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,
&e.
(h) The customs regulations; legal procedure in commercial matters;
piracy of trade marks ; false indication of origin, &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
