tenance and extension of Canadian Trade Commissioner Service abroad. The Minister is unquestionably deeply concerned in the continued successful operation of this division of his work, and his concern is an earnest of his desire to promote the export trade of the country by the best possible means. He has asked and was assured of steady co-operation and assistance. During the past Session of Parliament an Order-in-Council was passed improving the remunerative and other conditions under which the Trade Commissioner Service operates at home and abroad. Arrangements have also been completed for the addition of several new junior trade commissioners to the staff in training for future posts abroad. Overseas Agents and Buyers. An increasing number of commission agents, buyers and merchants from overseas countries are visiting our office and every possible assistance has been given them to locate the Canadian products marketable abroad. Commercial Reports on Overseas Firms. To members engaged in export business the Department has been able to furnish an increasing number of commercial reports on firms outside of Canada and the United States. This service is provided free to members and during the year over 200 reports were secured on firms in twenty-seven countries. Foreign and Domestic Trade Enquiries. There has been a considerable increase in trade enquiries during the year and approximately 11,000 have been handled. We give below an analysis of the routine work of the Department: Domestic enquiries for Canadian products.. 6,000 Statistics of production, imports and exports for Canada and many other countries.. 600 160 250 Lists of Canadian firms compiled. Foreign enquiries for Canadian goods and other information received from importing firms, agents, Boards of Trade, banks, steamship companies and Trade Commissioners.. 1,200 Interviews with commission agents, buyers and merchants from the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, British West Indies, United States, South America, China and France. 150 100 200 500 2.440 Lists of firms in other countries. Commercial reports on overseas firms. Miscellaneous enquiries received over the 'phone, by mail and by personal interview. It is taken as a good sign that the various enquiries received are increasing year by year, and as our facilities extend so does the ability to cope with the various questions increase. Insurance Committee G. C. Crean, Chairman The Committee considered Dominion Legislation introduced at the last session, but Council on its recommendation decided not to take any action. This legislation provided for an increase in the initial deposit by British and foreign companies doing business in Canada to cover policy holders. The new Act increased the former deposit of $50,000 required to $100,000 for non-Canadian concerns. The purpose of this legislation was to discourage the further invasion of the Canadian field. Group Insurance. The report recalled that it was chiefly due to the representations made by the Insurance Committee of the Association that legislation permitting the establishment of group insurance in Canada was provided by Parliament. Group policies now in effect aggregate $140,000,000. Forest Protection in Canada. The report deals at length with the extent of losses of timber by fire in Canada, and the progress of preventative steps. It declares that, "Because it is a fundamental necessity in the industrial and recreational life of Canada, our forest heritage must at all costs be conserved and perpetuated. The earnest national observance of "Forest Week," Apr. 24 to 30, indicated very well the general and growing recognition of this fact." The Committee recommended that the Association continue to co-operate with the Dominion Fire Prevention Association in reducing fire losses. Transportation Committee E. A. Mott, Chairman In reference to the "Hague Rules," which were approved by the International Conference on Maritime Law held at Brussels in 1922, the Committee reported that it had urged the Department of Marine and Fisheries at Ottawa to postpone action pending the passage of legislation in this connection in the United States, inasmuch as shippers in that country were actively seeking certain modifications in the rules for application to exports from the United States. The Department at Ottawa had given assurance that the Committee would be afforded an opportunity of studying any legislation which might be draftedon the subject. The Transportation Department of the Association had been called upon to give advice and assistance in connection with a number of commodity rate adjustments. The Department had also been called upon to assist members in certain revisions of items in the Express Classification, as a result of which modifications had been secured on a number of articles. Education Committee W. H. Miner, Chairman Dealing with Research, the Committee stated