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COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE :
of Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, G.C.M.G., as representing the interests
of the Dominion of Canada ; of Mr. H. Llewellyn Smith, C. B., who is now
Comptroller-General of the Commercial, Labour, and Statistical Department
of the Board of Trade ; of Mr. T. W. Ilolderness, C.S.I., who now represents
the India Office on the Committee in the place of the late Sir Charles Bernard ;
and of Mr. Algernon Law, who now represents the Foreign Office in the place
of Sir Henry Bergne. By your Minute of the 24th May 1900 Sir Alfred
Bateman was appointed Chairman of the Committee in succession to the late Sir
Courtenay Boyle, and Mr. Llewellyn Smith was appointed Deputy Chairman.
The vacancy caused by the death of Sir Frederick Abel, who represented the
Imperial Institute prior to its transference to the Board of Trade, has not
been filled up. The appointment of Lord Strathcona was an additional one,
arising out of the circumstances mentioned below.
Functions of Committee.
As will appear from the Minute of Appointment above quoted, the
Committee was originally established “ for the purpose of advising the
“ Board on the work of the Intelligence Branch of the Commercial,
“ Labour, and Statistical Department.” The Branch itself was created as
a result of the recommendations of a Departmental Committee appointed
by the Board of Trade in 1897 to inquire and report as to the best means
of collecting and promptly disseminating accurate information on commercial
matters, and of collecting and exhibiting samples of goods of foreign
origin competing with similar British goods. This Committee, among
other recommendations, suggested “the establishment of an office, “ whose
“ function it shall be to meet the constantly increasing demand for prompt
“ and accurate information on commercial matters, so far as it can be
“ met by Government action,” and that the duties of such an office should
include the collection and focussing of information on subjects of commercial
interest in such a way that it should become a centre' at which information
of this nature could be readily obtained by manufacturers, traders, and
others. It was further recommended that the duty of advising the Board of
Trade as to the work of the office should be entrusted to a Committee
composed of representatives of commercial interests and of various Government
Departments, and that this Committee should have placed at its
disposal annually a sum to be utilised for the collection of commercial
information by means of commercial missions and other methods.
Meetings of Committee and of Sub-Committees.
In addition to a number of meetings of Sub*Committee's, the Committee
have held thirteen meetings for the despatch of business and for the consideration
of certain specific matters referred to them by the Board of Trade.
The average number of members present has been ten out of a present
membership of fourteen. The Principal of the Commercial Intelligence
Branch has been in attendance at all the meetings of the full Committee,
and statements respecting the constitution, accommodation, and work of
the Branch have from time to time been laid before the Committee.
Advertisement of Intelligence Branch at Home and in the Colonies.
At the first meeting, held on the 14th June 1900, the Committee took
steps to bring the existence of the Commercial Intelligence Branch and
the scope of its work under the notice of the commercial public both in
this country and in India and the Colonies more widely than had previously
been the case. Printed notices were, with this object, sent to the Mayors
of all Boroughs in the United Kingdom for distribution among traders
and manufacturers, and to all Chambers of Commerce for distribution among
their members, as well as to all Free Libraries. A copy of the notice referred
to is annexed (Appendix A.).
