Charity of Commons. The chief commissioner receives 1,5001. per annum, and the assistant commissioners 1,2007. each. The fourth commissioner is unpaid, and holds office during pleasure. This office is always conferred upon the VicePresident of the Education Committee, so as to enable him to represent the Board in the House of Commons. It has no parliamentary representative in the House of Lords, as the President of the Council is in no way connected with it.t There are now attached to the Board four inspectors, a secretary, and twenty-seven clerks, of various grades." Its origin. THE BOARD OF TRADE. In reviewing the position and duties of this important department of state, it will be appropriate to consider (1) its constitution, and (2) its functions. 1. The Constitution of the Board of Trade. The origin of this department dates from the year 1660, when Charles II. established two separate councils, one for Trade, and another for Foreign Plantations. These two councils were afterwards united as a board, which was commonly known as the Board of Trade. After undergoing various changes, this board was utterly suppressed and abolished, in 1782, by the Act 22 Geo. III. c. 82. From this time affairs of trade were placed under the direction of a committee of the Privy Council, which was set apart by order in council in 1786, as the office of the Committee of Privy Council for the consideration of all matters relating to trade and foreign plantations; in other words, as a Board of Trade, with juris diction over the colonies of the British crown. The colonies continued in the charge of this departinent until the close of the American war, when they were transferred to the care of the Home Secretary." Until a very recent period, however, all colonial acts requiring the confirmation of the Queen in council were referred to the Board of Trade, and were made the subject of minutes by the President. But now the Colonial Office merely refers to the board such Acts as relate to trade, for examination and report thereon.* This Board, or Committee, is appointed by order in of whom council at the commencement of every reign. It consists composed. of a president,' with certain ex officio members, viz. :— the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the First Lord of the Treasury, the principal Secretaries of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and certain other Cabinet Ministers, with other Privy Councillors who do not form part of the administration, but are added to the board either on account of their official position, or because of their special knowledge of colonial questions. Of this latter class, some privy councillors are occasionally summoned to attend meetings of the board without being made permanent members thereof." So recently as the year 1835, during the presidency of Mr. Poulett Thompson, meetings of the board used to take place, but it was afterwards considered advisable to dispense with them, partly on account of its being extremely inconvenient for high officers of state to attend, and so by degrees the office became departmental." Nevertheless, within the last few years, it has happened that several important questions of colonial policy have arisen upon which the government have felt it advisable to consult all the members of the Present constitu tion. Board of Trade. Upon these occasions, the whole board has been convened, and by this means the services of various eminent men, professional and non-professional, who were of the Privy Council, though not of the existing administration, have been secured for the consideration of grave constitutional questions. Upon the reception of reports of this description from the Committee of Trade, ministers have advised that the same should be approved by the Queen in council, and they have afterwards introduced bills into Parliament founded upon such reports." At the present time, the Board of Trade, as a branch of the executive government, means nothing more than the president, who, with the assistance of the secretaries and other official staff, transacts all the business which has been assigned to this department. The president is not necessarily and was not invariably a member of the Cabinet, until after the recommendation of the Committee on Foreign Trade in 1864, that henceforth he should always have a place therein, in order to insure for his advice and opinions on commercial matters a due consideration; which has since been carried out.d Until 1867, when the office was abolished, there was invariably a Vice-President of the Board of Trade who was a privy councillor and a member of the administration, but who never had a seat in the Cabinet. Having no special or onerous duties to perform, the Vice-President usually held his office in connection with that of Paymaster-General, receiving (for the two offices) a salary of 2,000l. per annum, being the same as that allotted to the President. The existence of two offices so similar as that of the President and Vice-President of the Board See ante, p. 521. Grey, Parl. Gov. ed. 1864, p. 272. Rep. on Off. Sal. 1850. Evid. 762, 765, 799. Rep. on For. Trade, 1864, p. 249. Rep. Com. For. Trade, 1864. Evid. pp. 168, 245-254. The President has been in the Cabinet ever since 1865. • Ibid. pp. 128, 246. Rep. Com. on Education, 1865. Evid. 624. And see ante, p. 458, of Trade proved most anomalous and unsatisfactory. Each had an equal right of access to all official papers, and it was usual for the share of business to be undertaken by each to be a matter of private arrangement; the president, however, as the chief officer, being held responsible for everything. In the absence of the president, the vice-president filled his place, and, if sitting in a different chamber to his chief, he represented the department in Parliament, being necessarily held responsible for his own share in the business of the board. But at length the office of vice-president fell into an unsatisfactory state of irresponsibility. Being able to refuse to do anything,' whilst the president could refuse to allow him anything to do,' it was evident that any further continuance of the office was incompatible with the interests of the public service. Accordingly, advan- Abolition tage was taken of the opportunity afforded by an appli- Vice-Precation of the Board of Trade to the Treasury in 1866, sident. for some addition to the staff, owing to the large increase of duty which had recently devolved upon the board, to appoint a departmental committee, consisting of the vicepresident and the financial secretary of the Treasury, to enquire into the constitution of the Board of Trade, with a view to the introduction therein of greater efficiency, and of a more economical administration. The committee presented an elaborate report on the state of the office, specifying the new work assigned to the board within the last few years, and making numerous recommendations for its improved organisation and management. The principal alteration suggested was that there should be but one responsible head of the board, namely, the president; that there should be two secretaries, one of whom should sit in Parliament; that the office of vice-president Rep. on Off. Sal. 1850, Evid. 775. Commons Papers, 1854, vol. xxvii. p. 129. Rep. on Board of Ad miralty, 1861, p. 605. Corresp. Bd. of Trade, Commons of the Division of the office. should be abolished, and that there should be as many assistant-secretaries as might be required for transacting the business of the board. It was also recommended that the office should be subdivided into four departments, each having an assistant-secretary, namely, one for railway matters, another for mercantile marine matters, another for harbours and foreshores, and another for general commercial business. An Act was accordingly passed to carry out the arrangement for the abolition of the office of vice-president, and to allow one of the secretaries to sit in the House of Commons. The post of Paymaster-General, which of late years has been usually held in connection with this office, is proposed to be hereafter attached to the office of the Judge-Advocate General. And the salary of the new parliamentary secretary has been fixed at 1,500l., being a reduction of 500l. on the salary formerly given to the vice-president.❜ The other recommendations of the committee, after being approved by the Board of Trade, were sanctioned by the Lords of the Treasury on January 7, 1867, and were directed to be put into immediate operation.* Accordingly, the office is now divided into six departments, each in charge of an assistant-secretary (in the case of the first four), or other principal officer. The departments are as follows:-1. The Commercial and Miscellaneous. 2. The Railways and Telegraphs. 3. That relating to Harbours, including Fisheries and Foreshores. 4. The Mercantile Marine and Wreck. 5. The Statistical. 6. The Financial, which includes the two branches, Seamen's Pensions, &c., and Accounts.1 Before proceeding to state the duties which appertain to these several departments, it will be necessary to direct h Stat. 30 & 31 Vict. c. 72. Hans. Trade, Com. Papers, 1667, vol. xxxix. Deb. vol. clxxxvii. p. 67. p. 215. Hans. Deb. vol. clxxxv. p. 358. 1 Ibid. p. 220. And see Thom's Official Directory, U. Kingdom, 1868, p. 174. |