that "It is gratifying to note that some of the provinces are planning to extend their research work. There is plenty for them to do, and with some necessary co-operation to prevent duplication with the work of the Dominion Government, the provincial governments can assist greatly in the national problem by encouraging types of research which can be utilized to develop and commercialize provincial raw materials." Technical Education. As we survey Canada and see the splendid technical schools and colleges which are giving instruction to thousands of pupils, we may be pardoned for entertaining a glow of pride in the part played by the Association in bringing them into existence. In this work, of course, we co-operated with the Dominion, Provincial and Municipal Governments, and with those in other occupations, and to all of those we are very grateful for their assistance...... At the present time the representatives of industry on the Boards of the various technical schools are usually members of this Association, and they are active in supporting and encouraging all branches of technical education throughout Canada. Chairmen of Committees. Address .Saint John, N.B. Tariff, J. O. Thorn, Winnipeg; Transportation, E. A. Mott, Brantford; Insurance, H. M. Jaquays, Montreal; Membership P.E. Joubert; Legislation, W. S Morden, K.C., Toronto; Industrial Relations, L. L. Anthes, Tor onto; Education,. W. H. Miner, Montreal; Commercial Intelligence, T. F. Monypenny, Tor. onto; Publishing, W. C. Coulter, Toronto. THE CANADIAN MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION General Manager. HEAD OFFICE, TORONTO J. E. Walsh .J. T. Stirrett Maritime. Quebec. Ontario. Prairie British Columbia. Representative... Division Offices H. R. Thompson, Box 470, Amherst, N.S. R. W. Gould, 36 Board of Trade Bldg., Montreal .J. M. McIntosh, 1404 Bank of Hamilton Bldg., Toronto C. E. Carpenter, 408 Avenue Block, Portage Ave., Winnipeg .H. Dalton, 701 Board of Trade Building. Vancouver Ottawa Office, 217 Booth Building E. Blake Robertson HARBOUR OF MONTREAL NEW HIGH RECORDS ESTABLISHED IN 1926 9,210,699 tons of Merchandise handled in and out over the Wharves-Largest number of ocean ships coming to port COMMISSIONERS: Hon. W. L. MCDOUGALD, President EMILIEN DAOUST Loan of $12,000,000 MILTON L. HERSEY The outstanding event in Harbour administration in the year 1926 was the adoption by the Commissioners of a programme for further extensions of plant and facilities. This required the sanction by the Government and by Parliament of a loan in the sum of $12,000,000. The programme, with the requisite data in support of it, was laid before the Minister, the Hon. P. J. A. Cardin, and by him before Council. A bill was accordingly introduced into Parliament by the Minister to enable this to be done. Though it encountered some opposition it was, in due course, passed through both Houses, but failed to become an Act in consequence of the political crisis in June and the subsequent dissolution of Parliament early in July. Coincident with this happening, the office of President of the Board of Harbour Commissioners became vacant when, upon June 25th, Dr. W. L. McDougald tendered his resignation, having been called to the Senate of Canada by Order-in-Council passed that day and sanctioned by his Excellency the Governor-General, the Baron Byng of Vimy. A successor was not named by the outgoing Government of the Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King; while the incoming Government of Rt. Hon. Arthur Meighen was satisfied to allow the conduct of affairs at the Harbour to remain in charge of Commissioners Dr. Milton Hersey and Mr. Emilien Daoust, the former of whom became automatically acting President in virtue of seniority of appointment to the Board. This arrangement continued during the brief régime of the Government of the Rt. Hon. Arthur Meighen. It was recognized in shipping and commercial circles and by the press that the acting President carried on with assiduity and devoted attention to detail throughout the remainder of a difficult and disappointing season of navigation and a troublous and anxious period in Harbour annals. Immediately after the organization of his second administration, the Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King having expressed to the Hon. W. L. McDougald his earnest wish that there should be no hiatus in the continuity of the policies adopted at the Harbour at the beginning of his first ministry in 1922 and in pursuance of this that he should return to the service of the Harbour, an Order-inCouncil was passed at the instance of the Hon. P. J. A. Cardin, Minister of Marine and Fisheries, Oct. 9, 1926, designating the Hon. W. L. McDougald, Senator, a Commissioner and President of the Board of Harbour Commissioners for a second term, but without the emoluments attaching to that office. The Senator, having accepted, was sworn