The Trade Commissioner and Commercial Diplomatic Services
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1924.tb02185.x |
| Published date | 01 September 1924 |
| Author | W. J. Glenny |
| Date | 01 September 1924 |
The
Joilrnal
9
of.
Pgblic.
Administration
The
Trade Commissioner and
Commercial Diplomatic Services
BY
W.
J.
GLENNY
[A Paper
read
bcfwc
the
Institutu
of
Public Administration,
10th
Aw.1,
19241
HE
maintenance of specifically commercial services abroad
is
a
T
modem feature of Government activities.
It
may be accepted
as
a
broad generalization that up to the latter half of the nineteenth century
the representation of States abroad
was
confined to definitely political
or dynastic ends, the protection of subjects, and the like. Governments
were, of course, concerned to secure
fair
treatment for their traders
in foreign countries, but direct help in commercial penetration was
exceptional.
It
was not regarded
as
a
proper function of ambassadors,
ministers, or consuls to afford direct assistance to their nationals seeking
business locally, or
to
send home information
as
to trade openings, and
interest in commercial subjects was generally limited to securing
fair
treatment and did not extend to positive encouragement.
An
entire change of view has, however, since taken place, and prac-
tically every civilized Govemmcnt now regards
it
as
one of its duties
to
afford direct assistance and stimulation to its commerce abroad. The
historical development of this change of mind has already been traced
in the paper which Sir William Clark read on 30th November,
1922.l
The change naturally led to modifications in existing services abroad,
and
it
has
also
brought the creation of new services, which
it
is
the object
of the present paper to describe.
Of the new services which
His
Majesty’s Government maintains abroad,
we naturally turn first to the Trade Commissioner Service, which is the
chief organ of commercial representation throughout the Empire,
as
distinguished from the services maintained in foreign countnes. The
history of the Trade Commissioner Service is bound up with that of the
development of the constitutional relations of the different parts of the
British Empire and successive Imperial Conferences have marked various
stages in its evolution.
In the last ten years of the nineteenth century, manufacturers
and
merchants exporting from the United Kingdom to the Colonies,
a
term
which then covered the great sister States of the Empire
as
well
as
the
smaller possessions, began to feel increasingly the pressure of competition
from countries like Germany and Belgium, whose industrial development,
commenced
at
a
much later date than that of this country, was proceeding
at
a
very rapid rate. Merchants and Chambers of Commerce in this
JOURNAL
OF
~BUC
ADMINISIRAIXON,
Vol.
1,
No.
1.
276
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