to serve any useful purpose, and it being notorious that they were almost wholly neglected,' 'even by the Committee to whom the Bills were referred'-should now, for the most part, be dispensed with. By a resolution of the House of Commons, on March 14, 1867, it was agreed that henceforth those railway Bills only which affected tidal waters or harbours-which are reported on under the Harbours' Transfer Act of 1862-shall continue to be reported upon by the Board of Trade." If any such reports should be unfavourable, it would be competent for the Committee on the Bill to require the attendance of the professional officers by whom they were drawn up, for the purpose of testing their conclusions or making further enquiries. The duty of the Board itself terminates upon the presentation of the reports to Parliament." By the standing orders of both Houses, notices of intended applications to Parliament for railway Acts must be deposited at the Board of Trade, together with plans, &c. of the proposed railway, before the introduction of the Bill. Before a new line of railway can be opened for traffic, notice must be given to the Board of Trade, and its permission obtained, upon the report of an inspector appointed by the Board for this and other purposes. So also, when accidents occur, notice must be sent to the Board, and an inspector is generally directed to enquire. into the case, upon whose report the Board may require alterations to be made in the mode of working the line, for the greater protection and security of the public. And on July 13, 1868, the House of Lords agreed to a resolution, to be afterwards made a standing order, that no railway Bill that proposes to increase existing rates for conveyance of passengers or goods shall be read a second time until a special report from the Board of m Corresp. on Board of Trade, Com. Papers, 1867, vol. xxxix. pp. 220, 229. Hans. Deb. vol. clxxxv. p. 1800. And see ibid. vol. clxxxvi. Marine ments. Trade on the subject shall have been laid before the To this department belongs also all business connected with telegraphs. (3) The Harbours and Fisheries Department, and (4) The Marine and Wreck Department. These divisions are both of them very important, and, when united together as the marine department, transacted probably one-half of the ordinary business of the Board of Trade. They are now separated into distinct branches, and the Financial Department has also been set apart as a separate division. But as these arrangements are consequent upon the reorganisation of the Board of Trade in January 1867, it must here suffice to refer generally to the duties appertaining to these offices as the same existed prior to the recent changes. By the Merchants' Shipping Act of the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104 (extended and modified by the Act 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63), it became the duty of the Board of Trade to undertake the general superintendence of matters relating to merchant-ships and seamen, and to carry into execution the provisions of this Act and all other Acts on the same subject, with the exception of such Acts as relate to the revenue. Accordingly, it devolves upon the Board, through the appropriate department, to grant certificates to all masters and mates in the merchant service, to supervise consular accounts, and to control the building and maintenance of all lighthouses. The protection of tidal waters, the issue of orders concerning docks, piers, and harbours, and in relation to pilots, the administration of the Merchant Seamen's Fund Winding-up Act, the super • Hans. Deb. vol. exciii. p. 1069. For further particulars as to the duties and responsibilities of the Board of Trade in respect to railways and railway accidents, see the speeches of Mr. Milner Gibson, Presdt. of the Board of Trade, in Hans. Deb. vol. clxxvii. p. 1132; vol. clxxx. p. 1169. See also ibid. vol. clxxxiv. p. 1602; and Corresp. on Board of Trade, Com. Papers, 1867, vol. xxxix. p. 213. intendence of investigations into collisions and other disasters at sea, the oversight of lifeboats, and the reward of persons for saving life at sea or on the coast, wreck and salvage receipts, pensions to the mercantile marine, the wages and effects of deceased seamen, the auditing of shipping masters' accounts throughout the kingdom, and assisting the Admiralty in organising and superintending the Naval Reserve, so far as it concerns merchant seamen, are all of them matters which come within the supervision and, control of the Board of Trade through these depart ments. (5) The Statistical Department. ment. This division was created in the year 1832, and was Statistical originally intended to serve as a general statistical office, Depart not exclusively or even necessarily attached to the Board of Trade, but exercising a general supervision over all statistical information coming into the hands of the Government, with a view to the publication thereof in one. uniform manner. Hitherto this idea has been but