Vol. VIII. No. 96. 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
[December, 1902.] 325 
MAPS AND CHARTS.— RECORDS, 
[The entire collection of maps (with the exception of a few atlases and maps issued by private 
firms) consists of authoritative publications of the various government cartographical departments. 
Such as : the One-inch Ordnance Survey of Great Britain and Ireland, a complete set of Admiralty 
Charts, and a selection from the maps compiled in the Intelligence Division of the War Office ; 
the monumental “ Indian Atlas,” and a large number of the publications of the Surveyor-General’s 
office, Calcutta ; the Geographical Survey of Canada, and the Government Surveys of Victoria and 
New South Wales. In the arrangement of the collection, the geographical classification of the 
War Office Intelligence Department catalogue has, with some modifications, been followed.] 
ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION OF MAPS DURING OCTOBER, 1902. 
ASIA. 
India, Surveyor-General’s Office, Calcutta. 
INDIAN Atlas, quarter sheets 20 N.E., 40 S.W., 51 S.W., 60 N.W., 64 S.W., 69 S.E., 
78 N.E., 105 S.W., 124 S.W., 125 S.W. 
Central India Agency, sheet 54. 
Burma and Adjacent Countries, 1901. 
The Central India Agency, 1901. 
North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 1901. 
Lower Provinces Revenue Survey, sheets 12, 15. 
District Surat, 1902. 
Assam Survey, sheets 8, 9, 38, 49, 52, 62, 63, 163, 
Burma Survey, sheets 125, 190, 240, 244, 235. 305, 307, 354, 435, 436. 
Bombay Survey, sheet 135. 
Bengal Survey, sheets in, 143, 308. 
Madras Survey, sheet 74. 
North-Western Provinces and Oudh Survey, sheets 70, 85, 16S, 195, 
,, ,, ,, ,, ,, and Bengal Surveys, sheet 214. 
South-Eastern Frontier, sheet 4. 
District Ellichpur, 1901. 
,, Goalpara, 1901. 
,, Sylhet, 1902. 
Chart of Triangulatign (Burma Forest), sheets 237, 238. 
,, Traverse (Burma Forest), sheet 213. 
,, Tri angulation (Burma), sheets 253, 255. 
Index to Provincial Map of Central India Agency. 
,, ,, ,, North-West Provinces and Oudh. 
Presented by the hidia Office. 
+ 
CHARTS AND PLANS. 
Published by the Hydrographic Department , Admiralty , during September and October , iqo2 ; 
J, D. POTTER, Agent, iqg, Minories , London , E.C. 
Ho. New Charts . 
3185 Scotland, west coast : — Loch Sunart. 
3287 Ireland, north coast : — Entrance to Lough Foyle. 
3300 Baltic sea :■ — Windau, 
162 Black sea Novorossisk bay (Sujak), Novorossisk harbour. 
3301 Africa, north coast : — Tenez road and harbour. 
3303 Newfoundland, east coast, Bay Verte : — Coachman harbour. 
3223 Newfoundland : — Sunday cove island to Thimble tickles. 
3297 Newfoundland : — Despair bay. 
3290 Cuba, north coast : — Livisa and Cabonico bays. 
3291 Cuba, north coast : — Port Tanamo. 
3295 Plans on the east coast of South America Chubut river, Camarones bay, 
745 India, west coast. Sheet YIII. : — Netrani to Mangalore. 
71 Bay of Bengal : — Madras to Calimere point. 
3299 China, north coast : — Shitau bay and approaches. 
2423 Papua or New Guinea. Sheet III. : — Boigu island to Cape Blackwood. 
ioc. Arabian coast. Plan added : — Sur anchorage. 
1472 Australia, south coast. Plan added : — Koombanah bay. 
2411 New Zealand. Plan added Entrance to Otago harbour. 
Charts that have received additions or corrections too large to be conveniently inserted by hand, and 
in most cases other than those referred to in the Admiralty Notices to Mariners. 
No. 
2010 England west coast : — Morecamhe 
bay. 
1191 England, east coast: — Flamborough 
head to Hartlepool. 
1210 Ireland, south coast : — Berehaven. 
3038 Norway : — Biornsund to Kristiansund. 
" 565 Iceland, western portion. 
2733 Iceland : — Portland to Suefells Jokel. 
366 Iceland, eastern portion. 
280 Newfoundland : — Notre Dame Bay. 
2857 East Coast of United States: — Poto- 
mac river. 
424 Cuba: — Port Matanzas. 
2344 Gulf of Mexico : — Mobile Bay, 
No. 
530 South America, east coast : — Entrance 
of the river of Sao Francisco. 
