"That in the opinion of this Association, it is desirable that young persons intended for commercial careers should, besides passing through the ordinary curriculum of a Secondary School, be specially instructed in subjects appertaining to commerce; and that in order to encourage the provision of such instruction, and with a view to securing that the facilities for commercial education in the United Kingdom shall not be inferior to those of any Continental country, it is urgently necessary that Government aid should be extended to the teaching of commercial subjects, as it now is to the teaching of Science and Art." AND TO THE Other Chambers of Commerce WHICH HAVE TAKEN AN INTEREST IN COMMERCIAL EDUCATION. PREFACE. OUR consuls abroad constantly complain that British merchants and manufacturers either cannot or will not, or at any rate do not, quote and sell in foreign weights, measures, and currencies, as their foreign competitors do, and that we are thereby losing trade. These complaints were emphasized at a meeting of an important Chamber of Commerce held a short time ago to consider the question of "Foreign Competition." One of the speakers said: "I employ a good many clerks, and some of them are excellent, but I am sure if I were to put before some of the best of them a shipment of English goods and ask them. . . to reduce the weights into the metric system and convert the £'s into dollars or milreis, the result, if any at all, would be disastrous. Again, any one connected with the Indian Trade well knows that half the Indents coming from India are at rupee limits. If I gave a clerk one of these Indents and told him to work it out into sterling, making the necessary calculations and covering himself against risk on the rise or fall in exchange, I am sure he could not do it. The result is, that I and my brother merchants in Wolverhampton and Birmingham are obliged to refuse all Indents which come home at Indian rupee limits. The Germans are doing this thing every day. They, therefore, simplify business and execute orders which we are obliged to refuse." This book is specially designed to meet these difficulties and to show a would-be exporter how to make the necessary calculations to enable him to price his goods laid down at the consumer's place of business (in foreign weights, measures, and money), and on receipt of orders, how to deal with them, i.e., how to procure the goods, how to forward, ship, insure, and invoice them, and how to make arrangements regarding foreign exchange, and all the necessary subsidiary operations. In short, this Manual is a guide to the whole of the operations connected with the importation and exportation of goods, and matters incidental thereto. Many of the special points connected with the purchase and sale of goods, foreign exchanges and bills of exchange, marine insurance, ships and charters, bills of lading, &c., about which business men are often in doubt, are also simply and fully explained. The essential points of difference between the various kinds of invoices used in foreign trade are clearly set forth, and in view of the proposed introduction into this country of decimal systems of weights, measures, and money, a few chapters have been devoted to these heads, in which these subjects are fully dealt with. We also give a chapter explanatory of the construction and working of telegraph codes-information which has hitherto been confined to the heads of large business houses. Most of the books hitherto published on commercial subjects have been written by men with no business experience, many ludicrous mistakes being the result. We claim for this Manual that it is the outcome of practical experience in all the branches of trade here dealt with. January, 1899. FREDK. HOOPER, Chamber of Commerce, JAMES GRAHAM, West Riding Offices, CONTENTS "Commerce" and 66 Export Trade; The Foreign Trade of the United Kingdom; The Methods of Sale; Terms of Sale relating to Quality, Price, Delivery, and Meaning of the term "Foreign Exchange"; How money is transferred by Bills of Exchange; Par of Exchange; Moneys of Account and Monetary Standards of the principal countries; Course of Exchange; Eastern Exchanges; Council Bills; Telegraphic Transfers; Exchange Operations and Calculations—Direct Exchange and Indirect Ex- change; Re-exchange; Gresham's Law; Foreign Bills of Exchange |
