The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-25 00:00:00

Association of Chambers of Commerce.

The annual meeting of the Association of Cham-
bers of Commerce of the United Kingdom was held
at the Westminster Palace Hotel yesterday, Mr. S.
S. Lloyd in the chair. •

The following were the Chambers represented
and the names of the delegates :—Mr. Darnton
Lupton and Mr. W. Hirst, Leede ; Mr. T. Wilson,
Leeds and Goole; Mr. J. V. Godwin, Mr. John
Darlington, and Mr. Jacob Behrens, Bradford ; Mr.
G. Dixon and Mr. I. S. Wright, Birmingham ; Mr.
Oliver Ellis, Dewsbury ; Mr. C. Allhusen, New-
castle-on-Tyne ; Mr. Robert Jackson, Mr. I. Job-
son Smith, Mr. H. Hall, and Mr. W. Smith, Shef-
field; Mr. W. H, Wills, Mr. Mark Whitwell, and
Mr. L. Bruton, Bristol; Mr. J. Lumsden, Mr. H.
J. Atkinson, and Mr. C. Norwood, Hull ; Mr. J. W.
Carlile, Mr. C. H. Jones, Mr. Joseph Wrigley, jun.,
and Mr. Joseph Battley, Huddersfield; Mr. E.
Akroyd and Mr. J. G. Bowman, Halifax ; Mr.
Frank P. Fellows, Wolverhampton ; and Mr.
Edward Day, Dewsbury.

The draught report of the standing committee
was read and adopted.

Reviewing the measures of commercial reform
which characterised the past year, the report re-
ferred to the treaty of commerce signed in January
last between France and Italy, and expressed an
earnest hope that the negotiations for an Anglo-
Italian commercial treaty may now be brought to
an immediate and satisfactory i.,sue. Reference
was made to the satisfactory treaty with Belgium
and with the King of Burmah ; to the passing of
the Merchandise Marks Act, 1862, by Parliament ;
to the extension of the time of ownership of regis-
tered designs in articles made wholly or chiefly of
metal from three years to five; and to the Act for
the incorporation, regulation, and winding-up of
trading companies and other associations. The com-
mittee express a hope that the petty import and
export charges imposed by the Customs Act of
1862 may be abolished this session. The Partner-
ship Law Amendtr ent Bill, the Patent Laws, and
the International Maritime Law were commended to
the attention of the Chambers. The committee trust
that at no very distant date a bill may be enacted
which shall not only consolidate the entire statute
law of bankruptcy, but render procedure in bank-
ruptcy what it ought to be—at once the most simple,
economical, and speedy method of dealing with the
evil to which it relates. The attention of the various
Chambers of Commerce is urgently required, the
committee observe, to the unsatisfactory fiscal rela-
tions with Great Britain of foreign States (espe-
cially of the Zallverein, Austria, Russia, Spain, and
Portugal). The report proceeds to review the ob-
jectionable provisions of the tariffs of these States,
any specific allusion to the enormous protective
duties imposed on the manufacturers of this country
by the United States of America being purposely
avoided. "The present circumstances of that great
country," say the committee, "are so exceptional
that the committee can here only express a hope
that, at the termination of the present unhappy and
disastrous civil war, the tariff of the United States
may be revised in a spirit more in accordance with
sound commercial principles, and with the preEent
opinions of the other leading commercial nations of
the world." In the negotiation of commercial
treaties it is very important at all times that the
special interests of British manufacturers should be
duly considered. It would be a fatal mistake (says
the report) to follow the details of the treaties
which may have been concluded with other States
by the French, or by any other foreign Government.
With regard to our repeal of the Navigation Laws,
the committee observe that it is to be regretted that
many of the principal maritime nations decline to
respond at all to this liberality on the part of Great
Britain, but by imposing extra tonnage dues on
British as compared with their own shipping, and
by differential duties on the goods carried therein,
succeed, in many instances, in practically exclud-
ing British vessels from participating in the foreign,
colonial, or coasting trade of such countries alto-
gether. This is a ground for just complaint, and
one to which the attention of the Foreign-off ce and
lot the Board of Trade should be constantly directed
by the various Chambers of Commerce. In conclud-
ing their report the committee advert to the increase
of our exports, and the gratifying results to France
no less than to England of the adoption of a more
liberal commercial policy by the former.

The following is the programme of subjects for
discussion by the association to-day :
Birmingham—The Partnership Law Amendment Bill,
1862.
Bradford—The Extension of the Principle of Limited
Liability to Private Partnerships.
Leeds—The Desirability of a General Registration of
Partnerships.
Bradford, Birmingham, and Sheffield—The Patent Laws.
Birmingham—The Defects in the Bankruptcy Act. 1861,
as exemplified in its practical working,
Bradford—The subject of Foreign Tariffs generally, and
the Desirability of an Improved Mole of Communication
between the Foreign-office, the Board of Trade, and Cham-
bers of Commerce in reference to Commercial Questions.
Bristol—Belligerent Rights at Sea.

Hull—The Desirability of Abolishing the Petty Import
and Export Charges imposed by the Customs Act, 1860, the
Scheldt Tolls, and the Impropriety of granting Powers to
Railway Companies to run Steam-vessels.

Leeds—The Abolition of Extra Rates charged on Goods
removed Inland for Bonding.
Bradford—lncorporation of Chambers of Commerce.
Hull—The Desirability of Tribunals of Commerce.
Leeds—The Desirableness of an Alteration in the Mode
of conducting Legislation on Private Bills.
Bristol—Private Bill Legislation.
Leeds—The Desirability of the Abolition of the Duty on
Fire Insurance, or its reduction and extension to all kinds
of insurance against Fire. _

Bradford—The Question of having Extra Facilities
granted for the Transmission of Patterns by Post.
Huddersfield—The Metric System of Weights and
Measures, and the Report of the Select Committee of Par-
liament thereon.

A considerable part of the morning was occupied in dis-
cussing Mr. Scholefield's bill on Limited Liability. There
was great diversity of opinion with respect to it, more par-
ticularly in relation to the partnership of clerks; and the
question was ultimately disposed of by a resolution recom-
mending the bill to the consideration of the associated
Chambers of Commerce in their separate capacity. A re-
solution was afterwards passed unanimously in favour of
the compulsory registration of all partnerships. The meet-
ing then proceeded to the consideration of the Patent Laws.