8 



International Agricultural Institute. 



No pension system which exists in the adhering States prob- 

 ably provides so many advantages to the officials, the State 

 retaining complete liberty of action. 



Selection of the Staff. 



The Permanent Committee, having completed the Regula- 

 tions concerning the Staff, undertook the difficult task of 

 selecting its officials. The work was long and laborious, 

 because there were differences of opinion on the subject. 

 Some delegates thought that selection should depend on 

 one consideration, viz., the competence of a candidate as 

 regards his special work ; whilst other delegates considered 

 that this qualification should be balanced by the question of 

 an international Staff, as indicated in the Regulations 

 (Art. 46). This opinion was based on the obvious necessity 

 of recruiting the Institute from candidates possessing a know- 

 ledge not only of various languages, but also of the agri- 

 cultural, economic, and social conditions of different countries. 

 The practical application of these considerations involved 

 considerable difficulties. It was easy enough, on principle, 

 to see the importance of an international Staff, but the Per- 

 manent Committee did not always possess the information 

 necessary to decide with certainty as to the special suitability 

 of candidates for the duties to be entrusted to them. The can- 

 didates were obviously unknown to the large majority of the 

 members. A delegate might, moreover, conscientiously say 

 that his candidate was fully competent on certain subjects, 

 and had even shown brilliancy in former situations, but it 

 might be difficult for him to affirm that the result would be 

 equally satisfactory when the candidate undertook absolutely 

 new work, such as will be dealt with at the Institute. It was, 

 indeed, possible that the new official, in spite of his qualifi- 

 cations, might find himself in unexpected difficulties in the 

 performance of those special duties. 



It therefore became necessary to find the best means of 

 reconciling the two aspects of the matter, viz., the ability and 

 competence of the candidate and the necessary duties which 

 demand very special qualifications. The Committee con- 

 sidered that the required result could be obtained by engaging 

 each official, without distinction, on an agreement terminable 



