and of no small inconvenience to the British trader who is endeavouring to establish businesses in Russia. Not least is this inconvenience felt in Siberia, where young commercial enterprises, breaking the ground for the first time, stand in special need of assistance from their national consular representatives. Up to the present time the Russian Government has not permitted consular representation in the eastern parts of the empire, and Siberia has been included in this regulation. Now, however, it has been notified that by special permission the right of consular representation will be granted in those parts of Siberia where political and strategical circumstances will permit.
It is a matter of very great importance to British trade not only that consular representation in Russia should be improved, but that its scope should be extended into Siberia and other eastern parts of the empire, wherever economic conditions are suitable. Moreover, the farther east one goes the more important becomes the value of prestige, and the closer becomes the connexion between political influence and commercial interests. The necessity for consular representation in Siberia is greater in the western than in the central part of the continent, since the proximity to the markets of Europe affords to the former the greatest immediate possibilities for the development of the import and export trade. The towns on the Siberian railway at the points where it crosses the principal waterways are the chief centres for collecting exports and distributing imports. Thus at Petropavlovsk, Omsk, Novonikolaevsk and Krasnoyarsk growing towns have sprung up, through which the products of the Altai
