)Ci?. 
 
 .A- ■" » 
 
 
 
 r ^ 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 A—" 
 
 
 — ^ 
 
 
 ^i 
 
 
 '^ 1 '^ 
 
 
 ^i 
 
 -■- 
 
 — % 
 
 6 S 
 
 
 
 
 8 g 
 
 ''v. 
 
 : 6 z: 
 
 
 CILITY 
 CN 
 
 
 
 (- 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 ii 
 
 Great Britain. Committee on staffing 
 an-i methois of work of the Board of 
 
 trade. , .^, 
 
 Reports of the committees appointea 
 to investigate the staffing and methods 
 of worv of the Board of trade. 
 
 
 gjvfns" 
 
 ..■=(fc.. ;, 
 
 fr^^ 
 
 >■ 
 
 y-^' 
 
 '"% 
 
 v?i/. 
 
 ^yy 
 
 <'. :M 
 
 4 
 
 Y^ 
 
 
 I-,:.!- 
 
 /- 
 
 -¥ 
 
 ^4.
 
 \ *" 
 
 4 
 
 it 
 
 
 r; 
 
 VT 
 
 ... ..>■■ 
 
 r 
 
 ■: -rfl 
 
 w 
 
 
 "M 
 
 ^1
 
 SPECIAL INVESTIGATION COMMITTEES ON STAFFS. 
 
 Reports of the Committees 
 
 appointed to investigate the 
 
 staffing and methods of work of 
 
 the Board of Trade, the 
 
 Department of Overseas Trade, 
 
 and the National Savings 
 
 Committee. 
 
 ^ttitaWS to |8«Tliametit 65 (Cammunii of W* ^ajcitg. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. 
 
 Tr. hp nurchased through any Bookseller or directly from 
 H M ST moNERY OFFICE at the foUowing addresses : ^ ^^^^^. ^ ^ . 
 
 "*'^' -^ ' 23, FORTH STREET, Edinburgh; t..,„.,^- 
 
 or from E. PONSONBY, LTD., 116, Grafto n street, Dlb^. 
 
 1921. 
 Price 6rf. Net. 
 [Cmd. U6l.]
 
 SPECIAL INVESTIGATION COMMITTEES ON STAFFS. 
 
 Note. — The cost of the Reports is 2dl. 2s. Qd., the whole of which 
 " represents the cost of printing and publishing. 
 
 I. — Report of the Committee appointed to investigate the 
 Staffing and Methods of work of the Board of Trade. 
 
 To the Finance Committee of the Cabinet. 
 
 In accordance with the directions contained in your letter 
 3/L/30, of the 16th July 1920, we have the honour to make the 
 following report of our investigation into the staffing and 
 method of work of the Board of Trade. 
 
 Terms of Reference. — Our terms of reference were : — 
 
 " To examine, either by way of test examination or 
 otherwise, as they may see fit, the staffing and methods of 
 work of the Board of Trade ; and to report, what, if any, 
 economies ma}' be effected therein, having regard to the 
 work which the Board is called upon to perforai in the 
 execution of the policy decided upon by the Government." 
 
 1. Proceedings of Committee. — (a) Vv e have held 24 meetings, 
 and have heard the evidence of 24 witnesses, including the two 
 Permanent Secretaries of the Board and Officers from the 
 following departments : — 
 
 Industries and Manufactures Department. 
 
 Statistical Department and " Census of Production " 
 
 Dei)artment. 
 Power Transport and Economic Department. 
 Finance Department. 
 Home Timber Accounts Department. 
 Marine Department. 
 
 Department of Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen. 
 Intelligence and Parliamentary- Department. 
 Solicitor's Department. 
 Establishment Department. 
 Department of Board of Trade Journal. 
 Commercial Relations and Treaties Department. 
 Bankruptcy Department. 
 Companies Winding-up Department. 
 
 We have also heaid the evidence of three officers of the 
 Treasury who have been in close contact with certain aspects of 
 the work of the Board, and, in connection with questions of 
 interdepartmental co-ordination, we have heard that also of
 
 
 Ll: 
 
 L 
 
 officers of the Ministry of Transport, the General Register Office, 
 and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 
 
 (h) We have made a personal inspection of the following 
 departments of the Board : — 
 
 Department of Industries and Manufactures. 
 2? Bankruptcy Department. 
 
 cvj Companies Winding-up Department. 
 
 Statistical Department and Department of Census of 
 (^ Production. 
 
 ^ Home Timber Accounts Department. 
 
 Department of Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen. 
 
 (c) In reply to our interrogatories, we have received from 
 various departments of the Board a number of memoranda and 
 statistical statements as a basis, or in amplification, of the verbal 
 
 O evidence. 
 
 j2 Throughout our investigations we have received all possible 
 
 assistance from the Officers of the Board, and we wish to express 
 our recognition of the sincerity of the desire that they have 
 displayed to observe strict economy in their methods of admini- 
 stration. It will be observed that some of the recommenda- 
 tions that we have to make have been suggested to us by the 
 Officers themselves. 
 
 2. Previous Inquiry.— An inquiry of the same nature as 
 that with which we were charged was carried out by the Board's 
 own officers in December 1919, at the instance of the Treasury. 
 Each Department was investigated jointly by the officer-in- 
 charge of it, and by one of the Assistant Secretaries of the 
 Board. The investigators were required to sign a certificate 
 that " all the work of the branch is in your opinion essential at 
 the present time " ; and that " the methods employed in carry- 
 ing out the work of the branch are in your opinion as simple 
 as possible." As a result of this inquiry a number of recom- 
 mendations for the simplification of work, the improvement 
 of methods, and the reduction of staff were made by the 
 investigators. 
 
 We have satisfied ourselves that those recommendations have 
 been or are being carried out. 
 
 3. Regrading. — We learn that the Board is at the present 
 time engaged, like other departments, in preparing a general 
 sclieme for the regrading of all Officers of the Board, in 
 accordance with the recommendations of tlie Reorganisation 
 Committee of the Whitley Council of the Civil Service. Each 
 Department of the Board is being regraded in accordance with 
 its particular functions. The general review of the staff and 
 organisation of the Board which this work entails provides 
 a convenient opportunity^ for making such alterations and 
 economies as those which are suggested in this report. 
 
 4. Recent Difficulties and Improvemerits. — A prefatory word 
 should be said about two special difficulties that have attended 
 
 O (38)15688 Wt 13073—173 1000 & 90 8/21 E & S A 2 
 
 2fc'y'y-5 
 
 lS77:i 8
 
 the Board of late in the tasks of organising its staff and of 
 designing its methods of work. In the first place, it has been 
 made the recipient of various administrative functions that, 
 together with the staffs that were discharging tliem, ha^'e been 
 handed over to it fi'om other offices as they were wound up or 
 reorganised. In the second place, certain of its functions in 
 relation to such matters as reparations, dumping and key 
 industries, have been in a state of suspense, because the policy 
 of the Government in relation thereto was not decided. Both 
 these circumstances have tended to make it difficult for certain 
 departments of the Board to adapt their staff and methods to 
 the work which they are called upon to perform with the 
 precision which they would themselves prefer. 
 
 We desire also to mention that certain alterations in the 
 organisation of the Board have been made of late which appear 
 to us to have been very beneficial in the reduction of labour. 
 We refer in particular to (1) the establishment of a council of 
 the higher officers of the Board, which has effected an economy 
 of time and trouble in the settlement of questions of importance 
 requiring the attention of the Minister and the Secretaries. 
 Whether a council of the sort would suit the needs of smaller 
 and more homogeneous offices is a question that may be open to 
 doubt, but there can be no doubt that it suits those of the 
 Board of Trade, which is a large office comprising two distinct 
 sides, the executive and the advisory, and many separate 
 departments. (2) The assembly in one building of all the 
 permanent departments of the Board which need to be in close 
 touch with each other, and the convenient grouping within that 
 building of the senior officers and their subordinates. (3) The 
 establishment of a central registry to deal with the whole of the 
 correspondence of the Board. 
 
 5. Method of Present Enquiry. — The Board of Trade is 
 rather a federation of offices than a single office. It contains 
 27 departments employing 4,856 officers, and the functions of 
 the departments differ as widely as those, for example, of the 
 Department of the Standards, and of the Enemy Debts Depart- 
 ment. Some of them, such as the Bankruptcy and Companies 
 Winding-up Departments, are self-contained, have their own 
 separate headquarters, and are little connected with the rest of 
 the Board. Some, such as the Mercantile Marine Offices of the 
 i\Iarine Department, liav^e a local organisation that is scattered 
 over the country. {See Appendix B.) 
 
 h\ view of the magnitude, diversity, and wide distribution 
 of the functions of the Board and of its organisation, a compre- 
 hensive examination of the whole of its staffing and work would 
 have needed a period of time longer than we considered 
 admissible under the special circumstances of our enquiry. 
 We have, therefore, adopted the method of a test enquiry 
 suggested by the terms of our reference. By means of an 
 examination that has roved over specially selected dej^artments
 
 we have arrived at certain conclusions that are in onr opinion 
 ajDplicable to the general methods of the Board, and these 
 conclusions we illustrate by reference to specific instances 
 observed by us in the departments examined. We also refer to 
 certain matters of more detail that affect particular departments 
 only. 
 
 C. Nature of Eecovimendations. — We have found nothing in 
 the course of our test examinations that suggests to us that the 
 staff of the Board is not fulJy occupied. On the contrary, 
 figures have been produced to us Avhich show that the principal 
 officers of the Board are undoubtedly over-burdened ; that the 
 hours worked by the upper division and staff officers often 
 greatly exceed the official office hours ; and that there is much 
 overtime amongst the clerical staff. 
 
 On the other hand, various matters relating to organisation, 
 co-ordination, and control have come under our notice, in 
 which, in our opinion, economies of effort and labour might be 
 effected that would result indirectly in the economisation of 
 staff. It is with matters of this sort, and not for the most part 
 with any proposals for the direct reduction of staff, that we 
 chiefly deal in this report. 
 
 Matters of policy are, of course, outside the terms of our 
 reference. By those terms, however, we are directed to " have 
 " regard to the work which the Board is called upon to perform 
 " in the execution of the policy decided upon by the Govern- 
 " ment." In accordance with this direction we have, in 
 considering the methods of work of the Board, taken into 
 careful consideration also the ends which the work is designed 
 to serve : and where those ends appear to us to be insufficiently 
 defined, or not to be in sufficiently close relation to any policy 
 decided upon by the Government, we have, as in the paragraphs 
 immediately following, drawn attention to the circumstances, 
 and have made suggestions for the clearer definition and 
 delimitation of the Board's sphere of activity. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 7. Delimitation of Activities of Advisory Side. — The work 
 of the Board falls under two main heads, corresponding, roughly, 
 to the dual organisation of the Department under its Joint 
 Secretaries. There is, in the first place, the executive or 
 administrative side, taking action from day to day to discharge 
 the responsibilities imposed upon the Board by statute for 
 conducting specific operations. The other side is advisory or 
 deliberative, and is mainly responsible for providing such 
 knowledge of, and well-informed judgment upon, industrial, 
 commercial, and economic questions, as is required by the 
 Board for the general guidance of its policy and administration. 
 
 It will be clear that where the nature and extent of any 
 duty are precise and clearly defined (as is ordinarily the case
 
 6 
 
 with executive functions) it is a matter of little, difficulty to 
 observe a proper standard of economy by making a provision 
 for its discharge which is not more than adequate for the 
 definite purpose in view. But in the case of provision for the 
 supply of knowledge or ideas, the wide and indefinite character 
 of the purposes to be served affords less opportunity for the 
 application of criteria by which conscientious public servants 
 can satisfy themselves that an adequate standard of efficiency 
 has been attained, or by reference to which a check can be put 
 upon an.y tendency towards the undue enlargement of depart- 
 mental activities. 
 
 This indefiniteness in the purposes to be served tends to 
 obscure the distinction between the more essential purposes 
 and those which, however valuable in themselves, are of 
 secondary or subordinate importance. In times of financial 
 stress such as the present, it is, however, particularly necessary 
 that this distinction should be observed in accordance with an 
 increasingly strict standard of what is essential. Apart from 
 the need of the Board for information, intelligence, or an 
 instructed judgment upon specific questions, it has appeared 
 to us that the general nature of its essential equipment on the 
 advisory side is determined by its general function as the 
 Department of State usually referred to upon any question 
 affecting the commercial or industrial community. This 
 function demands an extensive familiarity with the general 
 organisation and conditions of industry and commerce in this 
 country. In certain instances, however, to which we now 
 proceed to refer, it lias appeared to us that the activities of the 
 Board upon the advisory side have gone beyond what would 
 seem to be necessary'- for the general purpose indicated above. 
 
 (a) The Industries and Manufactures Department. — In illus- 
 tration of this opinion we refer in the first place to the Industries 
 and Manufactures Department. This department comprises a 
 number of technical officers engaged in the acquisition and 
 maintenance of an intimate technical knowledge of certain 
 industries and manufactures, which is frequently put at the 
 disposal of individual manufacturers applying for help and 
 guidance as to processes of manufacture. It appears to us 
 that to give such advice, in the case of certain industries only, 
 involves a discrimination between one industry and another 
 which cannot be justified. Further, it appears to us that so 
 far as the State has already undertaken any responsibilities in 
 connection with the technical assistance of the processes of 
 manufacture, the duties involved have been entrusted to the 
 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which deals 
 with applications of this kind in accordance with the general 
 policy pursued by that department in discharge of its functions 
 as a whole. 
 
