held at Paris in 1875. The following is the text of the convention and attached regulations: INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES Article 1. The high contracting parties engage to establish and maintain, at their common expense, a scientific and permanent international bureau of weights and measures, the location of which shall be at Paris. Art. 2. The French Government shall take all the necessary measures to facilitate the purchase, or, if expedient, the construction, of a building which shall be especially devoted to this purpose, subject to the conditions stated in the regulations which are subjoined to this convention. Art. 3. The operation of the international bureau shall be under the exclusive direction and supervision of an international committee of weights and measures, which latter shall be under the control of a general conference for weights and measures, to be composed of delegates of all the contracting governments. Art. 4. The general conference for weights and measures shall be presided over by the president for the time being of the Paris Academy of Science. Art. 5. The organization of the bureau, as well as the formation and the powers of the international committee, and of the general conference for weights and measures, are established by the regulations subjoined to this convention. Art. 6. The international bureau of weights and measures shall be charged with the following duties: Ist. All comparisons and verifications of the new prototypes of the meter and kilogram. 2d. The custody of the international prototypes. 3rd. The periodical comparison of the national standards with the international prototypes and with their test copies, as well as comparison of the standard thermometers. 4th. The comparison of the prototypes with the fundamental standards of the non-metrical weights and measures used in different countries for scientific purposes. 5th. The sealing and comparison of geodesic measuring-bars. 6th. The comparison of standards and scales of precision, the verification of which may be requested by governments or by scientific societies, or even by constructors or men of science. Art. 7. The persons composing the bureau shall be a director, two assistants, and the necessary number of employés. When the comparisons of the new prototypes shall have been finished, and when these prototypes shall have been distributed among the different states, the number of persons composing the bureau shall be reduced so far as may be deemed expedient. The governments of the high contracting parties will be informed by the international committee of the appointment of the persons composing this bureau. Art. 8. The international prototypes of the meter and of the kilogram, together with the test copies of the same, shall be deposited in the bureau, and access to them shall be allowed to the international committee only. Art. 9. The entire expense of the construction and outfit of the international bureau of weights and measures, together with the annual cost of its maintenance and the expenses of the committee, shall be defrayed by contributions from the contracting states, the amount of which shall be computed in proportion to the actual population of each. Art. 10. The amounts representing the contributions of each of the contracting states shall be paid at the beginning of each year, through the ministry of foreign affairs of France, into the Caisse de depöts et consignations at Paris, whence they may be drawn as occasion may require, upon the order of the director of the bureau. Art. 11. Those governments which may take advantage of the privilege, open to every state, of acceding to this convention, shall be required to pay a contribution, the amount of which shall be fixed by the committee on the basis established in article 9, and which shall be devoted to the improvement of the scientific apparatus of the bureau. Art. 12. The high contracting parties reserve to themselves the power of introducing into the present convention, by common consent, any modifications the propriety of which may have been shown by experience. Art. 13. At the expiration of twelve years this convention may be abrogated by any one of the high contracting parties, so far as it is concerned. Any government which may avail itself of the right of terminating this convention, so far as it is concerned, shall be required to give notice of its intentions one year in advance, and by so doing shall renounce all rights of joint ownership in the international prototypes and in the bureau. Art. 14. This convention shall be ratified according to the constitutional laws of each state, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in Paris within six months, or sooner, if possible. It shall take effect on the first day of January, 1876. In testimony whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have attached their signatures and have hereunto affixed their seals of arms. Done at Paris, May 20, 1875.3 REGULATIONS Article 1. The international bureau of weights and measures shall be established in a special building, possessing all the necessary safeguards of stillness and stability. 3 Senate Documents, 2d Session 61st Congress, 48, 1924 to 1935. It shall comprise, in addition to the vault, which shall be devoted to the safe-keeping of the prototypes, rooms for mounting the comparators and balances; a laboratory, a library, a room for the archives, work-rooms for the employés, and lodgings for the watchmen and attendants. Art. 2. It shall be the duty of the international committee to acquire and fit up the aforesaid building and to set in operation the work for which it was designed. In case of the committee's inability to obtain a suitable building, one shall be built under its directions and in accordance with its plans. Art. 3. The French Government shall, at the request of the international committee, take the necessary measures to cause the bureau to be recognized as an establishment of public utility. Art. 4. The international committee shall cause the necessary instruments to be constructed, such as comparators of the standards of line and end measures, apparatus for the determination of absolute dilations, balances for weighing in air