AN interesting account of the deliberations leading to the international acceptance of the new buoyage system (Iala Buoyage System ‘A’), the first phase of which came into effect last year and which was described by the Hydrographer of the Navy in the January 1977 issue of this Journal, formed the subject of one of the papers presented at the International Hydrographic Conference in Monaco in April. The author, Captain J. E. Bury, who is a senior Elder Brother of Trinity House, has for some years been Chairman of the Iala sub-committee which formulated the new system.