 Eliminating, therefore, this aspect of the utility of the staff, 
 we come to the question of their value for the purpose of
 
 advising the Board itself ; and our conclusion upon this point 
 is that technical advice of this character- is not essential for the 
 proper discharge of what we conceive to be the Board's respon- 
 sibilities towards the commercial and industrial community. 
 Should such advice be required by the Board in any particular 
 instance for the discharge of its own functions, it appears to 
 us that it should preferably be obtained by consulting the 
 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (the resources 
 of which must be far more complete than the Board itself 
 could expect to possess) rather than that a partially duplicate 
 service of experts should be maintained for purposes not, in our 
 opinion, directly related to the Board's essential functions. 
 
 (b) llie Power Transport and Economic Department. — We 
 have also observed in the case of the Power, Transport and 
 Economic Department a similar aspiration to acquire and 
 maintain an equipment of technical knowledge relating to 
 power and transport. Here again it has appeared to us that the 
 technical aspects of these matters are already the proper care 
 of other departments, viz. : — the Ministry of Transport, and (to 
 some extent) the Department of Scientific and Industrial 
 Research, the Electrical Commissioners, and the luel Research 
 Board. It is true that power and transport questions will 
 in many cases involve considerations affecting the commercial 
 and industrial interests which are properly within the pro- 
 vince of the Board. But they will similarly affect interests 
 for which other departments are responsible, and we see no 
 reason why the Board, any more than any other department, 
 should need to be equipped with any specialist advisers except 
 for the purpose of adequately representing and interpreting 
 the general aspects of the interests for which it is depart- 
 mentally responsible. If the functions of government are to be 
 properly distributed between the several departments of State 
 without wasteful overlapping it is essential that each depart- 
 ment should rely for teclmical knowledge of any particular 
 suJDJect-matter upon the dejjartment which is primarily con- 
 cerned with that subject-matter, and should confine itself to 
 the ordinary procedure of interdepartmental consultation for 
 the adjustment of any matters which are of mutual concern. 
 
 In the case, therefore, of both the Industries and Manu- 
 factures Department and the Power, Transport and Economic 
 Department it has appeared to us that their organisation and 
 personnel should not exceed what is sufficient to keep the 
 Board, with the aid of its Advisory Council, in touch with 
 industrial, commercial and economic conditions. So far, more- 
 over, as the Power, Transport and Economic Department is a 
 " buffer department," specially organised to represent the Board 
 in its relations with the Ministry of Transport, we are not 
 satisfied that there is any justification for its separate existence. 
 
 (c) Coiiwiercial Helations and Treaties Departmertt. — We find 
 another illustration of the general principles to which we have
 
 8 
 
 referred, relating to the scope and object of the work of the 
 advisory side of the Board, in some of the activities of the 
 Commercial Relations and Treaties Department of the Board. 
 This department is concerned with the effect on British trade of 
 the actions of Foreign governments, and furnishes whatever 
 advice and information the Foreign Office may require in its 
 dealings with those governments on commercial questions, A 
 special section is maintained to accumulate information about 
 foreign tariffs, which assists and supplies information to British 
 traders about any questions that may arise in this connection. 
 We question whether the more special and technical aspects of 
 these matters are not now more properly the function of the 
 Department of Overseas Trade. That department also is 
 necessarily concerned to advise and assist. British subjects 
 engaged in foreign trade, and stands in a special relation to 
 the Foreign Office. The reduplication of function must lead, 
 not to waste of effort only, but to inconvenience to the trading 
 community, caused by the uncertainty as to which is the right 
 department to approach. Here again tlie need that a branch of 
 the Board should be employed in maintaining a special 
 familiarity with this region of expert knowledge is not apparent 
 to us ; and we are of opinion that the Board might rely for 
 technical information about these subjects on the Department 
 of Overseas Trade. In this connection the transfer of the 
 duties of the tariff section to that department should be con- 
 sidered Whether in the event of that course being adopted 
 it would be found necessary to retain this department as a 
 separate organisation to represent the Board in its relations 
 with the Foreign Office is a matter which will then require 
 attention. 
 
 8. Publications and Enquiries. — That the practical end to 
 which work is directed should constantly be borne in mind is 
 particularly necessary in connection with the publications of 
 the Board, and with its statistical enquiries. As an instance of 
 work of questionable utility, the cost of which might be saved 
 by a more close attention to the practical purposes to be served, 
 we may mention the completion of the interrupted census of 
 production of 1912 which is now in progress. The utility of 
 this labour, doubtful in any case owing to the lapse of time, is 
 rendered more so by the circumstance that the interruption 
 caused by the war prevented, the completion of the usual 
 processes of compilation. 
 
 We recommend that in order to prevent any waste of effort 
 in this direction the Advisory Council of the Board should be 
 charged with the duty of making a periodic review of its 
 publications and statistical enquiries, with'^the object of advising 
 as to their practical utility. 
 
 9, Register of Seamen. — As a further instance of a matter in 
 which doubts have occurred to us as to the utility of the end
 
 9 
 
 to which work is directed we may mention the elaborate 
 photographic identity register of seamen, which, begun during 
 the war, is still being maintained, and the continuance of which 
 is in contemplation. Doubts cannot but suggest themselves 
 whether the cost involved in this register can be justified in 
 the interests of the community, especially in view of the fact 
 that, as we are informed by those responsible for the work, it 
 is by no means certain that the register can be made effective 
 as regards coastwise shipping. 
 
 It might perhaps be not wholly irrelevant to proceed from 
 this observation to comment upon the end to which a great part 
 of the work of the Marine Department of the Board is directed, 
 and in particular to discuss the question whether the time is 
 not at hand at which the work undertaken by the Board in the 
 interests of seamen, for their protection in the matter of food, 
 terms of employment, and so on, might not be more reasonably 
 delegated to outside organisations. In view, however, of the 
 fact that most of these activities of the Board are controlled by 
 statute, we hold that considerations of this nature would lend us 
 too near to questions of policy and too far from our terms of 
 reference. We feel, however, that we are at liberty to express 
 the opinion that every effort should be made to make this work 
 self-supporting. 
 
 10. Tlie Board, the Rome Office, and the Coal Mines Depart- 
 ment. — Before leaving this heading of our inquiry, we desire to 
 call attention to the circumstance that, owing to the recent 
 reorganisation of the administration of questions relating to 
 coal and coal mines, it will be desirable that a careful watch 
 should be kept on the co-ordination of the activities of the 
 Board and those of the Home Office and of the Coal Mines 
 Department, in order to prevent any duplication of administra- 
 tive functions in relation to coal and coal mines. 
 
 11. Office Methods. — The Board is much occupied with 
 operations and inquiries that involve the handling of large 
 masses of material. The efficient performance of work of this 
 nature requires much expert knowledge of technical methods 
 and machinery, especially in the matter of labour-saving 
 appliances, and it is clearly essential that the Board should 
 keep very closely in touch with the latest information on the 
 subject. Failure to do so must inevitably lead to waste of 
 labour, owing to the continuance of obsolete methods, and to 
 the imperfect adaptation of means to ends. 
 
 The latest expert information and advice on the subject is 
 available for all the Government Departments through the Office 
 Machinery Committee of the Treasury. Instances have come 
 under our notice in connection with the tabulation and classifi- 
 cation of materials for the Census of Production and the 
 methods and machinery employed therein, and in connection 
 with calculations of interest in the Enemy Debts Department,
 
 10 
 
 in which needed improvements have been effected by means of 
 the assistance thus provided. 
 
 We recommend that it should be recognised as an estab- 
 lished rule that, when metliods have to be designed by the 
 Board for performing work involving the handling of large 
 quantities of material, this Committee of the Treasury should 
 always be consulted before those methods are formulated. 
 
 The Board does, in accordance with the general rule, consult 
 the Treasury about the amount of staff to be employed on such 
 work, but sometimes not until it has already formulated the 
 methods to be followed. Since it is the methods that in most 
 cases determine the amount of staff required, that is to leave 
 the opportunity for technical and expert advice until it is too 
 late. 
 
 12. Staff. — We have observed as a general characteristic of 
 the organisation of the staff of the Board that, partly, no 
 doubt, for historical reasons, the branches, departments, or 
 sections into which it is divided are commonly separated from 
 each other by hard and fast lines. Some grouping of staff is, 
 of course, essential, particularly in the case of an office with 
 such varied duties to perform as those of the Board of Trade ; 
 but it appears to us that, in general, the segregation is too 
 complete. By interposing unnecessary obstacles in the way of 
 a transference of staff from one department to another it 
 prevents the services of the more highly qualified officers from 
 being brought into effective operation over the whole sphere of 
 work with which they are qualified to deal, and it prevents the 
 clerical staff from being promptly concentrated on any tem- 
 porary increase in the volume of work in this department or 
 in that. Further, by confining officers too exclusively to one 
 sort of labour it tends to make them work in grooves, and to 
 prevent them from cultivating that wider interest in the whole 
 sphere of the work of the Board, and from gaining that more 
 general knowledge of its conditions which is desirable in any 
 Government Office, and in view of what is said in paragraph 7 
 above, particularly desirable in the Board of Trade. 
 
 Some practical conclusions that are derived from this 
 observation are referred to in the following paragraphs : — 
 
 (a) Upper Division Officers. — The heavy responsibilities and 
 the great pressure of work that have fallen on the senior 
 officers of the Board during the war and the period of recon- 
 struction have not unnaturally led to the employment of a 
 number of junior officers as their private secretaries and 
 personal assistants. We are of opinion that it would now be 
 possible to make a return to a more economic practice in this 
 respect. In order to effect a reduction in the number of 
 officers so employed, it may be necessary that there should be a 
 greater measure of devolution of responsibility on the part of 
 the senior officers.
 
 11 
 
 In view of this circumstance and of the over-segregation 
 referred to in the preceding paragraph, we recommend that the 
 Board should, in connection with the scheme of re-grading 
 already mentioned, review the number to be required of junior 
 officers of the upper division, of the status of assistant 
 principal. Considering the extension since the war in the 
 field of promotion for officers of the second division, we are of 
 opinion that the policy of the Board should be ultimate!}'- to 
 confine the number of its junior officers of the status men- 
 tioned to such number as may be required to ensure a supply 
 of highly qualified and fully trained men to fill the more 
 responsible positions at the Board. 
 
 (b) Clerncal Labour. — We refer above to the ill-effect of the 
 over-segregation of staff, in preventing the most economical 
 and efficient use of clerical labour. The method of pooling 
 such labour has been adopted in some degrees as far as 
 concerns shorthand writers and typists. We recommend that 
 it should be adopted also, and in a greater degree, for general 
 clerical labour, by amalgamating all work on kindred functions 
 under a common direction, A greater degree of community 
 as betAveen the various departments and sections of the Board 
 as regards their clerical staff would, we believe, enable 
 economies to be effected in the total numbers of such staff 
 employed. 
 
 Cases have come to our notice in which the Board has 
 been able to make reductions in clerical staff without any 
 consequent reduction in the output of work. We may mention 
 instances in the Coal Section of the Statistical Department, in 
 the Central Registry, in the pool of Shorthand Typists, and in 
 the Department of the Financial Controller of Trading Accounts. 
 A close watch upon the numbers of the clerical staff employed 
 upon the more mechanical forms of clerical labour is particularly 
 desirable when, as in the case of the Board at the present time, 
 there are large sections of work that are being wound up after 
 the war. We are satisfied that the Establishment Department 
 of the Board is fully alive to this ; but we are of opinion that 
 to assist it in making its watch upon this matter even more 
 close and effective, more use should be made of simple methods 
 of calculating and checking the normal output to be expected 
 from clerks engaged in the handling of large masses of homo- 
 geneous materials, in order that the Department may have, as 
 far as possible, an automatic and continuous test as to whether 
 the numbers engaged are no greater than is required by the 
 amount of work to be done. 
 
 (c) Estahlishme7it Department and Outlying Departments of 
 the Board. — The semi-independent nature of the organisation of 
 the big " outlying" departments of the Board, both permanent 
 and temporary, makes the task of the Establishment Depart- 
 ment at headquarters in the supply and control of their staffs
 
 12 
 
 one of exceptional difficulty and responsibility. That tliis is 
 fully appreciated by tlie officers of that Department, and that 
 no elTort is spared by them to secure efficiency in method, and 
 economy in tlie use of staff, we gladly recognise. At the same 
 time we desire to emphasize the great importance, under the 
 special circumstances of the Board, of the maintenance of the 
 staff of this Department at a strength, both in numbers and 
 qualifications, adequate to secure effective control over the 
 staffing and methods of the numerous, varied, and important 
 outlying departments. In particular, we are of the opinion 
 that to each outlying department, the staff of which is big 
 enough to justify it, there should be attached a special officer of 
 the Establishment Department. The nomination of a special 
 officer of the outlying department to act as liaison officer with 
 the Establishment Department appears to us to be a method of 
 organisation satisfactory in the cases of the smaller outliers 
 only. 
 
 13. Certain Special Departments. — (a) Besides the over- 
 segregation of departments to which we have referred, we find 
 some evidence also of their unnecessary multiplication. We 
 refer here in particular to a group of special departments, for 
 the most part of recent fonnation, comprising the Intelligence 
 and Parliamentary Branch (which serves inter alia as a 
 secretariat to the Council), the Economic Section of the Power 
 Transport and Economic Branch (which is largely occupied 
 with special enquiries for the heads of the Office), and the special 
 staffs engaged on the Journal, the Library, and the work of 
 Publicity. The organisation of these each in a separate " com- 
 partment " appears to us to lead to uneconomic use of the 
 services of the staffs concerned, and in particular to some failure 
 to employ to the best advantage the services of the senior officers 
 who are put in charge of the separate " compartments." 
 