and in vacuo, comparators for geodetic measuring-bars, &c. Art. 5. The entire expense incurred in the purchase or construction of the building, and in the purchase and placing of the instruments and apparatus, shall not exceed 400,000 francs. Art. 6. The estimate of annual expenditures is as follows: Pay of door-keeper, (mechanic). Wages of two office-boys, at 1,500 fr. each...... Total for salaries..... (b) Compensation of men of science and artists who, by direction of the committee, may be employed to perform special duties, keeping the building in proper order, purchase and repair of apparatus, fuel, light, and office-expenses 15,000 fr. 12,000 12,000 3,000 3,000 45,000 24,000 (c) Compensation of the secretary of the international com- 6,000 Total 75,000 The annual budget of the bureau may be modified by the international committee as necessity may require at the suggestion of the director, but it shall in no case exceed the sum of 100,000 francs. The contracting governments shall be notified of any modifications that the committee may think proper to make within these limits, in the annual budget fixed by the present regulations. The committee may authorize the director, at his request, to make transfers from one subdivision of the allotted budget to another. B. For the period subsequent to the distribution of the prototypes: (a) Salary of the director.... of one adjunct. Pay of a door-keeper, (mechanic). 15,000 fr. 6,000 3,000 1,500 18,500 (c) Compensation of secretary, international committee....... 6,000 Total ..... 50,000 (b) Office-expenses Art. 7. The general conference mentioned in article 3 of the convention shall be at Paris, upon the summons of the international committee, at least once every six years. It shall be its duty to discuss and initiate measures necessary for the dissemination and improvement of the metrical system, and to pass upon such fundamental metrological determinations as may have been made during the time when it was not in session. It shall receive the report of the international committee concerning the work that has been accomplished, and shall replace one half of the international committee by secret ballot. The voting in the general conference shall be by states; each state shall be entitled to one vote. Each of the members of the international committee shall be entitled to a seat at the meetings of the conference. They may at the same time be delegates of their governments. Art. 8. The international committee mentioned in article 3 of the convention shall be composed of fourteen members, who shall belong to different states. It shall consist, at first, of the twelve members of the former permanent committee of the international commission of 1872, and of the two delegates, who, at the time of the appointment of that permanent committee, received the largest number of votes next to the members who were elected. At the time of the renewal of one-half of the international committee, the retiring members shall be, first, those who, in cases of vacancy, may have been elected provisionally during the interval occurring between two sessions of the conference. The others shall be designated by lot. The retiring members shall be re-eligible. Art. 9. The international committee shall direct the work connected with the verification of the new prototypes, and, in general, all the metrological labors, as the high contracting parties may decide to have per formed at the common expense. It shall, moreover, exercise supervision over the safe-keeping of the international prototypes. Art. 10. The international committee shall choose its chairman and secretary by secret ballot. The governments of the high contracting parties shall be notified of the result of such elections. The chairman and secretary of the committee, and the director of the bureau, must belong to different countries. After having been formed, the committee shall hold no new elections and make no new appointments until three months after notice thereof shall have been given to all the members by the bureau of the committee. Art. 11. Until the new prototypes shall have been finished and distributed, the committee shall meet at least once a year. After that time its meetings shall be held at least biennially. Art. 12. Questions upon which a vote is taken in the committee shall be decided by a majority of the votes cast. In case of a tie, the vote of the chairman shall decide. No resolution shall be considered to have been duly adopted unless the number of members present be at least equal to a majority of the members composing the committee. This condition being fulfilled, absent members shall have the right to authorize members who are present to vote for them, and the members thus authorized shall furnish proper evidence of their authorization. The same shall be the case in elections by secret ballot. Art. 13. During the interval occurring between two sessions, the committee shall have the right to discuss questions by correspondence. In such cases, in order that its resolutions may be considered to have been adopted in due form, it shall be necessary for all the members of the committee to have been called upon to express their opinions. Art. 14. The international committee for weights and measures shall provisionally fill such vacancies as may occur in it; these elections shall take place by correspondence, each of the members being called upon to take part therein. Art. 15. The international committee shall prepare detailed regulations for the organization and the labors of the bureau, and shall fix the amounts to be paid for the performance of the extraordinary duties provided for in article 6 of this convention. Such amounts shall be applied to the improvement of the scientific apparatus of the bureau. Art. 16. All communications from the international committee to the governments of the high contracting parties shall take place through the diplomatic representatives of such countries at Paris. For all matters requiring the attention of the French authorities, the committee shall have recourse to the ministry of foreign affairs of France. Art. 17. The director of the bureau and the adjuncts shall be chosen by the international committee by secret ballot. |