partially carried out. The Statistical Department is nominally subordinate to the Board of Trade, and its chief officer entirely subject to the control of the President; but in practice it is usual to allow any other branch of the Government that may require statistical information to apply direct to the chief of this department. The office is principally employed in preparing classified returns of all statistics explanatory of the financial, agricultural, commercial, and social condition of the whole British Empire, in abstracting the most important part of the statistics of other countries, and in compiling accounts, which are published monthly, of the trade and navigation of the United Kingdom." Everything that reaches the Foreign Office which has any bearing upon our trade with foreign countries (and important commu P See Report on Official Salaries, 1850, Evid. 913, 918, 941. Rep. of Com. on Trade with Foreign Nations, Corn returns. Departmental Library. Financial Department. nications of this kind are regularly received from the British consuls abroad), is at once referred to the Board of Trade. Hitherto the Board has not been allowed to communicate directly with our foreign consuls, but only through the Foreign Office. But it is probable that this restriction will be removed when the proposed reforms in regard to the Board of Trade have been carried into effect. In addition to the valuable reports which are periodically issued by the Statistical Department, it is expected to be always prepared to furnish returns ordered by either! House of Parliament, and such other statistical information, relating to questions of public interest, as may be ! required by members of the legislature or of the government. A Comptroller of Corn Returns is attached to this office, whose duty it is to collect, and prepare for publication in the 'London Gazette,' weekly returns of the average price at which corn has been sold at the different market towns in the United Kingdom. This information was formerly made use of to regulate the amount of duty; and it is still serviceable for statistical and other purposes." The library of the Board of Trade is directly connected with the Statistical Office. It is very extensive, and, unlike other departmental libraries, is far too large' for the purposes for which it is required. It has been suggested that this library should be made available for all the government offices, and that the Board should retain only a small collection for departmental use.* (6) The Financial Department. We have already referred to the duties of this division in connection with the old Marine Department, of which a Rep. on Off. Sal. 1850, Evid. 857,858, 867. Ibid. 855. There are some valuable suggestions for the more efficient and economical administration of this department, in Mr. Leone Levi's Evi dence before the Commons' Committee on Parliamentary Proceedings, 1862, P. 46. Parkinson, Under Govt. P. 42. Corresp. rel. to Bd. of Trade, Com. Papers, 1867, vol.xxxix. p. 221. it used to form a part. Particulars of the duties specially belonging to the department, under the new arrangements, will be found in pp. 7-9 of the correspondence on the Board of Trade laid before Parliament in 1867. The general oversight and control of the business Staff. transacted by the Board of Trade is under the direction of two secretaries, a parliamentary and permanent secretary, who, with the sanction of the President, arrange between themselves the distribution of the work. The great increase of business within the last few years has, as we have seen, necessitated the appointment of four assistantsecretaries and three assistants to the secretaries,' besides a large staff of officers and clerks, some of whom are professional men." gic Office. It only remains to notice the Meteorologic Office, which Meteorolohas lately been disconnected from the Board of Trade, but was formerly a branch of the Marine Department. This office owes its origin to certain suggestions made by the well-known Lieutenant Maury, of the United States navy, to Sir James Graham, the then First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1854. It was first established in the following year, and has been instrumental in collecting and publishing numerous facts and observations useful to navigators, serviceable to seamen, and of public utility, as contributing to the preservation of human life. Through the publication of storm warnings' and 'forecasts' of the weather, and their extensive circulation along the British coast, a great saving of life and property has been already effected; and additional benefits may be hereafter anticipated from the study of meteorology, as an applied science, by those who avail themselves of the investigations of this office." u Hans. Deb. vol. clxxv. p. 1601; vol.clxxxv. p. 357. Civil Service Estimates, 1868-9, Class II. p. 16. And see ante, p. 666. See Reports of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade in 1858, 1862, &c. Hans. Deb. vol. clxxxviii. pp. 1728-1739. |