A.—s

616

Fifteenth Day. 14 May 1907.

annual report of the trade of the Empire, no common year book of the trade of the South African Customs Union, nor of the West Indies. Dr. JAMESON : It is want of knowledge on his part. Mr. DEAKIN : The article says " There is no common system, as there " should be, for India, the Straits Settlements and other Asiatic Possessions." He mentions the Crown Colonies "apart from India, an Empire of "2,678,330 square miles, a population of over 36,000,000, a total trade "of a year," which rather supports what I said about the burden which must rest upon your shoulders, —" and a revenue of " 19,500,000 Z. sterling." He does say "even the statistics we have are " difficult to understand, because it is not customary to prefix a note " explaining the system of valuation, of registration, or origin of destination, "inclusion and exclusion and transit, trade, bullion, and specie, bunker " coal, &c." These are details, but we are all occasionally driven to statistics to the sorrow of our hearers; and when we must be sure that we are measuring things which are properly comparable. These questions now go to the Board of Trade. If there had been a real secretariat it might have been desirable to consider whether, as imperial questions, they ought not to be either collected, or at all events collated, there. Industrial issues are matters of deep interest but are not so general as what are termed Chamber of Commerce questions. Legislation and its administration affecting commerce within the Empire are matters which, I venture to hope, the secretariat, even in this office, will take in charge. British merchants freely apply for information in regard to our changes in these matters, and so far as possible we supply it, but it is desirable that we should all be brought into line with changes of administration and, still more, of legislation. Copies of laws, regulations, and full explanations concerning them, might be forwarded from all the Dominions classified and made complete, so as to serve all of us. There are a great number of other matters which are referred to in this article, to which I need not call attention; but the general idea of the secretariat was that it should act very largely as an intelligence department for all the self-governing dominions and the mother country in relation to all other matters of common concern. The number of persons who seek for detailed and exact information of an Imperial range are not great, but they include the publicists of every dominion, and through our newspaper press, which freely avails itself of any such knowledge, ft would filter through to the public. It is laid before Parliament, and affects to a certain extent legislation and administration. Mr. Haldane's proposal for a General Staff and an exchange of officers is only another illustration of what is proposed here to be done on the civil side. With regard to officers, Mr. Haldane suggests that, to some extent at all events, his staff might be described as the brain of the army; so also we might have in this secretariat the brain of the empire so far as that operates here and within the self-governing Colonies. The main aim of the secretariat is so well understood that it is not necessary to repeat and explain its ramifications. Its regular work will largely consist in giving effect to the resolutions arrived at in Conference and following up any action taken by His Maiesty's Government in connection with such resolutions: but it also lies in the way of preparing for future Conferences, and responding to requests from the dominions in order that when they meet their members may find a fund of information ready to hand. 1# " T hn V e to acknowledge the fulne?s of the detods supplied to us on this occasion, and believe it exceeds that of any other Conference which has ever

Interchange of Permanent Staff. (Mr. Deakin.)