Empire Trade and Industry Committee. 53 



sea and land from any one part of the Empire to another. The desirability of bringing 

 the producer into the closest touch with the consumer in overseas markets is an obvious 

 advantage to British trade and, on the other hand, of placing the producer in the 

 Dominions and Colonies in the closest business relations with traders in this country. 

 This can only be done by improving transportation facilities and replacing the present 

 cumbrous system of booking by a simple and direct one such as exists in Germany 

 and the United States. 



Uniformity in Empire Statistics. — The Committee has continued to urge the 

 necessity of taking steps to bring about closer uniformity in the methods in use through- 

 out the Empire of collecting, collating, publishing, and printing certain statistics so 

 as to give them common values and to make the figures of one part comparable with 

 another. The Committee has represented that this end would be best achieved by 

 referring the subject to a Conference of Statisticians of the Empire, and it is satisfactory 

 to note that the Second Interim Report of the Dominions Royal Commission already 

 referred to contains a definite recommendation to that effect. The Committee is now 

 considering the best means of convening such a Conference. 



Hong-Kong University. — The Committee, at the invitation of the Dean of Faculty 

 of Engineering, co-operated in procuring equipment and subscriptions for this 

 University, and its efforts met with substantial success. On a request being made 

 that a representative of the Institute should be nominated on the London Committee 

 of the University, Mr. Ben H. Morgan, Chairman of the Trade and Industry Committee, 

 was asked by the Council and consented to act. 



State-owned Atlantic Cable. — The Committee has continued to urge the establish- 

 ment of an all-British Atlantic cable, for which proposal the Committee has received 

 expressions of the cordial approval of the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, 

 as well as Canada. 



British Trade with India. — Special attention has also been devoted to increasing 

 British export trade to the Indian Empire, and certain recommendations have been 

 made to the Imperial Government with this end in view, and the attention of the 

 Government has been drawn to special efforts that have recently been made by the 

 United States to extend American trade in that market. Amongst other suggestions 

 the Committee has urged the Imperial Government to appoint a Trade Commissioner 

 in India for the purpose of keeping British manufacturers and traders informed from 

 time to time as to the openings of trade, local conditions, and the extent and nature 

 of foreign conditions prevailing. 



British Trade with the Crown Colonies.- — Somewhat similar reports have been made 

 to the Imperial Government concerning the trade and resources of the Crown Colonies 

 and Dependencies. The foreign proportion of both the import and expoi-t trade with 

 these portions of the Empire has enormously increased of recent years and, in addition 

 to urging the appointment of Trade Commissioners to groups of Colonies, the Committee 

 have pressed the Government to issue periodical reports or handbooks detailing the 

 resources and the openings for British capital and enterprise. 



The dominant note of the Royal Colonial Institute's work is concisely described 

 in its motto " United Empire." The Trade and Industry Committee exists to foster, 



