Report of the Forty-Seventh Annual General Meeting. 345 



Overseas Committee. 



17. The Overseas Coniinitfcee, with Mr. Harry E. Brittain as Chairman, was formed 

 to deal with various matters arising out of the War, and to give assistance and advice 

 to the many visitors from Overseas whose plans had been materially afiected. 



The Gordon Hotels, Ltd., kindly placed at the disposal of the Committee the entire 

 suite of the Whitehall Rooms at the Hotel Metropole, free of charge. Many hundreds 

 of visitors made use of these rooms, and the Committee was able to accomplish a great 

 deal of work, particularly of an emergency nature, which earned the grateful 

 appreciation of those who benefited by it. The rooms were also used as a central 

 rendezvous where a large supply of Overseas newspapers could be seen, and where 

 letters could be written and received. 



Successful Nursing Classes were established, some three hundred ladies being 

 present at the inauguration : certificates for proficiency were granted, after passing 

 the necessary examination, and Viscountess St. Cyres made the presentations to the 

 first fifty at the close of the AutunJin Session. 



Ambulance Classes for men were also organised to train private citizens as 

 stretcher bearers and other services on Red Cross trains. A number of men have 

 now qualified as Ambulance Assistants, and, until recently, both the above sets of 

 classes continued to meet. 



In addition to these classes, Sewing Parties met twice weekly, and made a large 

 number of garments which were divided between the Canadian War Contingent Associa- 

 tion and the Australian Voluntary Hospital. 



The entire expenses incurred by the Overseas Committee, and its Sub-Committees, 

 were generously defrayed by those interested, none of the cost falling upon the Institute. 



War Handbook. 



18. The Institute Handbook, " Our Just Cause," was prepared by Professor W. L. 

 Grant and the late Mr. A. R. Colquhoun and Mrs. Colquhoun. It gave one of the 

 clearest and earliest statements of why we are at War. Through the kindness of 

 the Rhodes Trustees and others, as well as by the usual channels of circulation of 

 the Institute itself, the Handbook was widely distributed in all parts of the world. 

 The book was also translated into Braille type for the blind. 



Empire Trade and Industry Committee. 



19. Since the outbreak of War, the Committee has been very largely occupied with 

 a practical endeavour to secure for British firms a portion of the tra,de formerly enjoyed 

 by Germany and Austria in the Empire. The Committee, which was the first public 

 body to undertake such a campaign, has endeavoured at all points to give specific 

 and practical information. It has obtained many special reports, and, largely due to 

 the splendid efforts of the Honorary Corresponding Secretaries, it has collected a mass 

 of valuable facts and names of probable buyers from disinterested sources oversea,s.. 

 Agents have also been found for many manufacturers, and the records show numerous 

 extensions of manufacturers' business overseas. Enquiries at the rate of about 250 

 per month have been dealt with from buyers and manufacturers to whom names and 

 addresses and fullest available information have been sent. The records of the Office 

 show that business has resulted in a considerable number of cases. 