in at the Harbour offices the 12th day of October following. The Year's Activities. The season of navigation, 1926, was one of the most unsatisfactory periods ever experienced in the Harbour of Montreal, from the point of view of the Commissioners. In recent years trade and shipping conditions have been favourable, and shipowners have been eager to come up the St. Lawrence to Montreal for cargoes, water levels and weather condiitons being also advantageous. In those years the Harbour of Montreal leaped from one dizzy peak of achievement to another, year after year, establishing records which were envied by other harbours all over the globe. In 1926, however, not one of these favourable features of operation existed. The disastrous general strike in England, and the prolonged coal strike there, entirely changed the face of trade and commerce conditions on at least two continents; and shipping, as the season progressed, was diverted in ever increasing numbers to Atlantic coast ports for coal cargoes to Great Britain and the continent, thus realizing the paradoxical conception of a humorist of other days about "carrying coals to Newcastle." Ocean freight rates mounted rapidly in mid-season, which seriously hit the export grain movement from the Atlantic seaboard; whilst the westbound traffic in British hard coals, which in previous years had helped to lower ocean rates on grain from Montreal, dwindled to a negligible quantity. Water levels on the St. Lawrence were lower than usual during 1926, and, as if to bring all these impediments to a head, the season of navigation was the shortest on record, unusually cold weather having been experienced both in the Spring and Fall. In the Harbour of Montreal, the natural corollary to such untoward operating conditions would have been a disappointing shrinkage in volume of tonnages, with results in every branch of the Commissioners' activities bulking far below those attained in other years. In so far as the grain exports alone were concerned this was partially true, the total exports having dropped some 30,000,000 bushels below the totals for 1925. A redeeming feature of this situation, however, may be found in the fact that the exports of Canadian wheat were greater than in other, and happier, seasons. But the results of the year's operations in the Harbour, despite the pessimistic expectations of everyone concerned, not only did not coincide with what the conditions would have led the Commissioners to anticipate, but established beyond any remaining doubt the solidity of the foundation upon which the claims for the future greatness of this Harbour of Montreal are built. Despite the anomalies of overseas trade conditions; despite erratic climatic features; despite the partial suspension of the overseas grain movement until after the close of St. Lawrence navigation, the total tonnage of merchandise handled in and out over the wharves of the port during 1926 established a new high record for all time, viz., 9,210,699 tons. In addition, the number of ocean ships which came to the port in 1926 also set a new high record, viz., 1,421 ships. And although the Harbour of Montreal has gained its greatest laurels as a grainshipping port, it must be borne in mind that the two outstanding aspects of the year's business, total tonnage of commodities and number of ocean ships docked and cleared, furnish the gauge by which a harbour's success is measured. There will not be wonder, then, that the Harbour Commissioners of Montreal feel a degree of satisfaction with the showing the port has made in 1926 under stress of peculiarly adverse conditions, and that they have confidently applied to Parliament for authority to provide additional facilities with the least possible delay upon a comprehensive scale. The Grain Elevator System. For the sixth successive year the Harbour of Montreal in 1926 again led all seaports in the volume of grain handled through its elevators, with receipts of 135,897,882 bushels, and deliveries of 134,591,240 bushels. These figures, while recording a decrease as against the previous year of about 30,000,000 bushels, are nevertheless highly satisfactory, when the unfavourable conditions which prevailed all through the Summer and Fall of 1926 are taken into consideration. The decrease in shipments of grain was not confined to the Port of Montreal, all the other Canadian and United States ports handling this commodity on the Atlantic seaboard having been similarly affected, as the following comparative table shows : A reassuring feature of the shrinkage in exports of grain from Montreal, however, is the fact that it did not affect the movement of Canadian or United States wheat, being due solely to the decline in the movement of oats. In 1925, 32,806,004 bushels of Canadian oats, and 13,994,521 bushels of American oats, were shipped from Montreal, a total of 46,800,525 bushels; in 1926 the exports of |