 We are of opinion that an economy might be effected, and in 
 particular in the time and labour of these senior officers, by the 
 combination of all these departments into one under the general 
 supervision of an officer of the type and experience of a Private 
 Secretary to the President of the Board. The services of one at 
 least of the senior officers now responsible for the departments 
 would thus be set free for employment of a more essential 
 nature, and the Economic Section of the Power Transport and 
 Economic Department could probably be dispensed with 
 altogether as a separate organisation. In this connection we 
 are further of opinion that the opportunity of a re-organisation 
 of the sort suggested should be made use of in order (1) to 
 review the need for a special staff for the work of publicity, 
 and whether the work in question could not be quite adequately 
 performed, according to the more usual practice, by the 
 Ministers' Private Secretaries ; (2) to consider a reduction in the 
 senior staff of the Journal from an Editor and an Assistant
 
 13 
 
 Editor to an Editor only. In this connection we desire to 
 state that we are of opinion that it is both possible and desir- 
 able that the Journal should l)e made self-supporting. The 
 surest way of achieving that end would be the admission of 
 advertisements. We recognise that there are arguments both 
 ^or and against such a course : but we are of opinion that the 
 advantages of it outweigh the disadvantages. 
 
 (b) Marine Department. — Owing largely to historical sur- 
 vivals, we are of opinion that there is now some overstaffing 
 at the top of this department. The Office of Pilotage Com- 
 missioner survives from the days when there was a separate 
 Harbour Department of the Board of Trade. The greater part 
 of the work of that department has now been transferred to 
 the Ministry of Transport, and the continuance of the office 
 appears to us unnecessary. The work can be done by the 
 Headquarters staff of the Marine Department of the Board. 
 We understand that it is not the intention to make any fresh 
 appointment to the office on the termination of the service of 
 its present occupant. 
 
 There are two professional officers attached to the headquarters 
 staff of the department. We are not satisfied that these are 
 indispensable. The department must undoubtedly have at its 
 disposal professional officers (seamen) to advise it upon the 
 professional aspects of the questions that it has to decide : but 
 it appears to us that it has such advice at its disposal in an 
 adequate manner through the District Survey Officers in charge 
 of the local Marine Offices, who are professional men. 
 
 We further recommend that consideration should be given 
 to the question whether economies might not be effected by 
 relying for medical work on outside medical men, as is now 
 done at some ports, instead of maintaining a staff of inside 
 medical officers. 
 
 The Assistant Secretary in charge of the department suggested 
 that economy might be effected by the release of the surveying 
 staff from certain purely clerical duties. We are of opinion that 
 the suggestion is valuable ; and we have no doubt that it will 
 be further explored. 
 
 (c) Registry of Shipping and Seamen and the General Register 
 Ojjice. — We recommend that the custody of records of seamen's 
 deaths including missing or unlogged deaths and the issue of 
 certificates shovild be undertaken by the General Register Office 
 and not as at present by the Registrar General of Shipping and 
 Seamen We ascertained that the additional labour involved 
 would render no increase necessary in the large staff of the 
 General Register Office, and the transfer should enable the 
 Registrar- General of Shipping and Seamen to dispense with 
 the staff now maintained for the purpose. 
 
 (d) Finance Department. — The opinion was expressed to us 
 by the Assistant Secretary in charge of this department that an
 
 14 
 
 economy could be effected in certain sections of the work of the 
 department and in particular in the Pay Office and in the 
 Examination of Accounts Section, by the substitution of a 
 smaller number of more highly qualified officers for a larger 
 number with less qualifications. We are in agreement with 
 this opinion. The employment of a larger proportion of trained 
 accountants and paymasters would, we believe, conduce to both 
 economy and efficiency. 
 
 (e ) Deputy Warden of the Standards. — The Standards Depart- 
 ment is charged with the custody of the Imperial Standards of 
 volume and dimension, and with certain administrative duties 
 related thereto. The head of the office is Deputy Warden of 
 the Standards with a salary of 800L The position is usually 
 occupied by an officer of high scientific attainments. It 
 appears to us that under modern conditions the services of 
 an officer of such special qualifications are not indispensable 
 in this position. We were informed that the duties of the 
 office could be added without difficulty to those of an Assistant 
 Secretary of the Board, and we recommend that on the expira- 
 tion of the term of service of the present occupant the office 
 should be merged in this manner. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 14. War Depar-tvients. — We have given special attention to 
 the War Departments of the Board, including in that category 
 both temporary departments set up during the War to meet 
 War conditions and temporary departments set up since the 
 Armistice to deal with consequences of the War or of the Peace 
 Treaty. We felt it incumbent upon us to examine the necessity 
 for the continuance of such departments, of the former class at 
 any rate, after the expiration of two years from the date of the 
 Armistice. 
 
 It will be seen that in general we find no ground for dis- 
 satisfaction with the progress made in winding-up, and, subject 
 to the observations below, little matter for adverse criticism of 
 their organisation or staffing. 
 
 From returns obtained by us shortly after we were appointed, 
 it appears that by August 1920, fifteen War departments, em- 
 ploying at the date of the Armistice an aggregate staff of 993, 
 had been wholly wound up and disbanded, or transferred to 
 other Government Departments, and thus removed fi'om our 
 purview. The departments thus transferred were the Road 
 Transport Board and the Meat Supplies Department (both 
 transferred to the Ministry of Food) employing staffs at the 
 Armistice of 256 and 40 respectively, and the Canal Control 
 Committee (transferred to the Ministry of Transport) employing 
 at the Armistice a staff of eight. The departments wholly 
 disbanded (which employed at the Armistice an aggregate staff 
 of 689, were : — Petrol Control Department ; Paper Control
 
 15 
 
 Department ; Tobacco and Matches Control Board : Committee 
 on Work of National Lnportance ; Petroleum Pool Board ; Horse 
 Transport Department ; Cotton Control Board ; Insurance In- 
 telligence Department ; Air Raid Compensation Committee ; 
 Industrial Inquiries Branch ; Rubber and Tin Exports Com- 
 mittee ; and Tramways (Board of Trade) Committee. 
 
 At the date of the returns referred to (August 1920) we 
 found the following departments in existence : — 
 
 Estahlished during the War. — Coal Mines Department ; 
 Exports and Imports Licensing Section ; Scientific Instrument, 
 Potash and Glassware Section ; Mineral Resources Development 
 Branch ; Dyes Trade and Licensing Committee ; Flax Control 
 Board ; Mercantile Marine War Medals Branch ; War Insurance 
 Accounts Branch ; Controller of Trading Accounts Department ; 
 Timber Supplies Department ; Home Timber Accounts Branch, 
 Imported Timber Disposal Section ; and Central Council (Forage) 
 Department. 
 
 Estahlished since the Armistice. — Profiteering Act Depart- 
 ment ; Reparation Claims Department and Clearing Office 
 (Enemy Debts). 
 
 The Exports Credit Department of the Board had -by the 
 date of these returns been transferred to the Department of 
 Overseas Trade, and had thus passed out of our purview. 
 
 We propose to give a brief note on each of these departments 
 and our conclusions with regard to it in particular. 
 
 (a) Coal Mines Department. — As the passing of the Ministry 
 of Mines Act resulted in the absorption of this branch into the 
 work of the new department, it was removed from our purview 
 before we were in a position to complete our proceedings. 
 
 (b) Licensing Section. — This department has been responsible 
 for issuing licences for both the export and import of com- 
 modities which have been subject to restrictions. Upon the 
 Sankey decision in December 1919 import prohibitions were 
 suspended and the staff of 21 officers engaged upon import 
 licensing were dismissed or absorbed into other temporary 
 departments. The work which has since been, and continues 
 to be, performed, is limited to the issue of licences in respect of 
 restricted exports ; and is mainly conducted by the Board as 
 agent for other departments, such as the Ministry of Food and 
 Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. 
 
 The extent of the work to be performed, as measured by the 
 number of licences issued, has for many months shown a heavy 
 decline, accompanied by a substantial reduction of staff. In 
 the three months September to November 1919 the stalf em- 
 ployed appears on average to have been 185, whereas the 
 average staff for the three months August to October 1920 has 
 been 37 only. The reduction in staff has indeed been pro- 
 portionately far in excess of the reduction in the number of 
 licences issued ; for example, the average output of licences
 
 16 
 
 issued per head of tlie staff of 185 mentioned appears to have 
 been 76, while the average output per head of tlie staff of 37 
 appears to be approximately 178. While this compai^son has 
 suggested to us that the department was less economically 
 organised at the earlier date than at the present time, the 
 improvement is one which calls for an expression of satisfaction ; 
 and upon a detailed inspection of the working arrangements we 
 found no matter for criticism. 
 
 As regards the future of this department and the probable 
 date of its discontinuance, we understand that the Board does 
 not at present propose to continue the export prohibitions for 
 which it is itself responsible after the legal termination of the 
 war. It is understood, however, that it is in contemplation by 
 some of the departments for which the Board is acting to extend 
 the period of the restrictions entailing these licensing operations. 
 It was suggested to us that, in that event, it would still be more 
 convenient and economical for the staff at present employed 
 upon the w^ork to continue to perform it by arrangement with 
 the other departments concerned. These arguments appear to 
 us to have some weight ; and, while the extension of these 
 restrictions after the termination of the war is a question of 
 policy beyond our province, we think that, in the event of such 
 extension the question should be carefully considered whether 
 these operations could not be more economically performed by 
 the Board of Trade under agency arrangements than by each of 
 the departments concerned maintaining a separate licensing 
 section. 
 
 A further element of uncertainty as to the future of this 
 section arises out of the possibility of legislation on key 
 industries, &c. 
 
 (c) Scientific Instruments and Glassware Section. — This 
 section is the remnant of a large department transferred to the 
 Board from the Ministry of Munitions which was responsible 
 during the w^ar for controlling and stimulating the glassware 
 and scientific instrument industry, in view of its backward state 
 and radical importance for many essential war purposes. Its 
 main function during the war was to collect scientific intelligence 
 on the subject with a view to nursing factories with expert 
 advice and assistance for the removal of hindrances to output. 
 These advisory functions the section appears to have continued 
 in some measure since its transfer to the Board. The staff 
 taken over from the Ministry of Munitions was, however, 
 rapidly reduced. In December 1919, it consisted of 12 officers, 
 together with three part-time technical advisers. In August 
 last the staff consisted of eight individuals only, of whom five 
 are understood to have since been dismissed. 
 
 We are assured that the Board no longer sees any reason for 
 the maintenance of this staff as a separate section and that 
 it is proposed to absorb its functions into the headquarters staff 
 of the Industries and Manufactures Department of the Board,
 
 17 
 
 presumably with a view to the retention of an element of expert 
 technical knowledge upon the subject. While the discontinuance 
 of the section as a separate War Department meets Avitli our 
 approval, we must refer to our recommendations in para- 
 graph 7 (a) above as indicating a doubt as to whether the 
 addition apparently contemplated to the technical equipment of 
 the Board could properly be justified. 
 
 {d) Mineral Resources Development Section. — This section 
 also was transferred to the Board from the Ministry of Munitions ; 
 it has been responsible for the collection of detailed information 
 on the subject of nonferrous mining and for the administration 
 of agreements entered into by the Government during the war 
 for the assistance of certain mining companies. In August 1920 
 the staff consisted of one Director at a salary of 1,200L, one 
 engineering assistant ai a salary of 500Z., one technical 
 assistant at a salary of 350^., and three typists. 
 
 Since that date, however, we are informed that the section 
 has been entirely discontinued. Its work and records have 
 been wholly absorbed bj' the recently established Ministry of 
 Mines ; and, with the exception of one officer transferred to 
 that Ministry, the whole of the staff has been disbanded. 
 
 (e) Dye Trades and Licensing. — This section consists, we 
 are informed, of a small staff of two clerks and two typists who 
 are employed at Manchester in connection with the export 
 licensing and allocation of supplies of reparation dye-stuffs 
 received from Germany. The recent passing of the L)yestuffs 
 (Import Regulation) Act, 1920, will, we understand, substantially 
 modify the duties discharged by the section. While no precise 
 estimate can at present be formed as to the extent of the work 
 for which provision will need to be made, we are assured that 
 the addition of one or two officers to the present establishment 
 is expected to be' sufficient, and that a large part, if not the 
 whole, of the cost will be defrayed by the revenue received in 
 the form of licence fees. 
 
 (/) Flax Control— The staff of the Flax Control Board itself 
 has comprised a Secretary (who was an officer of the ]\Iinistrj'- 
 of Munitions on loan to the Board, receiving a special allowance 
 of 2001. per annum) and two female clerks. The Flax Supplies 
 Committee at Belfast, which is charged with the administration 
 of the purchase and sale of tlie Ii'ish flax crop of 1919 and 
 1920, &c., employed, until recently, a large staff of flax 
 inspectors, graders, and clerks ; but the cost of these operations 
 has l^een met by the addition of a percentage to the prices 
 charged, and has entailed no Exchequer liability. We are now 
 informed that the whole of the staff of the Control Board and of 
 the Flax Supplies Committee was disbanded at the end of 1920, 
 with the exception of two officers only, who have now been 
 discharged. 
 
