Dec. 1895.] INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL INSTITUTE. 



285 



INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL INSTITUTE. 

 Conference at Berne. 



The fifth session of this Institute was held at Berne, on the 

 invitation of the Government of Switzerland, in the month of 

 August last. Her Majesty's Government was represented by 

 Mr. A. E. Bateman, C.M.G., of the Board of Trade, and Major 

 P. G. Craigie, of the Board of Agriculture. The following 

 passages are summarised from Major Craigie's report on the 

 business of the meeting : — 



The Institute continues to study what data might with advan- 

 tage be collected by Governments, and the best methods of 

 collecting them, endeavouring to secure some degree of uniformity 

 in the presentation of the official statistics of the Governments 

 of different countries, so as to render possible a legitimate 

 comparison of the economic conditions of different States. 



At Berne there were present 46 members of the Institute frona 

 the following countries : — Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, 

 Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Norway, Roumania, 

 Russia, Switzerland, and the United States ; and the increasing 

 interest of the various Governments concerned, was attested 

 on this occasion by the presence, in response to the invitations 

 of the Government of Switzerland, of 21 official delegates chosen 

 mainly from the ranks of the active members of the Institute, 

 and representing 10 European States : Austria-Hungary, Bel- 

 gium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Norway, 

 Roumania, and Russia. The Republics of Argentine and Vene- 

 zuela were also represented by members of the consular staff in 

 Switzerland. Invitations were also as usual issued to represen- 

 tative officials of the federal and cantonal administrations. 



The Institute was welcomed to Switzerland by an address from 

 the Federal Minister of Justice and Police, whose remarks were 

 responded to by Sir Rawson Rawson, K.C.M.G., the President 

 of the International Institute, in a speech dealing with the 

 questions coming under the purview of the successive conferences 

 of previous sessions. 



A general interchange of opinions and propositions was made 

 in the successive sittings of the General Assembly, and the details 

 of various suggestions formed the subject of further deliberation 

 in the four sections under which the inquiries of the Institute 

 were on this occasion arranged. The subjects allotted to each 

 section were as follows : — I. Population, &c. ; II. Commerce and 

 finance; III. Property and agriculture; IV. Social and other 

 questions. 



From the agricultural point of view, the most important con- 

 tribution was report from the " Committee on Agricultural 