1911 United States, west coast : — Approach 
to Juan de Fuca strait. 
630 British Columbia : — Port Neville, 
Forward harbour. 
759B Madagascar : — Antongil bay to Am- 
batosa. 
1270 Korea :■ — Approaches to Chemulpo 
anchorage. Chemulpo anchorage. 
1063 Korea : — Douglas inlet and Sir Harry 
Parkes sound. 
1203 Japan : — Uraga Harbour. 
* 
A GOVERNMENT COMMERCIAL BUREAU FOR INDIA. 
The Government of India has for some time past been considering a scheme for the 
establishment of a commercial bureau. The various agencies which have arisen in late years 
in different countries for furnishing commercial information, such as those in Philadelphia 
and San Francisco, and the branch recently established by our own Board of Trade, have no 
doubt impressed the Government with the desirability of doing something in the same 
direction for India. No one can disparage efforts that are made for fostering India’s trade, 
on the development of which the future prosperity of the country so largely depends. Some, 
however, bearing in mind the spirit of individual enterprise which has built up the trade of 
England, may doubt the practicability of Government aid to commerce of any but the time- 
honoured and well-recognised kinds. The Government of India have, therefore, approached 
the question in a cautious and tentative manner by inviting the opinions of the mercantile 
community, through the Chambers of Commerce. It has, of course, been necessary to provide 
the outlines of a scheme, but the details are to be completed after consultation with the 
commercial bodies in India. 
In a letter addressed to the Bengal Chamber of Commerce it is stated that Lord Curzon 
desires, before submitting his proposals to the Secretary of State, to ascertain what are the 
kinds of information which the commercial public would find useful, but which they cannot 
now procure, although it might he within the power of Government to supply it ; and 
further, how such information could be conveniently displayed, and he made readily 
acceptable. Moreover, stress is laid on the fact that the official primarily charged with the 
collection and compilation of the information should enjoy the confidence of the commercial 
public. Government have been impressed by the defective nature of the arrangements for 
obtaining advice and information upon commercial and industrial operations in which the 
State is concerned, and still more noticeable has been the almost entire absence of machinery 
by which Government can systematically procure and communicate commercial information 
of interest to individuals or public bodies who may have difficulty in procuring it for 
themselves. The outline scheme which has been drawn up involves the establishment of a 
Bureau of Commercial Intelligence for India in connection with the Department of Finance 
and Commerce. The head of this new organization will be a specially-selected officer called 
the Director-General of Commercial Intelligence. Under his direct orders will be two 
assistants, one of whom will be director of statistics and the other director of the commercial 
branch, together with the requisite staff. The primary functions of the Director-General and 
\Cf> 
his commercial assistant would be to procure and publish all information likely to be of use 
to commercial men, including matters relating to foreign and internal trade, the industrial 
and mineral resources of India, the competition of foreign staples with local Indian products, 
and of Indian staples with foreign commodities abroad, the development of existing markets, 
and the discovery of new ones. The matters dealt with should include the Customs Tariffs 
and regulations of all countries, shipping dues, and the many subjects enumerated in the 
leaflet published by the Commercial Department of the Board of Trade. It is recognised 
that to procure such information constant and regular communication will be required with 
commercial, shipping, and labour organizations, and with representatives of particular trades 
in India ; with the Board of Trade and commercial associations in the United Kingdom and 
throughout the British Empire ; and with British Consuls all over the world. Besides 
periodical reports, statistical returns and special reports will be sought on subjects of 
particular interest. 
The Director-General would communicate the information collected through three 
principal channels — (1) a library of carefully arranged information in books, reports, etc., 
which would be at the disposal of the public ; (2) the enquiry office, in which information 
not readily available in the library would be arranged, registered, carefully indexed, and 
kept up to date, and in which the public would be aided by trained subordinates in obtaining 
answers to enquiries; (3) a periodical journal containing statistics, analyses of Consular 
reports, etc., such as the English Board of Trade Journal. The headquarters of the 
Director-General would be at Calcutta, but he would be required to visit the chief ports and 
great inland trade centres at convenient intervals. Lord Curzon is satisfied that, if that 
officer efficiently discharges his duties to the commercial public, his expert advice to Govern- 
ment cannot fail to he of the utmost value to Government. The Viceroy realises the danger 
that the work of the Bureau may degenerate into routine, and he foresees that at the outset 
mistakes may be made and omissions allowed to occur ; but, without anticipating immediate 
and complete success, he is disposed to think that, if the officer to be appointed approaches 
the task in a sympathetic spirit and secures the active co-operation of the commercial public, 
a substantial measure of success will before long he achieved. 