 (g) Mercantile Marine War Medals. — This section comprises 
 a staff of 51 temporary officers who have been engaged since 
 
 15688 B
 
 18 
 
 August 1919 ill the preliminary issue of war medal ribbons to 
 officers and men of the Mercantile Marino, and in the prepara- 
 tion of the medal issue — estimated to amount to 45,000 medals 
 and approximately 680,000 clasps. The branch is also engaged 
 upon the issue of the memorial plaque and scroll, with the 
 King's letter to next-of-kin, in respect of approximately lt>,OOU 
 cases. 
 
 We were informed that no reduction of this staff could be 
 ajiticipated until about July 1921, after the first large issue has 
 been completed. We doubt whether the scale of operations 
 now being performed could be reduced with economy ; indeed, 
 it seems clear that any such reduction would not only prolong 
 the operations to a considerable extent, but that the delay 
 would hinder the tracing of the seamen concerned, thus com- 
 plicating the operations and rendering the issue more costly on 
 balance. 
 
 (h) War Insurance Accounts. — This branch is responsible 
 for the investigation and settlement of claims made under the 
 Government War Risks Insurance Schemes (Cargo and Aircraft) 
 and under the Air Raid Compensation Scheme, and is also 
 responsible for auditing the accounts of insurance companies 
 who have acted as agents for the Government under the aircraft 
 insurance sclieme. 
 
 As regards the winding-up of this branch, it does not 
 appear that the settlement of cargo claims, involving difficult 
 questions of " average adjusting," can be completed for a year 
 or two ; and the staff of six engaged upon this part of the work 
 may accordingly need to be retained for some time longer. 
 
 It will, however, be possible to wind up and dismiss the 
 staff engaged upon aircraft claims l^y the end of the current 
 financial year, while the auditing of insurance accounts is now 
 complete and the staff engaged upon it have been disbanded. 
 Certain established civil servants on loan from other depart- 
 ments will also be released in the near future. 
 
 The branch comprised in August 1920 a staff of 23. This 
 staff has already been reduced to 14 ; and we are assured that 
 it should not exceed nine by the end of the present financial 
 year. 
 
 (i) Controller of Trading Accounts DepaHment. — This is a 
 branch under the control of the Board's Finance Department 
 and is engaged upon the winding up of certain trading services 
 embarked upon by the Government during the war, including 
 the administration of certain agreements or loans. At the date 
 of our detailed investigation of this section in November we 
 found to our satisfaction that the accounting work iuA^olved, so 
 far as it had not already been completed l^y that date, was now 
 merged in the general work of the Finance Department, and 
 that no separate organisation was still in existence. The 
 accounting work in connection with paper and potash had been 
 completed, vfhile a small accounting staff of seven or eight were
 
 .19 
 
 still engaged in work in connection with spelter and zinc. We 
 found no reason to doubt that the work is performed with a 
 proper regard to economy. 
 
 (j) Home-grown Timhcr Hujj'ply Department and Iloine-groivn 
 Tiinher Accounts. — These important sections are dealing with 
 the residue of certain functions in the control and distribution 
 of home-grown timber which were taken over by the Board 
 from the War Office in 1917. The Supply Department (Avhich 
 is under the Controller of Timber Supply) is the administrative 
 department in charge, through an organisation of local officers, 
 of the standing timber and stores of converted timber owned by 
 the Government, its remaining objects being to realise these 
 stocks to the best advantage. The Home-grown Timber 
 Accounts Department, on the other hand (which is under the 
 Controller of Trading Accoimts) is performing work ancillarj'- 
 to the disposal of these stocks by following up the consignment 
 upon any sales, invoicing to the purchaser, demanding and 
 bringing to account the purchase monej's, keeping accounts of 
 the revenue and expenditure of each timber estate, and carrying 
 out periodical stocktakings of the timber remaining in 
 Government possession. 
 
 Home-grown Timber Sujjply Department. — At the beginning 
 of December 1919 the staff of thi» department comprised 
 171 officers at headquarters and 335 officers in the provinces or 
 in Scotland or Ireland, the total staff thus amounting at that 
 date to 506. In July 1920 the staff of tlie department had 
 been reduced to 97 officers at headquarters and 194 provincial 
 officers, amounting in all to 291 ; and since that date a further 
 continuous reduction had taken place, the staff in November 
 comprising a total of 190. 
 
 Home-grown Timher Accounts. — We are informed that in 
 May 1918 this branch comprised a staff of 300 officers. By 
 July 1920 this staff had been reduced to 191 ; and since that date 
 it has been still further reduced to 160, beyond which figure, it 
 is understood, no further substantial re<luction is at present to 
 be expected. 
 
 We are inclined to infer from the very substantial reductions 
 in staff' above mentioned that botb departments were fonnerly 
 less economically organised than at present. The reduction is, 
 however, satisfactory ; and we have not noted any point of 
 substance upon which the organisation or stalHng deserves 
 adverse criticisms. We discussed with the officers of the branch 
 the possibility of merging the work of two small sections ; and 
 we are now informed that this merger has been carried out with 
 a saving at a rate of nearly 600Z. a year. We also suggested some 
 minor re-arrangements of procedure to which, we understand, 
 effect will be given in the near future. Substantially, however, 
 we are satisfied that the Home-grown Timber Accounts 
 Department is economically organised for the performance of 
 the duties at present imposed upon it. 
 
 B 2
 
 20 
 
 As regards any possibility of the curtailment of these duties, 
 the main operations of the Department are ancillary to the 
 operations of the Suppl}' Department in the disposal of timber 
 stocks. We examined certain investigations which are conducted 
 by the department into the timber orders of past years, and we 
 considered also whether the stocktaking previously referred to 
 was justified by its value to the Government. But we were 
 disposed to agree that the sums at stake are so large that it 
 would be false economy to run the risk of loss which might at 
 present be involved in the curtailment of these precautionary 
 processes. We were informed that the investigations into old 
 orders had already disclosed omissions to debit sums totalling 
 approximately to 40,000Z. (though this included some charges 
 which were matters of bookkeeping onlyj, and that the 
 periodical stocktaking had brought to light a failure to bring to 
 account at least one sale of standing timber. 
 
 It is desirable, in our opinion, that efforts should be made to 
 dispose of the balance of the timber stocks as speedily and in 
 as large quantities as is consistent with the profitable realisation 
 of these assets, and that the balance of profit as to the continu- 
 ance of operations such as those in connection with the investi- 
 gation of old orders should be constantly kept in mind, and the 
 operations discontinued as soon as it appears that the probable 
 yield is smaller than the cost of the stait involved. We believe 
 that these considerations are present to the responsible officers 
 and we hesitate to urge any drastic acceleration of sale in view 
 of the very considerable amounts of money involved, which 
 render staff expenditure of subordinate importance as compared 
 with the judicious realisation of these valuable national assets. 
 We are informed that in Great Britain alone the value of the 
 standing timber available for disposal is still approximately six 
 and a half million pounds and that the value of the remaining 
 converted timber is approximately a million and a half pounds. 
 
 (k) Imported Timber Disposal Section. — This department 
 has been responsible for the control and disposal of imported 
 timber. In December 1919 the total stafE employed appears to 
 have been 479, this number having been reduced since the 
 previous April (1919), when it stood at 646. A rapid reduction 
 appears, however, to have taken place to 242 in July 1920, and, 
 after declining slightly during the following three months, the 
 number suffered a further heavy reduction to 133 by November 
 1920. We understand that the last mentioned reduction is due 
 to the fact that practically the whole of the outstanding stocks 
 of imported timber have recently been disposed of en bloc. 
 The remaining staff (which should have been reduced by the 
 end of the year to 130) will, we are informed, be necessary in 
 order to deal with further imports of timber during the next 
 two years under existing contracts. 
 
 In the case of this department also the very heavy reduction 
 of staff within the last 12 months has suggested to us a lack of
 
 21 
 
 economy in its previous organisation. We saw no reason to 
 doubt, however, that it is now under careful and economical 
 supervision. 
 
 [i) Central Council (Forage). — This council was originally 
 promoted by the War Office during the war to deal with the 
 supplies of hay and straw availal)le for civilian requirements 
 and other work in which the Board was concerned. Prior to 
 May 1920 a staff of one male statistician and 12 female clerks 
 was employed by the Board upon a section of the work. By 
 that date, hoAvever, this work had come to an end and the staff 
 in question had been wholly disbanded. The remaining opera- 
 tions have been performed by the staff of the council itself, and 
 are accordingly beyond our purview. 
 
 The Board contributes, however, towards the expenses of the 
 council. At the beginning of 1920 this contribution was at 
 the rate of about 7,000Z. per annum ; but since April 1920 the 
 rate of contribution has been reduced by about one-half. 
 
 (m) Profiteering Act Departrneut. — This Department was 
 created to administer the Frofiteering Act, 1919, passed in 
 August of that year. It employed in August 1920 a staff of 
 about 140 officers at a cost of 31,61oZ. per annum. This staff, 
 which we are informed is from 20 to 30 per cent, below the 
 authorised establishment, has been since reduced to a total at 
 the present date of 115. 
 
 As regards the future of this work, the position appears to 
 be that the provisions of the Profiteering Act, unless extended 
 by legislation, will lapse in May next, when the department will 
 be wound up as rapidly as possible, 
 
 (n) Reparation Claims Depai'tmeiit. — This department was 
 established early in 1920 for the primary purpose of receiving 
 and collating for submission to the Reparation Commission the 
 British claims in respect of damage caused to civilians under 
 the various heads specified in the Peace Treaty. The total staff 
 in August 1920 amounted to 120 officers, all of whom, with the 
 exception of 2, were temjDorary. We understand, however, that 
 the organisation has hitherto been regarded by the Board as 
 provisional in the sense that, pending certain decisions, the 
 nature and extent of the duties devolving upon the department 
 must remain for the present uncertain. 
 
 Some doubts having arisen in the course of our inquiry as 
 to the necessity for the retention of the whole of tlie staff at 
 present engaged in the department, the matter was reviewed at 
 our suggestion by the Treasury and as a result a reduction of 
 five clerks in the Registiy was recommended. Subject to this 
 reduction we* are satisfied that the balance of advantage lies 
 with proceeding with the work rather than with delaying the 
 examination of claims until outstanding questions of policy and 
 procedure are settled.
 
 22 
 
 (o) Clearing Oijice {Enemy Debts). — Tliis office was created 
 under the Peace Treaty to administer tliat section of the Treaty 
 which provides for the clearing of certain pecuniary obligations 
 between nationals of the British and German empires respec- 
 tively. A smaller Clearing Office for the administration of 
 Austrian property is in course of being established, which it has 
 been possible to organise as part of the main German Clearing 
 Office. 
 
 The staff employed has been gradually increased pari passu 
 with the development of the department's operations ; the 
 number was 42 in December 1919, 340 in April 1920, and 446 
 in July 1920. The total average monthly salaries of the staff in 
 August 1920 amounted to 6,594Z. 
 
 The expense of the Clearing Office is, we understand, to be 
 defrayed out of a commission to be charged upon payments 
 made to creditors, or, in the case of the administration of 
 Austrian property, out of a percentage levy upon assets realised 
 or distributed. As the office thus entails no charge upon the 
 Exchequer, and in view of the accretion of new duties to the 
 department, we have refi'ained from attempting to form any 
 conclusions as to its proper staif requirements under settled 
 conditions. 
 
 In conclusion we desire to express our appreciation of the 
 services of our Secretary, Mr. W. J. Peete, of the Ministry of 
 Health, which have been of the greatest benefit to us throughout 
 our inquiry. 
 
 HILTON YOUNG. 
 HENRY MANN. 
 
 S. P. VIVIAN. 
 W. J. Peete, 
 
 Secretary. 17th January 1921.
 
 23 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 List of Witnesses. 
 
 Sir S. J. Chapman, K.C.B, C.B.E. 
 
 H. A. Payne, Esq., C.B. 
 
 P. W. L. Ashley, Esq., C.B. 
 
 A. W. Flux, Esq., C.B. 
 
 G. A. G. Stanley, Esq. 
 
 H. F. Carlill, Esq. 
 
 H. Mead Taylor, Esq. 
 
 J. Tannahill, Esq. 
 
 H. Cowley, Esq. 
 
 C, HipwooD, Esq., C.B. 
 
 C. H. Jones, Esq., C.B.E. 
 
 G. C. L. Maunders, Esq. 
 
 G. E. Burls, Esq. 
 
 S. W. Clark, Esq. 
 
 F. Harcourt Kitchin, Esq. 
 
 H. Fountain, Esq., C.B., C.M.G. 
 
 H. E. Burgess, Esq. 
 
 W, P. BowTER, Esq. 
 
 Sir F. Heath, K.C.B. 
 
 J. R. Brooke, Esq. 
 
 W. L. Rind, Esq. 
 
 E. C. Martin, Esq. 
 
 H. Biggs, Esq. 
 
 W. Desborough, Esq. 
 
 Board of Trade. 
 
 } 
 
 Department of Scientific 
 and Industrial Research. 
 Ministry of Transport. 
 
 General Register Office. 
 > Treasury. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Departments of the Board of Trade. 
 
