74? EEPOBT— 1881. 



Section F.— ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. 



President of the Section— The Eight Hon. M. E. Grant Duff, M.A., F.E.S., 

 F.L.S., F.R.G.S., Governor of Madras. 



[For Mr. Grant Duffs Address, see page 752.] 



TIIUBSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1. 



The following Papers and Report were read : — 



1. On Societies of Commercial Oeography, 

 By EmvAED J. Watheeston. 



The author traced the progress of the German societies of ' Commercial Geo- 

 graphy ' (Vereine I'iir Handelsgeographie), estahlished in Berlin towards the end of 

 1878, by Dr. Jaunasch, a well-known political economist and statistician. These 

 societies already have agents in all parts of the world, a ' centralverein ' in Berlin, 

 and several periodicals supported by their members ; one, ' The Export,' abounding 

 in information to merchants and manufacturers ; another, called ' Geogi-aphische 

 Nachrichten fUr welthaudel und Volkswirthschaft,' and a thu-d, ' Ilandelsgeogra- 

 phisches Museum,' lately publislied. The objects of the societies are twofold — first, 

 to give their members, nearly all merchants and manufacturers, the latest reliable 

 information relating to the chaimels into which the export trade of the country 

 should be directed ; secondly, to establish agencies in all the principal commercial 

 towns in the world. 



This is done after the model of our famous Lloyd's, In like manner as Lloyd's 

 agents report concerning ships, shipwreclis, and all matters relating to navigation, 

 to the headquarters in London, so the German agents send in reports upon all mat- 

 ters relating to the commercial requirements of their districts to the ' Centralverein 

 ftir Handelsgeographie ' in Berlin, which reports are published in fidl in the ' Geo- 

 graphische Nachrichten,' sold to non-members for the sum of two marks, or 2s. 

 The list of agents includes some of the most eminent Germans settled abroad, men 

 of scientific renown, anxious for their country's welfare. Last year the societies held 

 a ' Congress' at Berlin, and the speeches, reported at fuU length in a ' Bericht fiber 

 die Verhandlimgen des Ersten Congresses fur Handelsgeographie,' show the progress 

 which has been made in an attempt to seciu-e for Germany commercial relations 

 with the entire world. 



Our own and other Governments, doubtless, are doing much to supply an ad- 

 mitted want — viz., a knowledge of foreign manufactming and commercial capacities 

 and requirements. The British Government, for example, publish every year a host 

 of Blue-books, under various titles, giving a mass of most valuable information con- ' 

 •cerning our export and import markets, the demands of trade, and similar matters. 

 There are among them the ' Reports of H.M. Secretaries of Embassy and Legation on 

 tlie Manufactures, Commerce, &e., of the countries in which they reside ; ' somewhat 

 similar are the ' Reports from H.M. Consuls on the Manufactures, Commerce, &e., 

 of their Consular Districts,' more numerous even, and in some respects more valuable, 

 as entering more into details. Then there are monthly and annual 'Accounts relat- 

 ing to the Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom,' summed up and enlarged 

 in a huge 'quarto,' known as the ' Annual Statement,' issued by the Board of Trade, 



