INTERACTION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION BODIES OF NIZHNY NOVGOROD FAIR WITH THE STATE AUTHORITIES IN SOLVING CUSTOMS POLICY ISSUES IN THE POST-REFORM PERIOD OF THE 19th CENTURY

Abstract

The present article examines interaction between public administration bodies of Nizhny Novgorod Fair and the state authorities in solving customs policy issues in the post-reform period of the 19th century It was the public administration bodies, whose functions included planning measures to improve the quality of trade and petitioning the government about the needs of domestic industry and trade, that influenced implementation of domestic and foreign state policy. The fair public administration, taking into account the importance that the Nizhny Novgorod Fair had in domestic and foreign trade, was the center of unification of all Russian merchants. Since the mid-1880s, public administration bodies, in particular the fair committee, formed in 1864, whose powers gradually grew, began to exercise representative functions on the issues of domestic trade and industry development. In particular, with direct involvement of the public fair management bodies in the 1880s, a large range of issues was discussed; these issues related to: the transit of foreign goods through the Transcaucasian Territory, which existed for several decades and caused significant damage to the production of Russian manufactory; sales markets in the Central Asia, Persia and the Far East; transformations of the entire customs system in Russia and changes in existing customs tariffs with the direct participation of the commercial and industrial estate representatives. As a result, a number of measures in the state customs policy carried out by the state authorities ultimately contributed to the development, expansion and strengthening the positions of domestic industrial production and trade. Public administration bodies, including the fair committee, became especially active in the 1890s. It is during this period that the authority of the fair management increases. And the fair committee itself began to express the interests of the commercial and industrial estate of whole Russia.