10

COMMERCIAL  INTELLIGENCE  COMMITTEE  :

(/  )  The  commercial  and  industrial  centres  of  the  country,  and  the  area,
population,  and  industries  of  the  regions  they  draw  from  or
supply.
(g)  The  terms  of  credit  given  by  foreign  traders  ;  coinage  ;  exchanges  ;
postal  routes  ;  commercial  representation  ;  warehousing  facilities,
&amp;e.
(h)  The  customs  regulations;  legal  procedure  in  commercial  matters;
piracy  of  trade  marks  ;  false  indication  of  origin,  &amp;c.
It  should  be  added,  with  regard  to  the  Persian  Mission,  that  in  view  of
the  importance  of  the  region  of  the  Persian  Gulf  commercially,  the  Committee
have  thought  it  desirable  to  extend  Mr.  Maclean’s  commission  somewhat,
and  he  was  accordingly  requested  to  proceed  to  Muscat  immediately  on  the
conclusion  of  his  Persian  business.  Mr.  Maclean  is  now  prosecuting  his
inquiries  in  the  Muscat  region.  The  extension  will,  of  course,  involve  some
additional  charge  on  the  Committee’s  funds.
A  certain  amount  of  information  in  the  shape  of  preliminary  reports  and
memoranda  has  been  received  by  the  Committee  from  both  Mr.  Cooke  and
Mr.  Maclean.  So  far  as  this  information  is  of  general  interest,  and  not  of  a
confidential  character,  it  has  been  published  in  notices  in  the  “  Board  of
Trade  Journal  ”  and  in  the  “  Board  of  Agriculture  Journal.”  Reference
may  be  particularly  made  to  the  following  :—
“Board  of  Trade  Journal  ”  for  5  November  1903,  pages  254-5.
“  Board  of  Trade  Journal  ”  for  31  December  1903,  pages  636-9.
“  Board  of  Agriculture  Journal  ”  for  December  1903,  pages  370-8.
Further  reports,  including  a  general  report  on  the  Persian  Mission,  are
now  in  the  press,  and  the  Committee  propose  to  publish  them  shortly  for
the  information  of  the  commercial  classes  generally.  A  general  report  on
the  Siberian  Mission  is  expected  shortly,  as  is  also  a  report  with  regard
to  the  Muscat  region,  and  these,  when  received,  will  be  dealt  with  in  the
same  way.

Other  Business  of  Committee.
The  Committee  have  further  to  report  that  their  proceedings  have  not
been  confined  to  the  matters  referred  to  in  the  Minute  of  their  appointment,
or  in  the  recommendations  of  the  Departmental  Committee  of  1897.  The
Board  of  Trade  have  recognised  the  advantage  of  having  at  hand  an
advisory  body  versed  in  commercial  affairs  from  both  the  practical  and
official  points  of  view,  and  at  the  same  time  in  close  connection  with  representative ­
  commercial  bodies,  which  they  might  consult  in  matters  of  urgent
importance  to  the  foreign  trade  of  the  country,  such  as  the  tariff  changes
recently  enacted  or  proposed  in  various  Continental  States  in  anticipation  of
the  approaching  expiration  of  the  whole  series  of  Central  European  commercial ­
  treaties,  As  a  consequence  the  Committee  have  been  called  upon  to
consider,  and  to  obtain  the  opinions  of  the  commercial  community  upon,  the
new  German  Customs  tariff  enacted  in  December  1902  ;  the  new  Russian
Customs  tariff  enacted  in  January  1903  ;  and  the  proposed  new  Austro-Hungarian
  Customs  tariff,  which  is  now  before  the  legislatures  of  Austria
and  Hungary.  They  have  more  recently  been  called  upon  to  deal  in  the
same  way  with  the  new  Swiss  tariff  and  with  the  proposed  tariffs  of
Roumania  and  the  Netherlands.

71  .i'l  r  ^  _
New  German  Customs  Tariff.
With  regard  to  the  new  German  tariff,  statements  as  to  the  nature  of  the
proposals  alleged  to  be  in  contemplation  were  brought  to  the  notice  of  the
Committee  at  a  meeting  on  the  19th  April  1901  in  order  to  elicit  their
views  with  regard  thereto.  The  Committee  appointed  a  Sub-Committee,
consisting  of  Mr.  Brittain,  Mr,  Craig  Brown,  Mr.  (now  Sir)  W.  H.  Holland,
and  Sir  Alfred  Hickman,  with  instructions  to  report  for  their  information
a