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The Ministry and Our Overseas Trade.

13th September 1917
Page 2
Page 2, 13th September 1917 — The Ministry and Our Overseas Trade.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE AGITATION in favour of the creation of a Ministry of Commerce and Industry has at last borne some fruit, though it remains to be seen whether the produce will turn out figs or thistles. For very many years past the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade have been conducting a campaign of mutual obstruction, in which both sides have been admirably successful. It has never been properly decided to which of these two departments the busi. ness of watching British commercial interests in foreign countries rightfully belongs. While neither has established its case to the exclusion of the other, each has at least made certain that the other did not cover the ground thoroughry. Meanwhile, British manufacturing and trading interests have fallen between the two stools, neither of which has afforded adequate means of support. Of late matters have certainly improved because the competition between the two departments has' become more than ever acute. The Foreign Office has done good work in the production and dissemination of the Form " K " reports which are now going out to manufacturers. The Board of Trade has made its Department of Commercial Intelligence a much more live institution than it was a few years ago.

The fundamental difficulty is, of course, a very real one. Commerce and industry appear to come naturally under the segis of the Board of Trade. At the same time, British commercial officers overseas can hardly work independently of diplomatic officials. 1 Foreign policy and commercial affairs undoubtedly are constantly and closely connected, and it is inconceivable that the experts who have to carry on negotiations affecting both political and commercial relations C20 , with foreign countries should take their instructions from different departments at home.

The schemewhich the Government has now announced at least appears to be a step in the right direction. Whether it will work or not depends largely upon the readiness of the two great departments concerned to collaborate instead of competing with one another. It remains to be seen whether the new arrangement will result in any considerable inaprovemeut from the point of view of making more easily available to those who need it information that has undoubtedly been collected. We are apt to jump to the conclusion that the Department of Commercial Intelligence does not possess information merely because we see no open indications to the effect that it does.

However, those who have time have found of Tate years that much of the information they need is to be had if sufficiently thorc ugh inquiry is made for it. The Department of, Commercial Intelligence has, in fact, been collecting a great deal of material, of which little use has been made because manufacturers have not realized it was there, and the Department has not known what to do with it or who wanted it. The fault has not all been on the side of the Government. The manufacturers have lacked organization among themselves, and now that this deficiency i3 being remedied, we may hope that the Department of Commercial Intelliience will be given that guidance without which it can hardly make sure of gathering its information and statistics in the most useful form.

We propose to deal with this matter more fully in our next issue.


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