 Permanent Departments: — (]) Secretariat; (2) Intelligence 
 and Parliamentary (including Library) ; (3) Commercial Relations 
 and Treaties ; (4) Industries and Manufactures (including 
 Standards Department) ; (5) Industrial Property (including 
 Patent Office and Cotton Marks Office at Manchester) ; (6) Power, 
 Transj)ort and Economic .Department (including Gas Admini- 
 stration Branch) ; (7) Statistics ^including Census of Production 
 Office) ; (8) Marine (including Consultative Branch, Mercantile
 
 24 
 
 Marine and Survey Services, and Seamen's Registry) ; (9) Pilot- 
 age Commissioner; (10) Companies (including the Winding-up 
 Department) ; (11) Bankruptcy (including the High Court 
 Department) ; (12) Legal ; (13) Finance ; (14) Establishment ; 
 (15) Board of Trade Journal; (16) Department of Mines; 
 (17) Department of Overseas Trade (Development and Intelli- 
 gence) (Joint Department with the Foreign Office). 
 
 Temporary Departments. 
 
 (18) Controller of Trading Accounts ; (19) Timber supplies ; 
 (20) Imported Timber Disposal Section ; (21) Home-grown 
 Timber Accounts Branch ; (22) Profiteering Act Department ; 
 (23) Clearing Office (Enemy Debts) ; (24) Reparation Claims ; 
 (25) Russian Claims ; (26) Publicity ; (27) War Insurance 
 Accounts Branch. 
 
 The Department of Mines and the Department of Overseas 
 Trade are administered through their Parliamentary Secretaries. 
 
 There are also in the provinces 33 Mercantile Marine Offices ; 
 29 Marine Survey Offices ; 24 Salaried Official Receivers' Offices, 
 and 28 Non-Salaried Official Receivers' Offices. The Clearing 
 Office has a branch in Berlin and one in A^ienna.
 
 25 
 
 MEMORANDUM BY BOARD OF TRADE WITH 
 REFERENCE TO THE REPORT. 
 
 The report of the Committee appointed by the Finance 
 Committee of the Cabinet to examine the staff and methods of 
 work of the Board of Trade lias been very carefully considered. 
 In their report the Committee draw attention to certain 
 difhcvdties in the organisation of the staff owing to various 
 administrative functions having been handed over to the Board 
 from other offices as tliey were wound up or reorganised and 
 owing to certain of its functions in relation to such matters as 
 Reparation, Dumping and key industries having been suspended. 
 Some of the suggestions made in the Report appear, however, 
 to be based on a misconception of the duties undertaken by 
 certain Departments. 
 
 The Committee direct attention to the functions of certain of 
 the Departments in which they consider that the advisory side 
 has been developed beyond what would seem necessary for the 
 purpose. They discuss in this connection the duties and staffing 
 of the Industries and Manufactures Department and the Power, 
 Transport and Economic Department (paragraph 7 (a) and (6) ). 
 These two Departments were organised three years ago as the 
 resu] t of the recommendation of a Committee consisting of Sir 
 Clarendon Hyde, Sir A. F. Firth, Bart., Mr. H. J. Mackinder, M.P., 
 and Mr. C. T. Needham, M.P., who considered them to be 
 necessary in order to strengthen and improve the organisation 
 of the Board in the business interests of the country. The 
 duties of the two Departments were stated to be as follows, in a 
 Paper which was presented to Parliament in 1918 on the 
 Reorganisation of the Board of Trade : — 
 
 Industries and Manufactures. 
 
 '• A new department dealing with home industries, with 
 special reference to their development and stability, production, 
 and the economic strength of the country generally ; with 
 questions of policy connected with trade monopolies and com- 
 binations, alien penetration into British industries, and the 
 promotion of new trades. This section will also deal with 
 matters within the scope of the Board of Trade relating to 
 reconstruction of British industries and trades." 
 
 Industrial Power and Transport. 
 
 " A new Department charged with the consideration of all 
 questions of general policy relating to transj^)ort in its com- 
 mercial aspect, including shipping canal and railway rates and 
 facilities, through railway and ocean rates, shipping conferences, 
 &c. It will also deal with questions of policy relating to 
 industrial power, including electricity gas and water power for 
 industrial purposes, the conservation of fuel, petroleum, &c.
 
 26 
 
 The duties of the Power, Transport and Economic Department 
 have been somewhat modified owing to the creation of the 
 Ministry of Transport, but the greater part of them remains. 
 The name of the Department is somewhat misleading owing to 
 some of the functions of the Board of Trade having been trans- 
 ferred to other oflices since the formation of the Power, Transport 
 and Economic Department and to other functions of the Board 
 having been added to the duties of the Department. It would 
 appear that the title of the Department has misled the Com- 
 mittee as to its actual functions. 
 
 As regards the Industries and Manufactures Department the 
 Committee make two criticisms : — 
 
 (1) They suggest that certain of the work should be done by 
 
 the Department of Scientific and Industrial Kesearch. 
 
 (2) They suggest that the staff of the Department with 
 
 technical training is not necessary for discharging 
 
 the functions of the Board of Trade. 
 The Board of Trade maintain close co-operation with the 
 Department of Scientific and Industrial Researcli and they have 
 made specific enquiries of that Department in order to satisfy 
 themselves on the question whether there is any overlap between 
 the work of the two Departments. It will be seen from the 
 attached letter from the Department of Scientific and Industrial 
 Research that there is no such overlap but that, on the contrary, 
 it would be necessary for that Department to set up a staff able 
 to advise them on commercial matters if the existing staff were 
 not maintained by the Board of Trade. 
 
 As regards the second criticism the main object in the 
 organisation of the Industries and Manufactures Department 
 was to staff it with a limited number of officers who would have 
 the qualifications iiecessarj- to enable them to appreciate the 
 technical characteristics of the Industries which come from time 
 to time before the Department, and on which advice is required 
 for the purposes of the Board. It has not been and is not 
 intended to have a staff of officers who would have special 
 knowledge of any particular industr}^ or groups of industries ; 
 any such course would involve the creation of a staff far in excess 
 of anything which has been contemplated. Some officers have 
 special knowledge and the Board of Trade have taken over from 
 the Ministry of Munitions a section which had been definitely 
 charged during the war with assisting manufacturers with 
 technical knowledge and advice ; the officers so taken over have 
 naturally continued to give such advice where asked for it, but 
 that is quite an exceptional case and it has never been suggested 
 that that action ^ould be extended in any way. On the other 
 hand there is a verj great advantage in having officers of the 
 Department technically trained to an extent which enables them 
 to appreciate quickly the technical side of the representations 
 made to the Department by manufacturing interests for Govern- 
 ment assistance of various kinds.
 
 27 
 
 It is clear that when the Board of Trade are asked, as they 
 have been constantly asked lately, to recommend Government 
 action in respect of particular iiidustries, and in respect of the 
 effects of dumping and collapsed exchanges, they must be in a 
 position to form some independent judgment as to the importance 
 of those industries and to criticise the considerations which are 
 put forward by the trades often collectively. This is not a 
 function which the Department of Scientific and Industrial 
 Research can discharge. The functions of the technical staff of 
 the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research are to 
 undertake research work ; the technical staff of the Industries 
 and Manufactures Department of the Board of Trade is not 
 qualified to undertake such work, and the suggestion that a 
 partial duplicate service of experts is being maintained, is 
 quite mistaken. 
 
 Similarly with regard to the Power, Transport and Economic 
 Department, no technical officers have been appointed as such, 
 though three of the staff officers in the J^epartment were chosen 
 (as was natural in llie case of new appointments) with an eye to 
 the technical knowledge they possessed. It is necessary that 
 the Board of Trade should have on its staff some officers who 
 have had the training necessary to enable them to appreciate 
 the technical aspect of questions coming within its scope. 
 
 Since the Committee took evidence, the position has some- 
 what altered as regards railway questions. The Board of Trade 
 have informed the Ministry of Transport that, when new 
 proposals regarding railway rates come into force, the Board 
 need no longer retain their powers under Section 31 of the 
 Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888, and that those powers 
 should be transferred either to the Ministry or to local 
 conferences. 
 
 Further, the work of making enquiries into the industrial 
 demand for new liglit railways and the like is now in obeyance, 
 as it has been decided that no money can be included in the 
 Estimates for any such schemes. 
 
 The matters specially referred to above form only a small 
 part of the work of the Industrial Power and Transport Depart- 
 ment which is responsible generally for the work of the Board 
 of Trade which does not fall within the scope of any other 
 Department, e.g., that Department is responsible for any action 
 which may be taken by the Board of Trade with respect to 
 banking legislation and for the administration of the Gas 
 Regulation Act, 19^0, which places many new and important 
 duties upon the Board of Trade. 
 
 The Board of Trade agree with the Committee that the 
 organisation and personnel of the Industries and Manufactures 
 Department and of the Power Transport and Economic Depart- 
 ment should not exceed what is sufficient to keep the Board 
 with the aid of its Advisory Coimcil in touch with industrial, 
 commercial and economic conditions.
 
 28 
 
 In paragraph 7 (c) the Committee suggest that it should be 
 considered whether the tariffs section of the Commercial Relations 
 and Treaties Department should be transferred to the Depart- 
 ment of Overseas Trade (Development and Intelligence). The 
 Commercial Relations and Treaties Department is responsible 
 for advising the Foreign OlHce in trade questions affecting the 
 relations between Governments. It is in regard to customs 
 tariffs and regulations that a large proportion of the questions 
 arise which form the subject of conflict between British traders 
 and Foreign Governments, officials and organisations and it is 
 essential, in order to enable the Department to discharge its 
 duties efficiently, that it should have at its immediate disposal 
 the fullest possible information on the matters dealt with by its 
 tariffs section. 
 
 Paragraph 8 refers to publications and inquiries undertaken 
 by the Board. In connection with this subject the Board of 
 Trade Council considered the question of what piiblications 
 should be continued, modified or dropped, some little time ago, 
 and it is proposed to arrange for a regular periodic review of 
 publications and inquiries by the Council In addition, a 
 Standing Committee was set up last year to examine all 
 periodical and other publications which is to make such recom- 
 mendations as appear desirable with a view to effecting economies 
 and for the purpose of reviewing expenditure thereon. The 
 Board cannot, however, agree that the completion of the results 
 of the census of production for 1912 which was interrupted by 
 the war should be abandoned. The material had already been 
 collected at considerable expense and the results are of great 
 importance in affording a new basis of comparison for post-war 
 statistics of production, particularly having regard to the 
 industrial progress made in the years immediately preceding 
 the war. 
 
 Paragraph 9 refers to the Central Index Register of Seamen 
 and to the protection of seamen. The continuance of the 
 register in its present form was carefully considered some little 
 time ago and it was thought desirable. There are arguments 
 both for and against, but the matter will be fully examined 
 again, and if the register is continued, the question of removing 
 any expense from public funds will be carefully considered. 
 The question of the protection of seamen has also been under 
 consideration before, but as the Conimittee point out, these 
 duties are statutory and any reduction in the Board's activities 
 would be difficult. Should it be possible, however, to accom- 
 plish anything of the kind, the Committee's suggestion will be 
 kept in mind. 
 
 Paragraph 10 refers to the possibility of duplication of 
 administrative functions as between the Board of Trade, Home 
 Office, and Coal Mines Department. This matter is being 
 carefully watched.
 
 29 
 
 Paragraph 1 1 recommends that the Board shoukl consult 
 the Treasury Committee on Office Machinery before formulating 
 the methods of handling large quantities of material. This 
 recommendation has been adopted. 
 
 Paragraph 12 refers to the segregation of departments and 
 the staffs of the departments, and suggests that the system of 
 grouping whicli has been adopted places obstacles in the way 
 of a transference of staff from one department to another. The 
 only rule that obtains in the Board is that the best qualified 
 man is taken for the particular work to be done. Recently it 
 has been more difficult to move men from one department to 
 another because, owing to the pressure of work, men could not 
 be spared to leave the work they are employed ui)on. But this 
 has not always been so, and out of the 26 heads of permanent 
 departments and upper division men who were inembers of the 
 staff of the Board of Trade before the war, 19 had experience 
 in more than one department of the Board or as private 
 secretaries to the heads of the department, and of the remainder 
 one is a statistician specially qualified for the one department 
 in which he serves. Those menibers of the staff who acted as 
 private secretaries to either the Parliamentary or permanent 
 chiefs of the department, obtained a central view of the whole 
 work of the Board. 
 
 The Board agree with the view expressed by the Committee 
 in paragraph 12 (a) that there should be as much devolution 
 of responsibility on the part of the senior officers as is possible, 
 and this matter is being carefully watclied. 
 
 Tlie Committee suggest in paragraph 12 (h) that clerical 
 staff should be pooled and that simple methods of checking and 
 calculating the normal output for clerks engaged in handling 
 large masses of homogeneous material should be adopted. 
 
 Action in the direction suggested is taken whenever possible 
 and its extension is continually being watched, but very few 
 departments of the Board have functions so kindred as to enable 
 the pooling of officers engaged on general clerical work to be 
 effected as can no doul^t be done in the case, e.g., of large 
 commercial or insurance offices where it is possible to arrange 
 for large blocks of work of very similar character to be done at 
 different times. 
 
