THE DEPARTMENT OF OVERSEAS TRADE
_ - . - [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sta,—The Department of Overseas Trade is maintained at a heavy cost7-although, by the way, it was to be abolished in the name Of economy—to give information which may
increase our export _trade. . - I was asked the other day, by a friend in the North, to get some 'information from the Department about the conditions under which certain British manufactures could be marketed in' America. I was received politely and, after 'wine delay; was assured that the information was available and would be sent to me. Next day, however, I was told that the information could not be given to me, as the Depart- ment, under a recent regulation, would only deal with principali.
My friend in the North will, therefore, have to enter into a lengthy correspondence, such as departmental officials love, and will have to wait weeks for the information which he urgently needed and which he could have had, through me, in two days. And yet the Department, I am told, wonders why- its services are not invoked more often and why most business men ignore it completely.—I am, Sir, &c., W. B.
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