INTRODUCTION 



I REGARD it as a complittfcnt to have been invited 

 by the author of this work to write a few words by 

 way of introduction to the narrative of his travels 

 in Siberia, which country he visited for the purpose 

 of studying local conditions of tradfe and the pos- 

 sibility of importing produce therefrom into Great 

 Britain. 



In iHy capacity as Russian Consul for Scotland and 

 the Northern Counties of England, I have, for some 

 time, been endeavouring to arouse the interest of 

 British capitalists, merchaints, and manufacturers in 

 Russia, her resources, products, and export trade. 

 These efforts have been most fruitful of results in 

 the present case, in which so well known a firtH as 

 that of Messrs. Wilier & Riley sent one of itheir 

 directors to European Russia and Siberia as a pioneer 

 of Anglo-Russian trade relations. It is to be hoped 

 that the pleasant nature of Mr. Turner's experiences 

 in the Russian Empire, the breaking of new ground 

 in the export trade from" Siberia to Great Britain, 

 and the publication of the present work will con- 

 tribute to the development of trade relations between 

 the two countries. 



The chief obstacles in the way of such develop- 

 jCttent are to be looked for in the facts that very 

 little indeed is known about Russia in Great Britain, 

 and that what little is known is often distorted by 



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