 Paragraph 12 (c) refers to the relations between the 
 Establishment Department and outlying departments of the 
 Board. The Committee's suggestion that an officer of the 
 Establishment Department should be attached to outlying 
 departments, raises a difficult question. The Establishment 
 Department has an intimate knowledge of the whole organisa- 
 tion of the Board and it acts with the different departments of 
 the Board as the co-ordinating authority with regard to staff 
 methods and organisation in the same way as the Treasur}^ do 
 with regard to all departments of State. Two of the largest
 
 30 
 
 outlying departments are the Industrial Property Department 
 and the Enemy Debts Clearing Office. In the first there is an 
 officer sjjecially sanctioned for the purpose of dealing with staff 
 matters, and in the second is a chief clerk who was specially 
 selected by Establishment Department for the post. Both 
 these officers submit any suggestion that they have to make 
 to Establishment Department. The only other large outlying 
 staff is the provincial staff of the Marine Department. In this 
 case staff matters are dealt with by a principal clerk at 
 headquarters of Marine Department (in consultation with 
 the assistant secretary when necessary), and here again all 
 suggestions for alteration, &c., are submitted to Establishment 
 Department. The position of an officer of the Establishment 
 Department attached to one of the other Departments would be 
 one of considerable difficulty and, on the whole, it is considered 
 that more satisfactory results are obtained by the present system 
 of liaison. 
 
 Some of the Committee's suggestions in paragraph 13 are 
 valuable and the Library has been made part of the Intelligence 
 and Parliamentarj'- Branch. The Committee's suggestion that 
 the Board of Trade Journal should accept advertisements is also 
 being adopted, but this additional work will increase the 
 difficulty of giving effect to the Committee's suggestion that an 
 assistant editor might be dispensed with, at any rate for the 
 present. It would not, however, be an economical or satisfactory 
 arrangement to transfer the economic section of the Power, 
 Transport and Economic Department, some of the work of 
 which is of a higlily important character, away from the 
 supervision of an officer of the rank of assistant secretary. It 
 has been found in practice that it is necessary to have a small 
 staff whose whole time is available for furnishing information 
 on important matters dealt with by the Board of Trade in order 
 to prevent misconception arising as to the action taken by the 
 Board and the grounds for such action. 
 
 Paragraph 13 (6) suggests that the Marine Department is 
 overstaffed at the top and refers to the office of Pilotage 
 Commissioner. It is not quite accurate to say that the greater 
 part of the work of the Harbours Department was transferred 
 to the Ministry of Transport. As a matter of fact the greater 
 part of that Departmeat's duties were transferred to the Marine 
 Department and to the Power, Transport and Economic Depart- 
 ment of the Board of Trade. When the Harbours Department 
 (or Public Utilities Department as it was at the time) was 
 merged in other departments the Office of Pilotage Commis- 
 sioner was created in order to carry out local inquiries and 
 settle orders under the Pilotage Act of 1913. This work was 
 interrupted by the War, but it is anticipated that the work will 
 be completed by May, 1922, and no fresh appointment to this 
 post is contemplated. The work will then be merged with the 
 headquarters work of the Marine Department.
 
 31 
 
 With regard to the second paragraph of 13 (6) the Committee 
 are not satisfied that two professional officers are indispensable. 
 Both these officers are doing very valuable work for the Depart- 
 ment and could not be spared, butAvhen a vacancy occurs, which 
 will in the ordinaiy course be within two years, it is proposed to 
 consider whether some re-arrangement could not be made. 
 
 With regard to the third paragraph of 13 (6) the matter is 
 being specially considered, and if it is found on further exami- 
 nation that the medical inspection work can be effectively carried 
 out by employing outside medical men alone on a more 
 economical basis than the present system that course will be 
 adopted. As the Committee suggest in the fourth paragraph, 
 the question of relieving the surveying staff of clerical duties is 
 being proceeded with. 
 
 In paragraph 13 (c) the Committee recommend that the 
 General Register Office should take charge of the records of 
 seamen's deaths, including missing and unlogged deaths, and 
 the issue of certificates. The matter is being looked into, but 
 under the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 it is a duty of the 
 master to transmit such records to the Registrar General of 
 Shipping and Seamen, and for the Registrar General of Shipping 
 and Seamen to issue certified copies of such records. These 
 records are necessary to the Board of Trade for the purpose of 
 taking any administrative action which may be required as the 
 result of the cause of death, e.g., it may be necessary to see 
 whether precautions should not be taken to prevent further 
 accidents when a death has occurred from a particular kind of 
 accident. 
 
 Paragrai^h 13 {d) suggests that the employment of a larger 
 l^roportion of trained accountants and paymasters in the Finance 
 Department would conduce to both economy and efficiency. 
 This matter is under consideration. 
 
 Paragraph 13 (e) refers to the post of deputy warden of 
 standards being merged into that of an Assistant Secretary of 
 the Board. The Board have already taken action with regard 
 to tliis post which carries out the suggestion that some economy 
 might be effected in this direction. The Department has always 
 been under the direction of an Assistant Secretary of the Board 
 of Trade and an arrangement has recently been made to employ 
 a scientific and technical officer as deputy warden for part time 
 only. 
 
 Part II. states that in general the Committee found no 
 ground for dissatisfaction with the progress made in winding 
 up war departments, and little matter for adverse criticism of 
 the organisation or staffing. In these circumstances it is not 
 proposed to offer any comment, but the statement made in para- 
 graph (j) that the value of the standing timber available for 
 disposal is still approximately six and a half million pounds and 
 that the value of the remaining converted timber is approxi- 
 mately one and a half million pomids should be amended. The
 
 32 
 
 figure oE six and a half million pounds relates to the amount of I 
 standing timber purchased. " 
 
 5th April 1921. 
 
 Scientific and Industrial 
 
 Research Department, 
 
 16-18, Old Queen Street, 
 
 Westminster, London, S.W. 1. 
 Sir, 31st March 1921. 
 
 I AM directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
 the 7th March enclosing an extract from the report of the Hilton 
 Young Committee on the organisation of the Board of Trade, 
 and to say that there appears to he some misunderstanding on 
 the part of the Committee of the respective functions of this 
 Department and of the Board of Trade in relation to the 
 industries of the country. 
 
 Technical officers of this department are not civil servants 
 but are men of scientific training who have an established 
 position as research workers and whose principal function it is 
 to advise the Department itself on the work done by its various 
 boards, committees, and research associations, and on applica- 
 tions made to the Department by outside bodies and persons for 
 grants in aid of research. The Department assists industries in 
 the application of science to their processes in the main through 
 research associations or by the published work of its various 
 research boards and committees. The Department is not in a 
 position to give technical advice to individual firms. 
 
 On the other hand, this Department relies upon the Board 
 of Trade for information and advice as to the general economic 
 and technical condition of the several industries, and uniformly 
 consults them whenever specially favourable terms are asked by 
 an industry on the establishment of a research association. The 
 Scientific Instrument Research Association and the Glass 
 Research Association are cases in which the Board of Trade 
 through its Industries and Manufactures Department, has 
 " advised " this Department as to the general standing of the 
 industries concerned. In other cases, where it has been 
 necessary to negotiate with individual firms for the granting of 
 licences under patents held by the Department, it has sought 
 the information of the Board of Trade as to the teclmical and 
 general standing of the individual firms. 
 
 The Committee of Council assume that the Board of Trade 
 must in turn rely for information of this kind largely on its own 
 technical officers, but so far as they are aware the functions of 
 the Board of Trade technical officers are quite distinct from 
 those of the technical officers attached . to this Department. 
 They understand that the technical officers at the Board of Trade
 
 33 
 
 are established civil servants, and that the accumulation of wide 
 technical information over long periods of service makes this 
 status desirable. 
 
 On the other hand, for the purposes of this Department, it 
 would be undesirable that its technical officers should look upon 
 their appointments as permanent, and it is no uncommon event 
 for a technical officer attached to this Department to obtain an 
 outside appointment after some years of service here. The long 
 separation from practical scientific work which permanent 
 appointment under this Department would entail would diminish, 
 rather than increase, the value of the advice which it is the duty 
 of these Officers to give, 
 
 I am to add that, when the Secretary appeared before the 
 Hilton Young Committee, he laid stress upon the close touch 
 which is continuously maintained between the Industries and 
 Manufactures Department of the Board of Trade and the Depart- 
 ment of Scientific and Industrial Research, and he had no 
 intention of suggesting in anything he said that there was any 
 overlapping of function between that Department of the Board 
 and his own. 
 
 I am. Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 The Secretary, (Sgd.) H. FRANK HEATH. 
 
 Board of Trade, 
 
 Great George Street, 
 
 Westminster, S.W. 1. 
 
 ise
 
 34 
 
 II. — Report of the Committee appointed to investigate the 
 Staffing and methods of work of the Department of Overseas 
 Trade. 
 
 To THE Finance Committee of 
 THE Cabinet. 
 
 1. We were appointed " to examine either by way of test 
 examination or otherwise," as we might see fit, " the staffing 
 " and methods of work of the Department of Overseas Trade, 
 " and to report what, if any, economies may be effected therein, 
 " having regard to the work which the iJepartment is called 
 " upon to perform in the execution of the policy decided by 
 " the Government." 
 
 2. We liave been furnished with full descriptive particulars 
 of the work and organisation of the Department; we have 
 interviewed and questioned a number of the principal officials ; 
 and we have personally inspected the work in progress in 
 t3-pical sections. After careful consideration of the whole 
 matter, we now beg to present our Report. 
 
 3. Tiie Department is a joint sub-department of the Foreign 
 Office and Board of Trade. It comprises a headquarters 
 estal)lishment in London (numbering ajoproximately 550), an 
 establishment of Trade Commissioners and Correspondents in 
 the British Dominions (numbering 77), and an establishment 
 of Commercial Counsellors and Secretaries (numbering 50) who 
 are attached to the British Diplomatic Service abroad. The 
 Consular Service is, we understand, responsible to the Depart- 
 ment in respect of commercial matters, but is directly adminis- 
 tered by a staff in the Foreign Office. 
 
 4. We find that by far the larger part of the headquarters 
 staff is engaged, directly or indirectly, in collecting, classifying, 
 and indexing information relating to trade and traders, and 
 communicating it in different ways to those interested, or 
 claiming to be interested, in overseas trade. The main sources 
 of information upon which the Department draws are the inci- 
 dental and periodical reports of its representatives overseas, 
 Government publications at home and abroad, published works 
 ■on commercial subjects, books of reference, trade directories, 
 &c., the general and trade press, and the correspondence of 
 traders themselves witJi the Dei^artment. Excej)t in the case 
 of publications which admit of ready reference and are stocked 
 for that purpose, information is recorded in the shape of type- 
 written copies, card indexes, and press cuttings. To a large 
 extent it consists of .lists of traders at home and abroad, with 
 particulars relating to them. Much of the rest is detailed and 
 fragmentary, and does not, in our view, admit of presentation 
 in a form which would be helpful to classes of traders, though 
 it may conceivably serve to answer particular inquiries. We
 
 35 
 
 appreciate the desire of the Department to be armed at all 
 points to meet anj"- inquiries that may possibly bo received, and 
 we recognise the difhculties of sifting a mass of diversified 
 information, and assembling the selected items in a convenient 
 and accessible form. But we are impressed, not more by the 
 present volume and character of the work, than by the possi- 
 bilit3' of its unlimited growth, and we think that in the 
 interests of economy some change in the general method is 
 called for. 
 
 5. We consider that, as a general principle, the Department 
 should not attempt to deal with inquiries which are outside its 
 province, but should only supply information which it is in a 
 specially favourable position to furnish or procure ; and that, 
 in other cases, inquirers should be encouraged to go direct to 
 accessible sources of information [e.g., other Government Depart- 
 ments, published blue books, directories, standard books of 
 reference, the general and trade press), or, in the alternative, 
 should be told that the Department is unable to help them. 
 Discrimination should be exercised in order to av^oid waste of 
 time on matters which have no real bearing on British trade 
 overseas. 
 
 6. We also recommend that the question of charging fees to 
 traders for services rendered should be seriously considered. 
 The dissemination of the information collected b}' the Depart- 
 ment is effected in three ways, namely, by publication in the 
 Board of Trade Journal, by circularising a number of traders 
 known to be interested in particular matters, and by answering 
 specific inquiries from individual traders. As stated in para- 
 graph 8 (Banking, &c., Section), traders on the Special Register 
 to whom information is regularly sent, pay an annual fee of 
 21. 4.S. 6d., but as this includes the subscription to the Board of 
 Trade Journal {11. 6s.), the net charge made is negligible. 
 Beyond this, and the cost of cablegrams recovered from traders 
 at whose request they are sent, no charge is made for information 
 supplied. We can understand that when the Department was 
 created the desirability of making its existence widely known 
 was good ground for doing the work free of charge ; but the 
 position is different now, and we see no reason why a system of 
 charges should not be introduced. It would discourage inquiries 
 which have no serious commercial purposes behind them, and 
 traders who value the assistance of the Dej^artment would 
 presumably not object to paying a reasonable charge for services 
 rendered to them. We suggest, therefore, that a scale of fees 
 should be drawn up on the lines adopted by firms whose business 
 is that of making inquiries and supplying information as to the 
 status of business houses in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. 
 
 7. At a later stage of this Report we shall return to the 
 question of the general method of work. Our main object in 
 introducing it here is to focus attention on the matter at the 
 
 c 2
 
 36 
 
 outset, and to illuminate some of the observations we have to 
 make on the particular methods of work now in operation in 
 various sections of the Department, 
 
 8. The Department is divided into sections, which are 
 grouped for administrative purposes into four divisions. Some 
 of the sections are sub-divided, as indicated below. The staffs 
 shown are exclusive of the Directing Staff and Secretariat 
 (numbering 21), and of typists, of whom there are 120 in the 
 Department. 
 
