Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual General Meeting. 295 



year. It is impossible to give here a complete resume, but a few matters of general 

 interest to whicli attention has been devoted may be mentioned. 



The Committee has taken the initial steps towards the establishment of a Chair 

 of Empire Trade at the London School of Economics, which is a branch of the London 

 University. It is surprising that the Empire should have proceeded so far along the 

 path of development without having a Chair of Empire Trade in its capital city. 

 A substantial sum has been promised towards the maintenance of the Chair, but 

 further funds are required, and the Secretary will be glad to hear from any of the 

 Fellows, who may be disposed to subscribe to such an excellent proposal. 



Interest has been revived in the question of a State-owned Atlantic cable, in con- 

 nection with which the cordial support of the Commonwealth and New Zealand 

 Governments has been granted. The Dominion Government, with whom a member 

 of the Committee had a conference in Ottawa has also expressed itself as favourably 

 disposed towards the proposal. A practical step that the Committee has aimed at 

 bringing about is the formation of a subsidiary Imperial Conference to deal with the 

 subject. The Commonwealth Government strongly approved of this step in a letter 

 to the Chairman of the Committee, and this communication has been discussed in the 

 House of Commons on several occasions. 



The Committee has strongly realised that in all Imperial trade and industrial 

 reforms, which were recommended by the Imperial Conference, by individual Govern- 

 ments, or by this Committee itself, there is lacking a central department or organisation 

 to promote and arrange the business details and so bring matters to fruition, and with 

 a view to supplying this need the matter was brought to the notice of the Dominions 

 Royal Commission at their first sitting. A memorial on the subject was prepared by 

 the Committee, in which the establishment of an Imperial Fund and Board was 

 recommended, and subsequently two members of the Committee gave evidence on 

 the subject before the Royal Commission, with what practical result will not be 

 known until the Commission issues its first report. 



Reference was made in last year's report to the efforts made by this Committee to 

 have the British Consular Service made available to the Overseas Dominions equally 

 with Great Britain, and during the past year its work in this connection has met with 

 success. The people of Canada and Australia can now make use of the British Consular 

 service almost equally with the people of Great Britain, and it is hoped to obtain 

 similar advantages for the people of the other Dominions. This is an important step 

 in the movement towards a United Empire, as it places Imperial officers in foreign 

 countries at the common service of the daughter States. 



At the request of the Dean of Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong 

 the Committee has co-operated in procuring from British firms and others interested 

 in Imperial education in the Far East, equipment of machinery and instruments for 

 the engineering laboratories. 



City Luncheons. 



25. In connection with the work of the Empire Trade and Industry Committee, 

 luncheons have been held in the City of London, and have been numerously attended. 

 The first took place in the Hall of the Fishmongers Company (by the kind permission 

 of the Master and Wardens) when the Hon. George E. Foster, Minister of Trade and 

 Commerce of Canada, gave an address on " Canada and the Empire," and the second 

 was held at De Keyser's Hotel, when the Hon. A. L. Sifton, Premier of Alberta, spoke 

 upon the " General Development of the Western Provinces of Canada." 



