COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICE is the name given to a sub-department of the Board of Trade, established in 1899, for the purpose of collecting commercial information and disseminating it among the trading and manufacturing classes. The information is collected by the Board of Trade itself, and from the various departments of the Public Service, the Colonial Agents-General, the Chambers of Commerce, and other organisations.
Most important to the manufacturer, and the importer and exporter, are the reports of the Foreign Office. These are in " Annual " and " Miscel laneous" series, and are received from the diplomatic and consular agents abroad. They contain a general annual review of commerce, industry, agriculture, and shipping at the place of residence of the consul, and of the country to which the diplomatic officer is accredited. The reports are care fully edited at the Foreign Office, and are published, with a complete subjective index at the commencement of each paper, as soon as possible after their receipt. The time which elapses from the date of receipt to their actual issue to the public varies, according to circumstances, from ten days to one month. The Foreign Office also procures from the diplomatic and consular services, as circumstances render necessary, special reports with regard to particular subjects, such as detailed accounts of special industries in foreign countries, openings for British trade, bounties on shipping, regulations con cerning commercial travellers, and the like ; these are similarly edited, indexed, and published for general information. A complete subjective index to the whole of these reports is published annually. In the same way are published copies of all commercial treaties and conventions as they are concluded by the Government, and copies of such correspondence relating to commercial negotiations with foreign powers as are laid before Parliament. , The Board of Trade also places at the disposr' the public ad its reports and returns. And from the Colonial Office come copies of all the annual reports received from the various Crown colonies upon the finances, trade, &c., of those colonies. A large amount of commercial information is derived
from the offices of the High Commissioner for Canada, and the agents general for the Australasian and South African colonies. Apart from this, these colonial representatives answer questions and invite correspondence on commercial subjects, and are active in disseminating such information as opportunity may offer.
All, or most, of the reports are, immediately on publication, sent gratuitously to every chamber of commerce in the United Kingdom, and to some exchanges and sale-rooms. Those who desire commercial information, and have not at hand the means of otherwise obtaining it, should address themselves to this office. The catalogue of published reports and papers may be obtained through any bookseller, the cost of the reports themselves being very low—from a halfpenny upwards. Not only is the information they contain most valuable, but as reading matter merely they are equally interesting; but in any case the Board of Trade Journal should be consulted, as therein may be found most of the collected information which will be generally the public. This journal is issued weekly at the price of 3d.
At the office, which is situate at 73 Basinghall Street, London, E.C., there is an inquiry-room, where copies of officialpublications, directories, and other works of reference may be consulted by the public. The following are, in some detail, the subjects upon which information is usually sought :—Com mercial statistics; matters relating to foreign and colonial tariffs ; excise and consumption duties ; port, harbour, and tonnage dues, and other charges on shipping; customs regulations ; consular fees; forms of certificates of origin; regulations concerning commercial travellers ; trading licences; foreign and colonial contracts open to tender ; foreign and colonial bounties ; lists of firms engaged in particular lines of business in different localities, &c. &c.