ip's value and freight claimed, fixes the amount for
which the master is to give bond and security. In the case of a foreign
wreck the consul is held to be the agent of the foreign owner. Much of
the notarial business which is imposed on consuls, partly by statute and
partly by the request of private parties, consists in taking the
declarations as to registry, transfers, &c., under the Mercantile
Shipping Acts. Consuls in the Ottoman empire, China, Siam and Korea have
extensive judicial and executive powers.

Since the incorporation of the British consular service in the civil
service there have been several proposals to "reform" the system with
the view of increasing its usefulness, more particularly from the point
of view of providing assistance to British trade abroad (see _Reports of
Special Committees of the House of Commons on the Consular Service_,
1858, 1872, 1903). It has been frequently urged that British consuls in
their commercial knowledge and intercourse with foreign merchants
compare unfavourably, for example, with the consuls of the United
States. It must be remembered, however, that there are points of
striking dissimilarity between the duties of the consuls of these two
countries. The American consul is necessarily brought much into touch
with the trade and commerce of the country to which he is assigned
through the system of consular invoices (see Ad Valorem); in his
ordinary reports he is not confined to one stereotyped form, and when
preparing special reports (a valuable feature of the United States
consular service) he is liberally treated as regards any expense to
which he has been put in obtaining information. He is practically free
from the multifarious duties which the English consul has to discharge
in connexion with the mercantile marine, nor has he to perform marriage
ceremonies; and financially he is much better off, being allowed to
retain as personal all fees obtained from his notarial duties. The
Committee of 1903 was appointed to inquire, _inter alia_, whether the
limits of age--25 to 50--for candidates should be altered, and whether
service as a vice-consul for a certain period should be required to
qualify for promotion to the rank of consul; whether means could not be
adopted to give consular officers opportunities of increasing their
practical knowledge of commercial matters and to bring them more into
personal contact with the commercial community. The suggestions of the
committee