Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Board of Trade

TRADE, Board of.The greater part of such super vision of commerce and industry as exists in the United Kingdom is exercised by the "Committee of Privy Council for Trade" (see Privy Council), or, as it is usually called, the Board of Trade. As early as the 14th century councils and commissions had been formed from time to time to advise parliament in matters of trade, but it was not till the middle of the 17th century, under the Commonwealth, that any department of a permanent character was attempted. Cromwell's policy in this respect was continued under the Restoration, and in 1660 a committee of the privy council was appointed for the purpose of obtaining information as to the imports and exports of the country, and improving trade. A few years later another committee of the council was appointed to act as intermediaries between the crown and the colonies, or foreign plantations, as they were then called. This joint commission of trade and plantations was abolished in 1675, and it was not until twenty years later that the Board of Trade was revived under William III. Among the chief objects set before this board were the inquiry into trade obstacles and the employment of the poor; the state of the silver currency was also a subject on which John Locke, its secretary, lost no time in making representations to the Government. Locke's retirement in 1700 removed any chance of the Board of Trade advocating more enlightened opinions on commercial subjects than those generally held at that time. It had only a small share in making the constitutions of the colonies, as all the American ones except Georgia and Nova Scotia were formed before the reign of Charles II.; and in 1760 a secretary of state for the colonies was appointed, to whom the control drifted away. In 1780 Burke made his celebrated attack on the public offices, which resulted in the abolition of the board. In 1786, however, another permanent committee of the privy council was formed by order in council, and with one or two small exceptions the legal constitution of the Board of Trade is still regulated by that order. Under it all the principal officers of state, including the first lords of the treasury and admiralty, the secretaries of state, and certain members of the privy council, among whom was the archbishop of Canterbury, obtained seats at the board ex officio; and ten unofficial members, including several eminent statesmen, were also placed on the committee. The duties of the revived board were made the same as they were in the beginning of the century, but, in addition, the regulation of the food supply of the country, by restricting or relaxing the export and import of corn, was brought into prominence owing to a larger population requiring to be fed. New duties were thrown on the board by the growth of joint-stock companies, the development of railways, and the increase in shipping, and it was necessary to break it up into departments charged with the administration of the various Acts of Parliament. The Board of Trade thus became a mere name, the president being practically the secretary of state for trade, and the vice-president became, in 1867, a parliamentary secretary, with similar duties to those of a parliamentary under-secretary of state. At present, besides the president, who has usually a seat in the cabinet, the parliamentary secretary, and a permanent secretary, there are six assistant secretaries, each in charge of a department.

1. The Commercial Department is the real remains of the original Board of Trade, as it combines the charge of the trade statistics with the general consultative duties with which King Charles II. s board was originally entrusted. The statistical work includes compiling the abstracts relating to the United Kingdom, the colonies, and foreign countries, the supervision of the trade accounts, and the preparation of shipping, railway, emigration, and fishery statistics. A record of the prices of corn has been obtained from actual sales in the chief market towns for about a hundred years, the original object being the sliding scale of corn duties, but these are now continued to govern the tithe payments, and form an un broken series of prices based on actual transactions, and not mere market quotations. Foreign and colonial customs tariffs and regulations are also matters on which information is published, and labour statistics are for the future to have special attention. In 1872 one of the most important functions of the commercial department, viz., the negotiation of commercial treaties, was transferred to the Foreign Office, but the Board of Trade is still consulted on these matters by the Foreign Office, as well as by the Colonial Office on colonial commercial matters, and by the other public departments. The Bankruptcy Act of 1883 added a new branch of work, but for this there is now a separate establishment under an inspector-general. The last new work undertaken by the department is the publication (begun August 1886) of a Monthly Journal of commercial information, chiefly from official sources.

2. The Railway Department was originally constituted in 1840, and performs multifarious duties under various Railway Acts, including the inspection of railways before they are open, inquiries into accidents, reports on proposed railways, approval of bye-laws, appointment of arbitrators in disputes, as well as many duties under private Railway Acts. The inspection of tramways, their bye-laws and "provisional orders," are all dealt with here, as are similar orders relating to gas and water schemes and to electric lighting. Patents, designs, and trade marks are now dealt with by the Patent Office, which is subordinate to the railway department, and copy right, art unions, and industrial exhibitions are also among the matters dealt with by the department.

3. The Marine Department was created a separate branch of the Board of Trade in 1850, about which time many new and import ant marine questions came under the Board of Trade, such, for example, as the survey of passenger steamers, the compulsory examination of masters and mates, the establishment of shipping offices for the engagement and discharge of seamen. Further work fell to the marine department by the Act of 1853, which gave it the control of lighthouse funds, and to a certain extent of pilotage. The consolidating Merchant Snipping Act of 1854 and subsequent legislation so much increased the department that in 1866 it was divided into three, viz., the present marine department, which deals with ships and seamen, the harbour department, and the finance department.

4. The Harbour Department was, as stated above, a branch of the marine department until 1866, so far as it is connected with the physical adjuncts of navigation, but various other matters have since been added, e.g., the charge of the foreshores belonging to the crown, formerly managed by the commissioners of woods and forests, and the protection of navigable harbours and channels, long under the control of the Admiralty. Lighthouse funds, provisional orders for oyster and mussel fisheries, the management of Holyhead and Ramsgate harbours and of Dover pier, wreck, and quarantine are all among the matters dealt with by this department, which also has charge of the standards department for weights and measures.

5. The Finance Department was, like the harbour department, separated in 1866 from the marine department. The accounts of all the branches of the Board of Trade are in its charge, including the subordinate offices. It also deals with the accounts of harbours, lighthouses, and mercantile marine offices, and of the merchant seamen's fund, and with the consuls accounts for disabled seamen abroad. Savings banks and seamen's money orders are also amour; the accounts and payments with which it is charged, and outside these marine matters it has to prepare for parliament the life insurance companies accounts and to take charge of the bankruptcy estate accounts.

6. The Fisheries Department.—By a recent Act the powers of the Home Office over salmon and other fisheries have been transferred to the Board of Trade, and a small department has consequently been created charged with the care of those industries.