During the first British occupation of the Cape an attempt was made by the inhabitants of Cape Town to bring about some form of commercial co-operation. A meeting was held in August 1800, when plans and proposals were discussed for the establishment of a “commercial coffee house”. This scheme was never put into operation. During the regime of the Batavian Republic a “Kamer of Commercie” (Chamber of Commerce) was created by the government for the settlement of trade disputes. This arrangement was not continued when the Cape was re-occupied by the British in 1806, with the result that there was no organized body to look after the interests of commerce. There was also no place where merchants could meet to transact business.
This state of affairs was remedied in 1817. On 27 March a meeting, attended by seventeen people was held at George’s Coffee House and a resolution adopted that a room be hired for the purpose of affording the commercial interests an opportunity of meeting daily for the more ready carrying on of business. A provisional committee was appointed to hire such a room and to draw up a set of rules and regulations to be submitted to a general meeting which was to be held on 31 March.
A room which became known as the Commercial Room was procured in Berg Street and the first general meeting was held there on 31 March 1817. According to the rules approved at this meeting only merchants and persons engaged in trade could become members, on payment of a subscription. The commanders of all ships trading with the colony and supercargoes could be admitted on the introduction of a member on payment of a monthly fee. Commanders who called for refreshments only, could be similarly admitted, but free of charge. A secretary was appointed and provision was made for the election of a treasurer.
In April 1818 the Committee of the Commercial Room applied to the governor for a piece of land for the erection of an Exchange with suitable offices for the accommodation of persons engaged in the trade and commerce of the colony. Eventually a site on the grand parade was granted for the purpose.
A Committee of Direction and Management, consisting of seven members, was appointed and public subscription lists were opened to raise the necessary funds for the erection of the building. The committee was responsible for supervising the work in accordance with a plan approved by the subscribers. The shares in the building were fixed at 500 rixdollars each, but no individual was allowed to be the proprietor of more than ten shares. The proprietors or subscribers were entitled to one vote for each share, but not to exceed five votes. A new committee was to be elected annually by ballot which would have control of the building. At the requisition of ten proprietors, the committee was obliged to call a general meeting.
A distinction was made between the Commercial Room and Public Exchange, when on 8 September 1819 a joint general meeting was held of subscribers “to both institutions” and a resolution adopted to appoint staff to act under the direction of the committees of the Commercial Room and of the Public Exchange. The former committee represented the members of the Commercial Room while the latter committee represented the shareholders or the owners of the building.
The building was completed in 1821. On 18 February 1822 it was resolved to appoint a committee of five members for the purpose of forming a society on an improved basis. All the property belonging to the existing society was to be transferred to the new society. It was also resolved that the members of the proposed society would commence their occupation of the centre room in the Exchange Building in February. New rules and regulations were adopted. Members of the new society were enrolled on 25 February, and on 1 March it was decided to call the society The Commercial Exchange. The Exchange Room was finally opened on 4 March.
An attempt to replace the Commercial Exchange by a more efficient body was made at the annual general meeting of shareholders held on 24 April 1841. It was proposed that the shareholders consider the establishment of a chamber of commerce to watch over and protect the commercial interests of the colony. This new body was to be called The Cape of Good Hope Chamber of Commerce. Eventually it was decided to continue the Commercial Exchange under its former designation, but to modify the regulations.
From around 1850 the income of the Commercial Exchange was found insufficient to meet the expenditure. To improve the position the rate of subscription was periodically raised but this only resulted in a decline in the number of subscribers.(19) It was consequently felt that an attempt should be made to reform the institution. On 23 November 1860, a resolution to that effect was adopted, and on 26 November an ad hoc committee was appointed. On the decision of this committee a Chamber of Commerce in connection with a Commercial Reading Room was established on 3 December 1860. The reading room was open to all parties on payment of a subscription of £2.2. per annum, and the chamber of commerce was open to merchants, brokers and others engaged in wholesale trade. The first meeting of the chamber was held on 23 January 1861 when the members were enrolled and the office bearers elected.
The archives has been arranged and described according to the historical development of the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce. The volumes comprising the archives of the two bodies which preceded the Chamber, namely the Commercial Room and Public Exchange and the Commercial Exchange, both of which are closed archives, have been allocated volume numbers so as to be in accordance with and to show their relation to the archives of the Chamber of Commerce.
