OVERSEAS TRADE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 146, 9 March 1918, Page 7

OVERSEAS TRADE

-,—^—♦—4—-'•, ■• THE NEW IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT. A cablegram published yesterday referred to an exhibition open in London by.the Foreign Samples Branch of the Overseas Trade Department., Thi6 in .an exhibition of enemy goods on the lines of earlier exhibitions arranged by the Imperial Board of Trade during the war period. The samples have been collected from all over tho world, and they, are intended to furnish British' manufacturers' with precise information as to the nature of the g«ods formerly supplied by the'<enemy countries and of the trade douo by German and Austrian firms. .-■••■ Sir Arthur Steel Maitland, who has been appointed head of tho Overseas' Trade Department, mot rcpresentatiros of the Press in London a few weeks ago and outlined to them its organisation, and projected' scope. He itwould take in tho following old Departments: (1) The Department of Commercial Intelligence 'of the Board of Trade j (2) the War Trade intelligence Department of the Forcfgn Office; (3) the Foreign Trado Department of the Foreign Office; (4) the Consular Service and. the Consular Department of the Foreign Office., The new Department, explained Sii 'Arthur Steel Maitland, w"6uld have two main .divisions': (1) An overseas division, separated geographically into subsections; (2)- a United Kingdom division, subdivided according to,trade and industry. It would be the duty of the Department not only to collect information, but also to take action in trade matters. Its power of action would be subject to twu reservations. When a piece of business became predominantly political, it was to be handed over to tho Foreign Office, and when special subjects, such as commercial treaties, arose, they were to bo put in charge of the appropriate Department pf .the Board of' Tradei An advisory committee was being formed representing finance, banking, merchants, manufacturers, chambers of commerce, and labour ,and this committee Sir Arthur intended to treat as an active "Board of Directors," whose lively assistance would be asjfed in tackling new problems and formulating proposals.