 The Empire Section (which is sub-divided into five 
 geographical groups) handles information relating to 
 commercial matters in the British Dominions, and deals 
 with inquiries from traders at home and in the 
 Dominions. Staff, 25. 
 
 The Trade Section (which is sub-divided into six groups 
 according to trades) handles information as to com- 
 mercial matters in the United Kingdom with relation 
 to overseas trade, deals with inquiries from traders at 
 home and abroad, and directs, from the point of view of 
 British industr}^ the activities of the Department's 
 representatives abroad. Staff, 107. 
 
 The Economic, Editorial, and Overseas General 
 Section edits and issues the annual reports written by 
 the Department's representatives abroad, and prepares 
 special papers on economic questions, and standing 
 manuals on commercial conditions in countries abroad. 
 (The Overseas General Subsection deals with 
 questions relating to more than one country, collecting 
 the necessary information from other Sections con- 
 cerned.) Staff, 15. 
 
 The Foreign Sections, which are laid out in six geo- 
 graphical groups, undertake with relation to foreign 
 countries the same functions as the Empire Section 
 undertakes with relation to British Dominions. Staff, 91. 
 
 The Foreign Administrative Section deals with Establish- 
 ment questions respecting the Commercial Diplomatic 
 Service. Staff, 3. 
 
 The Empire Administrative Section deals with Establish- 
 ment questions relating to the Trade Commission 
 Service. Staff, 3. 
 
 The Banking, Status, Special Register, and Shipping 
 and Transport Section. Staff, 22. 
 
 The Banking Subsection collects and supplies to 
 inquirers information as to banking facilities and 
 rates of exchange in other countries.
 
 37 
 
 The Status Subsection collects information as to the 
 financial standing of firms in the United Kingdom 
 and, if required, of firms abroad. 
 
 The Special Register is a record of firms to whom 
 information is regularly supplied as it becomes 
 available. Any reputable firm may be placed on 
 the Special Register on payment of a Subscription 
 of 21. 4,9. Qd. per annum. 
 
 The Shipping and Transport Subsection collects and 
 supplies to inquirers information as to transport 
 facilities, port facilities, "through routing" of 
 goods, &c. 
 The Establishment and Finance Section deals with all 
 staff and domestic matters at headquarters and under- 
 takes the accounting work of the Department. Staff, 
 20. 
 
 The General Registry is responsible for the registration, 
 custody, and circulation through the office, of all corre- 
 spondence. Staff, tii. 
 
 The Statistical Section answers inquiries involving 
 statistics, checks statistics in reports, and supplies 
 statistics to other sections. Staff, 8. 
 
 The Tariff Section collects information and answers 
 inquiries as to tariff's and taxation in all countries. 
 Staff, 8. 
 
 The Inquiry Room supplies information to callers or 
 refers them to the proper section. Staff, 2. 
 
 (There is also an Inquiry Room in the City Offices 
 of the Department. Staff, 3.) 
 The Library. — This section undertakes the requisition, 
 receipt, cataloguing, circulation and storage of books 
 and publications used by the Department. The cost 
 of the books and publications is borne on the vote of 
 the Stationery Office. Staff', 6. 
 
 The Exhibitions and Fairs Sections deal with all ques- 
 tions of Government participation in exhibitions and 
 fairs, organise British Industries Fair, Touring Exhi- 
 bitions, &c. Staff, 34. 
 
 9. Inter-relation of the Empire, Foreign, and Trade 
 Sections. — We cannot see that any useful purpose is served 
 by the present division of work as between the Empire and 
 Foreign geographical Sections on the one hand and the Trade 
 Section on the other. This is, as it were, a division between 
 the market abroad (which in the end means the trader abroad) 
 and the trader at home. But it is of the essence of the matter 
 to bring the latter into touch with the former, and this, we 
 think, would be most effectively done in one branch. As it is, 
 
 2377-" 
 
 j;o
 
 38 
 
 each of the various Geographical Sul sections keeps its own 
 records of traders, and the Trade Subsections, in turn, keep 
 theirs ; there is much passing of files bstween the two groups; 
 the division of functions is not very clear ; and overlapping in 
 the daily work is in our view inevitable. The idea underlying 
 the present arrangement is that the Empire and Foreign 
 Sections should specialise in knowledge of trade conditions in 
 the different countries. The reports, however, of the Depart- 
 ment's representatives abroad, who must be assumed to be the 
 specialists for their respective territories, are available to all 
 sections, and so far as a general survey of the economic and 
 commercial conditions in a particular country may be of service 
 to home traders, it is provided in the annual reports of the 
 representative in that country, which are edited and issued by 
 the Economic Section. In our view, a trader at home or abroad 
 is mainly concerned to find a buyer or seller of the particular 
 classes of goods in which he is interested, and, for the rest, 
 if he requires information as to tariffs, banking, or shipping, 
 special sections exist to supply it. 
 
 10. We consider that the Trade and Geographical Sections 
 should be amalgamated, and that ihe records now kept separately 
 by each groujD should be combined and classified according to 
 trades. The Economic and Editorial Section should still 
 continue as a separate section, but its subsection (the " Over- 
 seas General "), which now deals with inquiries from home 
 traders relating to more than one country abroad, should 
 disappear. We think that a very substantial saving of staff 
 would be effected b}^ this re-arrangement, and there would be a 
 consequential reduction of work in the General Registr}^ and 
 Librar}^, both of which are responsible, under the present 
 system, for circulating files and books to all sections which may 
 possibly be concerned. 
 
 11. The i^rincipal officers of the Geographical and Trade 
 Sections are entitled " Market Officers " and " Trade Officers " 
 respectively. With the amalgamation of the two groups the 
 distinction in nomenclature should cease. We do not consider 
 that either title has any particular significance in relation to the 
 work done, or that previous practical experience of countries or 
 trades is really required for the performance of the duties. 
 Many of the present officers appear to have had little or no 
 experience of the kind. 
 
 12. General Registry and Post Boom. — The arrangements for 
 the registration and tracing of papers appear to us to be much 
 over-elaborated. Registers and name indexes are kept which 
 involve duplication of entries, and the entries themselves are, 
 in our opinion, unnecessarily expansive. Elaborate subject 
 indexes (cards) are also kept in some of the other sections of the 
 Department in order to save the staffs of those sections the 
 trouble of obtaining the original papers from the Registr3\
 
 39 
 
 The bnlk of the papers, so far as we can judge, consist of 
 inquiries which can be disposed of by a single reply, and for 
 these we see no need to keep indexes either in the Registry or 
 in other sections. We think that it would be suflicient to 
 numljer them, enter them briefly in a numerical register, and 
 send them (without jackets) to the proper section to be answered, 
 after which they might be filed away for a period and tlien 
 destroyed. If the incoming correspondence were handled at 
 the outset Iw responsible officials who could distinguish between 
 the important and the unimportant letters, the former only need 
 be treated as "registered files" and much saving of clerical 
 labour would result. In the case of "registered files," the 
 entries in the registers should be abbreviated and the indexing 
 simplified. 
 
 13. Outgoing letters are despatched by the Registry'-, carbon 
 copies being enclosed in the relative files, and the files noted 
 accordingly, but when for one reason or another letters are 
 sealed in other sections and sent to the Registry for despatch 
 unaccompanied by the files, the addresses are recorded in a 
 special book kei:)t for the purpose as evidence of the despatch 
 of the letters. We think that this is unnecessary and should 
 cease. Nor do we see any reason for making duplicate carbon 
 copies of all outgoing letters, and binding them together in 
 volumes, and we think that this practice also should cease. 
 
 14. We are of opinion that by a re-arrangement on the lines 
 indicated above, the staff of the Registry and Post Room could 
 be reduced to less than half the present number (64), and there 
 would also be some saving of staff in other sections consequent 
 on the reduction of the card indexing referred to above. 
 
 15. Economic and Editorial Section. — We have examined 
 some of the annual reports of the overseas officers of the 
 Department, and have made inquiry as to the standing 
 manuals of commercial information relating to particular 
 countries which are in course of preparation. The annual 
 reports are issued as official publications, and we understand 
 that the same course is contemplated in the case of the standing 
 manuals. At the present time official publications are issued at 
 a price which hai'dly pays for the paper used, without taking 
 into account the cost of printing and other expenses. We see 
 no reason why these reports and manuals should be sold at a 
 loss, and we consider that traders to whom the information 
 contained in them may be of value would not hesitate to 
 pay a price which would cover the cost of production. We 
 recommend, therefore, that the preparation and publication, 
 both of the reports and the manuals should be carried out on 
 a self-supporting basis, and that traders and others addressing 
 particular inquiries to the Dei)artment should be referred to 
 these publications when the information sought is to be found 
 in them.
 
 40 
 
 16. Library. — It appears to ns that there is some danger of 
 overstocking the Library with books and publications which may 
 only be nsed very occasionally. We recommend that no new 
 additions shoidd be made to the stock unless the books are 
 clearly required for frequent reference, a certificate to that 
 effect being obtained from the heads of sections concerned in 
 each case. 
 
 17. The amount of clerical labour in the Library does not 
 seem to us to be justified. We observed that a daily record is 
 kept of every copy of every newspaper received, of its issue to 
 officials in the Department, and of its return to the Library. 
 For example, a copy of the " Daily Herald " may be sent to one 
 official ; it is marked out accordingly. Half an hour later it 
 may come back and its return is duly recorded. It may then 
 be sent to another official, and still others, the process of marking 
 ** out " and " in " being repeated on each occasion. We consider 
 that this is a waste of time and labour, and that it would be 
 quite sufficient to have a simple standing instruction prescribing 
 the ordinary circulation of the several copies of each newspaper 
 or periodical. Clerical labour would also be reduced if books 
 which are frequently required by a particular section were 
 retained in that section as a regular practice. 
 
 18. Statistical Section. — The bulk of the information available 
 in this section is apparently derived from official publications, 
 and traders who are interested could purchase the publications 
 or obtain the information from Reference Libraries, Chambers of 
 Commerce, and other existing institutions where such publica- 
 tions are stocked. The inquiries received in this section do not 
 appear to be numerous or wholly concerned with British export 
 trade. If, however, it is considered desirable to give callers 
 statistical information obtainable from blue books, &c., this 
 might be done in the Inquiry Room. Besides answering 
 inquiries, the Statistical Section checks statistics in reports 
 and supplies statistics to other sections- It does not apjiear 
 to us that the Statistical Section is in a more favourable 
 position to do this work than the other sections concerned, 
 and we think that it should be abolished, and that the 
 Department should, when necessary, make full use of the 
 Statistical Branch of the Board of Trade. It already does so 
 to some extent. 
 
 19. Foreign Administrative Section and I^Jntpire Administra- 
 tive Section. — We think that co-ordination of practice and some 
 slight saving of staff would be secured if these small sections 
 Avere amalgamated with the Establishment and Finance Section, 
 which deals, inter alia, with all staff matters at headquarters. 
 
 20. Status Subsection. — This subsection collects information 
 as to the standing of firms for the use of other sections of the 
 Department or of other Government Departments. A record is 
 also kept of all registered companies. It does not appear to us 
 that the references from other sections as to the status of
 
 41 
 
 firms addressing inquiries to tlie Department are really necessaiy, 
 or that any very general use is made of this sub-section by other 
 Government Departments. Apart from this, the records, which, 
 largely consist of press cuttings, do not seem to be of much 
 practical value ; they must, in the nature of things, include a 
 good deal of out-of-date matter ; aud we were infr.rmed that, 
 in practice, reference is made to an unofficial inquiry oifice in 
 the City when any specific information as to the status of a firm 
 is needed. As regards registered companies, information is 
 always available at Somerset House, and in our opinion there is 
 no justili cation for duplicating it here. We consider that this 
 sub-section should be abolished, and that inquiry should be 
 made through the usual channels in the comparatively few 
 cases where information as to the status of a firm is really 
 necessary. 
 
 21. Tariff Section. — The records of tariffs in the various 
 countries of the world \vhich are kept in this section appeared 
 to us to be well up to date. Concrete information of this kind 
 is of the first importance to exporters, and although it can be 
 obtained from the offices of Foreign and Dominion representatives 
 in this country, its concentration in one office appears to be 
 justified on the grounds of convenience. We suggest, however, 
 that it should be ascertained whether the Avork is duplicated in 
 the Board of Trade. 
 
 '22. Typing Staff. — Out of a total headquarters staff o£ 550, 
 no fewer than 120 are typists. This allows one typist to every 
 three members of the staff (excluding the Registry staff). We 
 could give no clearer indication than this of the character of 
 the work to which we refer in paragraph 4 above and in our 
 " General Observations " below. Under the existing general 
 method of work a relatively large typing staff is inevitable, but 
 we nevertheless recommend that the typing arrangements should 
 be closely examined by an expert on the subject. If the various 
 changes which we have proposed in the methods of work are 
 effected, the typing staff will, of course, be automatically reduced. 
 
 23. For convenience, we summarise the recommendations 
 we have so far made, as follows : — 
 
 (1) That the Department should not attempt to deal 
 with inquiries outside its scope, that inquirers should be 
 referred, wdiere possible, to accessible sources of informa- 
 tion, and that discrimination shoidd be exercised with a 
 view to prevent waste of time on matters which have no 
 real bearing on British trade overseas (paragraph 5). 
 
 (2) That, as far as possible, the oi)erations of the 
 Department sliould be conducted on a self-supporting 
 basis, and that for this purpose fees should be charged 
 to traders for services rendered. (Paragraph 6.) 
 
