346 Royal Colonial Institute. 



The Committee made arrangements for a paper to be read before the Institute by 

 Mr. E. E. Dennett, of the Nigerian Forest Department, upon the Palm Kernel Industry. 

 As a result of this paper, and the further activities of Mr. Dennett, Sir Owen Philipps 

 and the London and Liverpool Chambers of Commerce, it is expected that mills will 

 be established in this country sufficient to deal with the entire West African output, 

 which had only been partially handled previously. 



Special efforts are being made to promote the concentration in British hands of the 

 control of the Empire's supplies of raw materials. Arrangements are also being made 

 whereby manufacturers on the Committee's List may be informed, at the earliest pos- 

 sible date, of all Dominion and Colonial Government contracts and tenders issued by 

 the larger municipalities oversea. A bibliography of great value to all interested 

 in the economic and commercial questions of the Empire has been prepared for the 

 Committee by the Librarian of the Institute, Mr. P. Evans Lewin. This includes 

 all periodicals, text books and Government publications available in the Institute 

 dealing with Empire trade or industry published either in England or in the Dominions. 

 In addition to this bibliography, special reports on oversea markets have been received 

 from authoritative sources in the following parts of the Empire : — Africa (South and 

 West) ; America (South) ; Australia (all parts) ; New Zealand ; Canada ; Falkland 

 Islands ; Gibraltar ; India ; Sarawak ; Seychelles ; and Straits Settlements. 



Government and Public Body Contracts. — It having been reported to the Committee 

 by several large manufacturers that they were hesitating to establish new industries 

 owing to the absence of any guarantee that they would not be destroyed by dumping, 

 or other injurious forms of foreign competition, at the close of the War, the question 

 was very thoroughly examined, and the attitude of all great foreign Governments 

 compared, and the opinion of the Committee, based upon these enquiries, was crystal- 

 lised in the following resolution : — 



" That, with a view to encouraging the establishment of new industries in the 



British Empire, and giving a measure of confidence and security to capital to be 



embarked therein, as well as assisting the expansion of existing industries, the 



Governments of the Empire be urged ta make it obligatory on all Government 



departments, municipalities, railways, dock and harbour boards, gas, water, 



and electric light corporations, and all such bodies spending public monies or 



enjoying charters from Government or other public authorities, to purchase Empire - 



made goods, and to place all contracts with British firms ; exceptions to be made 



by special permission of proper authority only in cases where such a course is 



considered to be at variance with public interest." 



In spite of the large amoxmt of labour necessitated by the work in connection with 



the campaign against German and Austrian Trade, the Committee has kept before it 



the various Imperial commercial and industrial questions in which they have been 



largely active and interested in the past. 



hnperial Development Board and Fund. — Following up the evidence given before 

 the Dominions Royal Commission on the natural resources, trade, and legislation of 

 certain portions of His Majesty's Dominions, the Committee was engaged upon an 

 extensive enquiry into Canadian freight conditions at the request of the Commission, 

 an enquiry the progress of which was arrested by the dislocation of ordinary maritime 

 conditions at the outset of War. 



Through Transportation by Sea and Land, Uniformity in Etnpire Statistics, and the 

 British Consular Service. — These three important points, which have engaged much 



