarize methods used in the testing on plywoods, laminated wood, and modified wood.(h) Structural grading of timber:
(Mr. SIIMES, Finland)
Because of the importance of structural grading, to make a summary of present grades and grading methods, as the basis for detailed discussion at the forthcoming meeting.
UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSIONS
ECAFE
The Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East completed a twelve-day session at Ootacamund, India, on 12 June. The Commission's planning stage is now over and the action stage has been reached. The meeting appealed to advanced industrial countries to supply capital goods and basic materials to countries in Asia and the Far East to help their industrial rehabilitation. Countries of the ECAFE region are requested to specify their short-term needs and long-term development plans, and give a clear definition of their policies in order to promote conditions favorable to investment and enterprise in the region. The Commission endorsed the convening by FAO of an international timber conference in that region to be held early in 1949, to stimulate interregional trade and seek solutions to common forestry problems.
ECLA
The Economic Commission for Latin America held its first session in June at Santiago, Chile ECLA is concerned with 150 million people living in 20 countries which cover an area of 20.2 million km2. These people have adapted themselves to every extreme of climate. The soil and natural resources of Latin America offer the main challenge. Prosperity is possible, but Latin America is desperately poor in what is needed to extract, process, and distribute its riches to the rest of the world. There is little or no traditional policy of co-ordination among the various political units of Latin America. Most of the republics developed their trade not with each other but with the outside world.
ECLA is to undertake first an economic survey, of Latin America, determining the main economic characteristics, the region's problems and their relationship with world economic conditions. In the course of this survey, FAO will be able to co-operate in examination of many fields recommended for study by the Latin-American Conference on Forestry and Forest Products, held in Brazil in April of this year.
FORESTRY SURVEY IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC AREA
In order to lay the groundwork for the forthcoming Forestry and Timber Utilization Conference in Asia and the Pacific Area, an officer of the Forestry and Forest Products Division spent almost five months touring Pakistan, India, Burma, Siam, China, the Philippines, Indo-China, Malaya, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. In addition to conferring with government officials, heads of research institutions, and forest school faculty members, he visited logging operations, sawmills, plywood plants, and other wood-using industries, and spoke to both exporters and importers as well as producers of timber, The existence in some countries of urgent remands for lumber, fuelwood, and other wood products on the one hand, and, on the other, countries with almost untapped virgin timber; the fine development of research in several countries and a keen interest for research in others; the existence of a number of good forestry schools which could help train students from other countries; and especially the excellent work of many experienced foresters which could be greatly expanded: all of these things stress the importance of the forthcoming conference. A more complete report will be given in a later issue of UNASYLVA.
