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would be of value in assisting the Governments of the Empire in determining whether in any particular case it was desirable to arrange for an ad hoc, inquiry on the lines already so well established by the reports of the Imperial Economic Committee. 3. The sub-committee recognize that a large amount of information is available in the statistical returns issued by the various Governments, in the publications of the Imperial Institute (particularly those of the former Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau, which is now incorporated in the Imperial Institute), in the annual reports upon trade in Empire and foreign markets issued by the Department of Overseas Trade in London, and in the reports of special committees, of which the valuable first volume entitled " Survey of Overseas Markets " issued by the Balfour Committee on Industry and Trade is an outstanding instance. Further useful material will be furnished by the proposed additions to the Statistical Abstract for the British Oversea Dominions and Protectorates prepared by His Majesty's Government in Great Britain, to which reference is made in the third report of the subcommittee. It is, however, sometimes a difficult undertaking to extract from a number of different publications detailed information which may be required in respect of a particular industry or a particular commodity, with the result that many manufacturers, agricultural producers, and traders may remain unaware of significant facts affecting their particular trade. 4. Each survey should deal with one trade or with a group of closely allied trades in as concise a forrii as may prove practicable in each case. Those trades should be selected for early consideration in which it seemed likely that a fuller knowledge of the facts would lead to the greatest stimulation of Empire trade. Experience would show how much of the field it was desirable eventually to cover. So far as possible, each survey should include, in a condensed but popular form, the main facts regarding production and consumption in the Empire and in foreign countries, the most important import and export figures, a statement of the competitive situation, and of the progress made within the Empire in production and export as compared with the progress made in foreign countries. 5. It is recognized that much is already being done in the economic sphere, both in Great Britain and in the Dominions and India, through the medium of the publications and journals of public, Departments, as well as those of institutes and associations, but it appears to the sub-committee that it would be of advantage if arrangements could be made for the more systematic provision of condensed reports as indicated above, based upon information derived from the various parts of the Empire concerned, on trade questions regarded from an Empire point of view. As already stated, the question of the body to which the work of preparing the surveys should be assigned is not referred to the sub-committee, but it is assumed that, by consultation and otherwise, duplication of effort and machinery would be avoided. The sub-committee are also of opinion that experience in the preparation of the surveys will probably show the necessity for the Statistical Conference referred to in their third report* Signed on behalf of the sub-committee. 17th November, 1926. S. J. Chapman, Chairman.

* See page 212.

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