COMMERCIAL  INTELLIGENCE  COMMITTEE  :

14  .

APPENDIX  B.

Copy  of  Circular  sent  by  the  Colonial  Office  to  the
various  Colonial  Governments  at  the  instance  of  the
Commercial  Intelligence  Committee.  (See  p.  5.)

Sir,  Downing  Street,  30th  March  1901.
On  the  26th  of  July  1897,  the  Board  of  Trade  appointed  a  Committee
to  consider  and  advise  as  to  the  best  means  of  bringing  to  the  knowledge  of
traders  in  this  country  the  information  furnished  by  Consuls,  Commercial
Attachés,  representatives  of  the  Colonies  and  other  officers  as  to  the  supply
and  demand  and  other  conditions  of  the  markets  in  their  respective  districts,
and  to  report  how  far  arrangements  could  be  made  for  the  exhibition  of  trade
samples  in  London  or  in  provincial  trade  centres.  This  Committee  reported
in  July  1898,  and,  after  full  consideration  of  their  report,  a  copy  of  which  is
enclosed,  and  in  pursuance  of  one  of  the  principal  suggestions  made  in  it,  a
Commercial  Intelligence  Branch  of  the  Board  of  Trade  was  opened  in
October  1899.
2.  With  a  view  to  ensuring  that  the  new  Branch  should  be  kept  as  far  as
possible  in  touch  with  all  those  interested  in  its  efficiency,  and  in  order  to
obtain  advice  of  the  widest  possible  scope  upon  questions  of  commercial
interest,  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  appointed  a  consultative  or
advisory  Committee  consisting  of  the  members  mentioned  in  the  Minute  of
which  a  copy  is  enclosed.*
3.  At  the  instance  of  this  Committee  I  now  enclose  copies  of  a  leafletf  in
which  the  origin  of  the  new  Commercial  Intelligence  Branch  and  its  objects
are  set  out  in  some  detail  ;  and  I  would  ask  that  the  leaflet  may  be  brought
prominently  under  the  notice  of  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  all  others
interested  in  trade  in  the  Colony  under  your  Government.
4.  It  is  hoped  that  benefit  may  result  from  a  proper  use  of  this
Intelligence  Branch,  not  merely  to  the  trade  of  the  United  Kingdom,  but
also  to  the  trade  of  the  Empire  at  large,  and  I  invite  the  cordial  assistance  of
the  Colony  under  your  Government  in  the  endeavour  of  the  advisory
Committee  to  bring  the  branch  thoroughly  into  touch  with  all  representative
bodies  of  British  commercial  men.
5.  A  great  deal  of  valuable  information  is  at  the  disposal  of  Chambers  of
Commerce  both  in  this  country  and  in  the  Colonies,  but  this  information  is
intended  primarily  for  their  own  members,  whereas  it  is  desired  to  place  as
far  as  possible  within  the  reach  of  every  individual  all  available  particulars
which  may  be  of  use  to  him,  and  through  him  to  the  community  at  large.
There  is,  therefore,  room  for  the  Government  to  supplement  private  effort
in  the  collection  and  dissemination  of  commercial  information.
ij'  ,
6.  It  is  desirable  at  the  outset  to  centralise  and  reduce  to  a  system  the
information  which  already  exists.  Such  information  is  collected  in  this
country  through  the  representatives  of  the  self-governing  Colonies,  the
various  Chambers  of  Commerce,  and  the  Imperial  Institute,  and  in  foreign
countries  through  His  Majesty’s  Diplomatic  and  Consular  Representatives.
7.  The  High  Commissioner  for  Canada,  the  Agents  General  for  the
Australasian  and  South  African  Colonies,  and  the  Chambers  of  Commerce
have  shown  every  readiness  to  help  the  work  of  the  new  office  ;  and  arrangements ­
  have  already  been  made  with  the  Imperial  Institute  to  co-operate  in
giving  information  with  regard  to  inquiries  of  a  technical  character,  and.
should  the  need  arise,  in  the  matter  of  the  exhibition  and  disposal  of  samples
of  such  foreign  manufactures  as  compete  with  British  made  goods  ;  but  this
does  not  fully  supply  the  want  of  a  properly  organised  system  of  interchanging
commercial  intelligence  between  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  Colonies.
8.  The  inquiries  which,  from  time  to  time,  reach  the  Colonial  Office  or
the  Board  of  Trade,  and  those  inquiries  which  have,  so  far,  been  addressed
*  See  page  1.  |  See  Appendix  A.