president's address.— section g. 203 



measurement of movements thereof. The Conference recom- 

 meud3d a definite scheme for a monthly statement of banking 

 operations, giving a form in detail. It proposed that index- 

 numbers should be prepared on the prices of securities, that finan- 

 cial operations and credit institutions other than banks should 

 be recorded, and also' statistics of insurance companies and friendly 

 societies systematically obtained. 



This cuucludes a brief outline of the range and nature of the 

 recommendations oi the Conference. 



11. Observations on the Work of the Co7iference. — It is worthy 

 of note that Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa 

 have evolved fully constituted statistical ofhces, the duty of their 

 statisticians being to' takei the census and toi collect statistical 

 material and sy?tematically present it. In respect to this the 

 United Kingdom is by no means on an equal footing; its statistics 

 are really departmental by-products. For this reason, before the 

 United Kingdom can be regarded as in a normal position, as 

 compared with India and the self-governing Dominions, or with 

 France, Germany, and many other countries, it would have to 

 organize its local system. Otherwise the proposed Imperial Bureau 

 would be burdened with labours for which contributions from the 

 various other parts of the Empire could hardly be asked. For 

 this reason it is evident that unless the United Kingdom as a 

 whole, or England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland indepen- 

 dently, develop fully-equipped statistical offices, the work of the 

 Imperial Bureau would be very iargely that of a Bureau for the 

 United Kingdom itself, with the several self-governing Dominions 

 associated, privileged to contribute, but essentially regarded as 

 mere apanages of the Empire. That is a point of view clearly 

 recognised, I think, by the representatives of Canada, South 

 Africa, and Australia, and I think also by that of New Zealand. 



It was recommended by the Australian representative that the 

 Australian Government should affirm its approval of the general 

 terms of the Report, subject, however, to the outlining of a more 

 explicit scheme, and organization, and to approval of some 

 arrangenient insuring that the jiersonnel of the Bureau shall be 

 drawn from all parts of the Empire, and shall be satisfactory from 

 the stand-point of proved qualifications to occupy the posts sug- 

 gested . 



It is not impossible that difficixlties may arise out of what is 

 known as the "watertight compartment" character of British 

 public departments. If the scheme is to be of any value it is 

 essential that every source of data of statistical value should be 

 readily accessible, and indeed that each should be willing to com- 

 pile such data in suitable form, in response to suggestions from the 

 Director of the Imperial Bureau. For this reason it is necessary 

 to have as Director not merely a departmental statistician, but 