The Committee of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, after consultation with the 
Committees of the Associations connected with the Chamber representing various branches 
of trade, and also members of the Chamber qualified to give an opinion, submitted their 
views in a letter of which the following is a summary. The scheme commends itself as a 
whole to the Committee as being calculated, if properly worked, to develop materially the 
trade of the country. The principal danger to be feared is that of allowing the work of the 
office to degenerate into routine. It is suggested that on the formation of the Bureau it 
would be desirable for one of the officials to visit the Philadelphia Commercial Museum and 
inspect its organization, and the information thus obtained would be of considerable value in 
framing the arrangements for the new office in India. With regard to the kinds of informa- 
tion which would be most useful, they are the exploitation of new markets and the 
improvement of their own manufactures, in order more effectively to meet competition from 
other countries. A vast amount of valuable information could be collected by British 
Consular agents abroad, and could be utilized for the benefit of the trade of the country by 
the Bureau of Commercial Intelligence. The officer at the head of such an important 
department would have no difficulty in getting into communication with the very best sources 
of information throughout the world. The Committee emphasize the fact that simple 
statistics, as such, are no longer of the great importance they used to be before the introduction 
of telegraph cables and rapid steam communication, and care would have to be taken to 
prevent the Bureau becoming a mere department for the collection of trade statistics, 
valuable to a certain extent as these might be. Information that would assist in the 
establishment of new industries would be of the utmost value, and in this connection the 
Committee consider that the Bureau might render valuable assistance in connection with the 
establishment and extension of great iron and steel industries in India. A suggestion is 
also made for the establishment of a special labour section of the Bureau, the object being 
to induce native workers to leave congested areas in favour of localities where labour is 
wanted and is well paid, such as the colliery districts and the neighbourhood of Calcutta, 
where the jute mills are situated. Reciprocal relations should be established with similar 
institutions in other countries, so that all possible information may be obtainable regarding 
foreign manufactures and industries. With regard to the best means of making the informa- 
tion collected readily accessible, there should be, in addition to the Head Enquiry Office at 
Calcutta, Branch Offices at Bombay, Madras, Karachi, and Rangoon. Unless this could be 
arranged the mercantile communities in those important cities would be at some disadvantage 
as compared with the commercial body in Calcutta. The Committee point out that some 
discrimination would require to be used as to the publication of information supplied to the 
Bureau. It is questionable whether individual merchants and manufacturers would supply 
information on many matters if it was understood that it was to be made available for the 
general community. Of course there would not be this danger in connection with informa- 
tion with regard to manufactures, inventions, etc., obtained from public sources, to which 
all have a right of access, but Government might reserve the right of not publishing 
information obtained in connection with specific enquiries. The Committee recognise the 
difficulty of selecting for the post of Director-General one in every way suited to carry out 
successfully the duties of the office. They consider that the choice should not be confined 
to members of the Government service. Selection should be made of the best possible man 
irrespective of the profession to which he may belong. It is necessary that the Director- 
General or one of his assistants should be possessed of a commercial training, with a wide 
knowledge and experience in Indian commerce in particular. The Committee recognise 
that there are members of the Civil Service possessing many of the qualities which would 
conduce to making the new office a success, but they trust that the area of selection will be 
made as wide as possible to secure the most fully qualified man for the post. 

THE TWENTY-FIVE-KNOT CUNARD STEAMSHIPS. 
In the Scientific American for November 1, 1902, the following interesting article is 
given on the Atlantic steamship service : — 
“ The contest for the high-speed transatlantic record has never seen a more interesting 
phase than that which it is now passing through. With, the Deutschland. , carrying a record 
to her credit of 23 ’51 knots an hour ; with the Kronprinz Wilhelm , only a fraction behind 
the Deutschland in her average sea-speed, and showing, with each season, a steady improve- 
ment ; with the great Kaiser Wilhelm II. , launched and well on toward completion, and 
giving promise of 24 knots an hour, and over ; and with the plans for the two Cunard giants, 
designed to restore British prestige on the Atlantic, under consideration by various competing 
shipbuilding firms, it must be admitted that there never was a period in the history of high- 
speed transatlantic navigation more full of interest and promise than the present. 
“ It is not likely that even the officials of the Cunard Company know what the exact 
dimensions, horse-power and speed of the two new vessels will be, but we are reliably in- 
formed that, tentatively, the general features of the ships have been placed at 750 feet of 
length, 75 feet of beam, and a horse-power of about 50,000. 
“ Unless the directors change their minds, it is probable that the steam turbine will not 
be introduced on these vessels, for it is felt that, notwithstanding the excellent performance 
of this type of motor on the King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra, it is too great a 
