Page:EB1911 - Volume 27.djvu/151

Rh The association has limited its work to the United Kingdom, and has not taken advantage of the commercial development of the colonies to afford colonial interests an opportunity of voicing their needs in the metropolis. To supply this need the London Chamber of Commerce has, from time to time, organized congresses of chambers of commerce of the empire. Some of these congresses have been held in the colonies, the first being at Montreal in 1903.

The home organization of chambers of commerce is supplemented by a few British chambers which have been established in foreign countries. These institutions are self -supporting, and not, as seems often to be thought, branches of, or subsidized or controlled by home chambers. The British Chamber

of Commerce in Paris, which is the oldest of them, dates from 1873, and was originally established by British merchants in Paris for the defence of their own trade interests. Its scope soon extended, however, and it admitted to membership British firms trading with France although not resident in France, and in course of time became representative of general British commercial interests in the French markets. Other British chambers are to be found in Genoa, Alexandria, Barcelona, Constantinople and St Petersburg. In Brussels an Anglo-American chamber jointly represents British and American interests. Several countries are represented in London by chambers of commerce, while the American Chamber (Liverpool), the Anglo-Belgian, the Anglo-Portuguese, the Australasian, the Italian, the Norwegian and the Swedish chambers are members of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom. The United States are represented in England by the American Chamber of Commerce in Liverpool.

Commercial organization in the colonies is very much on the same footing as it is in the United Kingdom. The most represent- five associations are the chambers of commerce, whose constitution and functions are similar to those of the British chambers. In Canada the chambers, which

are also sometimes called Boards of Trade, after the American custom, number over sixty, the most important being the Montreal and Toronto Boards of Trade and the Quebec Chamber of Commerce. The Canadian chambers have no association, but hold periodical conferences. There is, in addition, the Canadian Manufacturers Association, with headquarters in Toronto and branches in all the provinces, which incorporates all the associations of manufacturers in the Dominion. The Australian chambers of commerce, which number some thirty, have joined into an association called the General Council of the Chambers of Commerce of the Commonwealth of Australia. In New Zealand, South Africa, India and many British colonies there are chambers of commerce in all the more important towns.

b. Associations Representing Particular Trades.—Associations representative of particular trades are almost innumerable. The London General Shipowners' Society, the Liverpool Shipowners Association, the North of England Shipowners' and Steamship Owners' Associations may be mentioned as representative. The chambers of shipping and shipowners' associations joined forces in 1878 in order to establish the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom, which does for them what the Association of Chambers of Commerce does for chambers of commerce. The Iron and Steel Institute affords a means of communication between members of the iron and steel trades, while the British Iron Trade Association is one of the most powerful. The nature of other associations is sufficiently indicated by their titles. In addition there are the Cotton Association, the Drapers' Chamber of Trade, the Fish Trade Association, the Sugar Refiners' Committee, various tea planters' associations, the Oil Seed Association, the Petroleum Defence Committee, the Mansion House Association on Railway and Canal Traffic, &c.

c. Trade Protection Societies.—These seem to be, on the whole, more ancient bodies than chambers of commerce. In the early part of the 19th century they were already strongly organized, especially in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Outside of that district the Dublin Society was the most important. They number more than 100 throughout the United Kingdom.

The Manchester Guardian Society, which dates from 1826, occupies a position of special prominence in the Midlands, and may be taken as the model of such associations. Its objects are—the making of private inquiries as to the respectability and credit of traders, the detection and exposure of swindlers; the collection of debts; the winding-up of insolvent estates; the issue of notices of bills of sale, judgments, bankruptcies, &c.; and generally the improvement of laws and regulations affecting trade. The society has over 6000 members, and its usefulness may be gauged by the fact that it answers an average of 40,000 credit inquiries every year. Trade protection societies formed themselves, as early as 1848, into an association, which was at first an association of secretaries, but in 1865 was transformed into an association of societies. The association issues a quarterly journal called the Trade Protection Journal.

B.—State Departmental Organizations.

Although the British government allowed commercial organizations within its jurisdiction to grow independently of official control, it does not follow that it took no interest in the protection and promotion of British trade and the dissemination of commercial intelligence. As long ago as the reign of Charles II. the body which is now the British equivalent of what is known in most countries as the ministry of commerce, viz. the board of trade, was established. The commercial jurisdiction of the Board of Trade does not extend beyond the limits of the United Kingdom, but the Foreign Office, through the negotiation of commercial treaties and by means of the consular body, came into touch with international trade. With the development of the colonies, the colonial and India offices also found themselves called upon to act, to a certain extent, as guardians of commercial rights and channels for the dissemination of commercial intelligence. But when competition began to displace British goods from foreign markets, and when the British trader noticed the efforts which were being made, by foreign governments for the promotion of trade, he came to the conclusion that the British government was not doing anything for him.

Complaints were especially loud against the consuls, who were accused of systematically disregarding commercial interests, whilst their American, German, French and Belgian colleagues did not consider it below their dignity to take advantage of their position, in order to promote the trade of the country they represented. British Consular Reports were also unfavourably compared with those issued by foreign consuls, notably the American. The result was that, in 1886, instructions were issued to the consular service which, for the completeness and fairness with which they deal with the subject, have frequently been quoted as models which might advantageously be followed (see Parliamentary Paper, Commercial, No. 16, 1886). The preparation of consular reports, however, continued to be most unfavourably criticised, and frequent instructions were issued by the foreign office in regard to them. The whole question was raised again in 1896, when, as the result of lengthy communications between the Foreign Office on the one hand, and the Association of Chambers of Commerce and the London chamber on the other, fresh instructions were sent to British consuls, reiterating the instructions of 1886.

The consular service has of late years been supplemented by the appointment of commercial attachés.

The pressure exercised by the chambers of commerce upon the government led to the appointment in 1897 of a departmental committee on the dissemination of commercial intelligence, which was charged with considering means of more adequately supplying traders with commercial information, of improving consular and colonial reports, and with reporting on the advisability of appointing Trade commercial agents to the, colonies and establishing a commercial intelligence office. The chief result of the committee’s recommendations was the establishment of the commercial intelligence branch of the Board of Trade. It publishes the Board of Trade Journal weekly. Attached to the branch is an advisory committee, composed of representatives of the various government departments and of the Association of Chambers of Commerce.

The scope of the commercial intelligence branch was further increased, and its means of action strengthened, by the transfer of the Imperial Institute to the Board of Trade, which was effected in 1902 by the passing of a private act of parliament.

The self-governing colonies are represented in London by (q.v.), while the commercial interests of the crown colonies are in the hands of the crown. agents for the colonies.

A.—Commercial Associations.

American trade organizations have been developed mainly on the lines of the British system. Of the associations which come within the scope of this article, the most important are'the chambers of commerce, which in certain cases are called boards of trade. Theoretically there is a distinction between the two, chambers of commerce being entrusted with the protection of general commercial interests, especially in connexion with foreign trade, whilst boards of trade look after local commercial questions. But in practice the difference is of no importance, as chambers of commerce take cognisance of local as well as international trade matters, and the boards of trade in no way limit the sphere of their activity to purely American questions.

The oldest American commercial organization is the New York Chamber of Commerce, which was founded in 1768, and incorporated by royal charter in 1770. In the words of its charter, its object was “to carry into execution, encourage and promote by just and lawful ways and means such measures as will tend to promote and