 (3) That the Trade and Geographical sections should 
 be amalgamated. (Paragraphs 9 to 11.)
 
 42 
 
 (4) That the work of the General Registry and Post 
 Room should be considerably simplified, and incoming 
 correspondence handled at the outset by responsible 
 Officers. (Paragraphs lil to 14.) 
 
 '5) That the reports and manuals edited or drawn up 
 by the Editorial and Economic Section should be pub- 
 lished at a price to cover the cost of production, and not 
 issued on the usual terms applicable to official papers. 
 (Paragraph 15.) 
 
 (6) That the clerical work in the Library should be 
 reduced and expenditure on books curtailed. (Para- 
 graphs 16 and 17.) 
 
 (7) That the Statistical Section should be abolished. 
 (Paragraph 18.) 
 
 (8) That the Foreign Administrative and Empire 
 Administrative Sections should be amalgamated with 
 the Establishment and Finance Section. (Paragraph 19.) 
 
 (9) That the Status Sub-section should be abolished. 
 (Paragraph 20.) 
 
 (10) That the Typing arrangements should be examined 
 by an expert on the subject. (Paragraph 22.) 
 
 General Observations. 
 
 24. We now return to the question of a change in the general 
 method of work to wdiich we referred in the opening part of 
 this Report. But we wish to make it clear at this point that 
 the recommendations we have already made are not dependent 
 on the settlement of this question, and that in default of some 
 such change as we recommend hereafter substantial economies 
 in the directions indicated above should still, in our opinion, be 
 effected. 
 
 25. The Department was created in 1917 to promote the 
 interests of British trade abroad. This is a wide mandate, 
 w^hich leaves undefined the methods by which it is to be carried 
 out, and in the nature of the case the results of this or that 
 method cannot be definitely ascertained with a view to gauging 
 its effectiveness. We consider, however, that these are strong 
 reasons for judging methods strictly on their own merits, and 
 for limiting the operation of, if not wholly discarding, those 
 which appear to be of doubtful utility. 
 
 26. We have no remarks to make as to matters of trade 
 policy, questions of the effect of governmental measures abroad 
 on British trade, or other questions which we conceive the 
 superior officers of the Department may have to handle from 
 time to time. Nor are we disposed to question the usefulness 
 of the work of the Exhibitions and Fairs Division, whose 
 schemes we understand, are conducted on a self-supporting 
 financial basis. We are doubtful, however, whether the Depart- 
 ment should concern itself .vith incidental matters which might
 
 reasonably be left to traders themselves. We observed, for 
 instance, tliat it assists traders to obtain passports and passages 
 for business journeys abroad, and engages in correspondence 
 regarding the collection of debts. 
 
 27. Apart from these various activities, and the usual 
 domestic functions pertaining to Establishment and Finance, 
 the Department is wholly engaged on what may conveniently 
 be described as Intelligence work. This comprises the processes 
 of sifting, recording, and storing infonnation from the various 
 sources particularised in paragraph 4, of communicating infor- 
 mation from abroad to home traders, and home information to 
 traders abroad, of answering inquiries from traders at home 
 and abroad, and of bringing individual traders at home and 
 abroad in touch with each other with a view to increasing the 
 British export trade. It is not unnatural that the Department 
 shoidd endeavour to collect all information that is likely to be 
 of interest. But this results in a considerable amount of infor- 
 mation being recorded or stored which in practice is not 
 required, and unnecessary labour is involved in handling it in 
 the first i]]stance and going through it afterw^ards in the search 
 for particular items. It is, moreover, open to doubt whether 
 the Department is generally in a position to supply traders with 
 the precise kind of information Avhich they require, and whether 
 many of the inquiries received are worth seiious attention ; and 
 we are not at all satisfied that, under the existing procedure, 
 the benefit accruing to the trade of the country is commensurate 
 with the heavy clerical labour and expense involved. 
 
 28. There is, unfortunately, much room for wasted effort in 
 the wide and varied field of intelligence over which the Depart- 
 ment ranges. The present method of work sets no limit to the 
 staff which might be employed, and we think that in the 
 interests of economy it is imperative that the Department should, 
 concentrate on essentials, and should err, if at all, on the side 
 of doing too little rather than attempting too much. 
 
 29. We recommend that the Department should act as a 
 vehicle, i-ather than a repository of information, and that the 
 collection and supply of information should follow lines strictly 
 adapted to the practical possibilities and necessities of the case. 
 The initiative in trade comes normally from the seller, not the 
 buyer, and an Intelligence system devised in the interests of 
 the British export trade should concern itself principally with 
 informing the home trader of conditions abroad. For this 
 purpose we would draw a distinction between (a) general 
 information of interest to classes of traders, and (/;) particular 
 information requested by particular traders. In our view, the 
 headquarters office in London is attempting too much in 
 endeavouring to supply home traders with both kinds of 
 information. In the nature of the case it cannot be in posses- 
 sion at all times of up-to-date detailed information relating to
 
 44 
 
 every market overseas. Such information can only be obtained 
 on the spot at any particiilar time, and we think, therefore, that 
 information in category [h) should be supplied to inquirers by 
 the Department's representatives abroad and not by the head- 
 quarters office. The latter should only concern itself with 
 information in category (a). If the representatives abroad were 
 instructed to make periodical reports in a prescribed form 
 (monthly or quarterly according to circumstances in each 
 territory), stating briefly the current market conditions and any 
 leading features in each of the staple trades of interest to British 
 manufacturers ; and digests of the reports, for each class of 
 trade, were made at headquarters, these digests would serve as 
 fingerposts to home traders. Any consequential inquiry by 
 a particular trader for information under category (6) could 
 then be sent to the proper representative abroad, who would 
 corresf)ond with the home trader direct (as he largely does 
 now), placing him in touch with likely bujT-ers and furnishing 
 him with any particular information he might require. In cases 
 of urgency the inquiry could be cabled at the inquirers expense. 
 It would not, however, be necessary to refer to the representa- 
 tives abroad any inquiries for information to be found in the 
 standing manuals or in the Tariffs Section. The adoj)tion of 
 these arrangements would render it unnecessary to maintain 
 the extensive indexes of overseas traders and bankers, and the 
 records of miscellaneous items relating to markets abroad, now 
 kept at headquarters, and would considerably reduce the 
 correspondence between headquarters and the representatives 
 abroad, and check any tendency to irrelevancy and discursive- 
 ness in the reports of the latter. 
 
 30, We may remark here that although it is a new departure 
 for a Government Department in this country to introduce 
 traders to one another for the purpose of trade, yet, regarded as 
 an integral part of the Intelligence s^'stem, no objection need, 
 in our view, be taken to it. Without it, the system would be 
 useless to the trader who has no overseas representatives of his 
 own. We consider, however, that once an introduction is 
 effected, the DeiDartment should take no further part in the 
 negotiations. Before leaving this point we must add that, in 
 our view, a trader with a representative of his own in an 
 overseas market will always be at an advantage, as compared 
 with another Avho has no representative but relies solely on the 
 help the Intelligence system can give him. 
 
 31. The headquarters office issues a monthly bulletin to the 
 representatives abroad, containing information as to trade 
 conditions at home. W^e are not impressed by the general 
 character of the matter in these bulletins, having regard to the 
 purpose which they are apparently intended to serve. The 
 September issue, we observed, contained a three page article on 
 various aspects of the dispute in the coal trade. Apart from 
 this, the necessitv for the bulletins is not clear to us. The
 
 45 
 
 representatives abroad are fnriiisliod by lieadquailers with 
 indexes of Britisli manufacturers, and are thus in a position to 
 put any prospective purchaser of British goods in their terri- 
 tories in direct touch with sources of supply in this country. 
 Inquiries of any other nature from traders abroad, which are 
 clearly connected with British export trade, should be answered 
 by the Department's representativ^es, or, in the rare instances 
 where that is not possible, forwarded to headquarters to be dealt 
 with. But we see no reason for maintaining a stream of home 
 information to countries overseas, either in the form of the 
 present monthly bulletin or otlierwise, and we recommend that 
 it should be discontinued. 
 
 32. We are convinced that if the recommendations sum- 
 marised in paragraph 23 were carried out, and the intelligence 
 work were restricted to essentials and conducted on the fixed 
 lines suggested in this part of our Report, the headquarters 
 establishment could be reduced to quite small dimensions, 
 without in any way impairing the capacity of the Department 
 to render effective assistance in developing British trade over- 
 seas. It woidd then be for the consideration of the Government 
 whether the Department should continue as a separate entity, 
 or become a branch of the Foreign Office or Board of Trade. 
 As a final suggestion we would strongly advocate the closest 
 co-operation with Trading Associations, such as the Federation 
 of British Industries, which we understand has a special branch 
 for prosecuting inquiries as to overseas trade. Such co-operation 
 should include the mutual exchange of information, and dupli- 
 cation of work would thereby be avoided. A small Government 
 office working in alliance with commercial organisations for 
 the common object would, in our opinion, be the ideal 
 arrangement. 
 
 33. In conclusion we desire to express our appreciation of 
 the courtesy and facilities which the officials of the Department 
 have accorded us during our inquiry. We recognise that their 
 work in the Department has been discharged under special 
 difficulties due to the circumstances in which the Department 
 was created. 
 
 34. We have also to record our indebtedness to our Secretary, 
 Mr. Hardisty, for the able assistance he has given us during the 
 inquiry. 
 
 J. STANLEY HOLMES. 
 M. WEBSTER JENKINSON. 
 C. W. Hardisty, W. YOFNG. 
 
 Secretary, 
 
 29th November 1920.
 
 46 
 
 RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE 
 
 OF THE DEPARTMENT OF OVERSEAS TRADE ON 
 
 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st, 1921. 
 
 This Committee, consisting of representatives of important 
 indnsti'ial and commercial interests, who act in an honorary 
 ■capacity as the Advisory Committee to the Department of Over- 
 seas Trade, has had before it the report of Mr. Stanley Holmes's 
 Committee on the work and organisation of the Department of 
 Overseas Trade. 
 
 The Advisory Committee since its incepticm has been fully 
 acqnainted with the activities of the Department of Overseas 
 Trade. In its opinion the Department, since its recent creation, 
 has done and is doing valuable work in carrying out the 
 functions entrusted to it by His Majesty's Government in 
 regard to the promotion of Overseas Trade, and the dissemination 
 of commercial intelligence. 
 
 The Committee finds itself unable to agree with the main 
 proposals of Mr. Holmes's Committee for the reorganisation of 
 the Department. The Committee recommends that the geo- 
 graphical and trade sections of the Department should not be 
 amalgamated, and that the headquarters staff of the Department 
 should continue to concern themselves with specific inquiries 
 made by British firms. Any change in the direction of the 
 recommendations of Mr. Holmes's Committee would either in- 
 volve the creation of separate geographical sections within the 
 various trade sections or would result in the maintenance, at 
 increased expense, of augmented overseas services which, for 
 lack of guidance, would be incapable of rendering adequate 
 assistance to British traders. 
 
 This Committee is in favour of any economies in expenditure 
 on the Department which can be effected without lessening the 
 value of the Department to British trade. 
 
 The Committee has also had under consideration whether it 
 would be possible and desirable for the Department to charge 
 fees for certain classes of commercial information and assistance 
 supplied to British traders. The Committee recommends that 
 expenditure directly attributable to individual transactions 
 should be recoverable fi'om the parties immediately concerned, 
 but it does not consider that any material revenue can be looked 
 for from this source. 
 
 ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF 
 OVERSEAS TRADE. 
 
 Sir Francis H. Barker. 
 Sir C. C. Barrie, K.B.E., M.P. 
 Sir John Dewrance, K.B.E. 
 Sir William Ellis, G.B.E. 
 Sir Algernon Firth, Bart.
 
 47 
 
 W. L. HiCHENS, Esq. 
 
 F. HlOKTNBOTHAM, Esq. 
 
 Kenneth Lee, Esq. 
 Sir Charles McLeod. 
 
 G. A. Moore, Esq. 
 
 Sir Herbert Morgan, K.B.E. 
 
 Major D. Watts Morgan, D.S.O. 
 
 J. W. Murray, Esq. 
 
 Sir William Pearce, M.P. 
 
 Lieut.-Col. The Hon. Sidney Peel, D.S.O., M.P. 
 
 Rt. Hon. Lord Riddell. 
 
 H. Symonds, Esq. 
 
 Major Wedgwood. 
 
 Lieut.-Col. Willey, C.M.G., C.B.E., M.V.O., M.P. 
 
 H. C. R. Williamson, Esq.
 
 48 
 
 in. — Report of the Committee appointed to investigate 
 the Staffing and Methods of Work of the National 
 Savings Committee. 
 
 To THE Finance Committee of the Cabinet. 
 
 We, tlie Committee appointed to inquire into tlie staffing 
 and methods of working of the National Savings Committee, 
 have the honour to submit tlie following report : — 
 
 1. We have held two meetings for the purpose of taking 
 evidence from the Secretary, the Director of Accounts, the 
 Director of External Organisation and the Establishment Officer. 
 We have also personally inspected the working of the whole of 
 the branches of the Department. 
 
 2. The National War Savings Committee, established as a 
 war organisation in the beginning of 1916, has been continued 
 by the Government on a peace footing under the title of the 
 National Savings Committee. The Committee at present con- 
 sists of 27 members none of whom receives any remuneration 
 for services on the Committee. The chairman and vice-chairman 
 are in frequent attendance and the Committee meets monthly. 
 
 3. The function of the Committee is to organise and 
 supervise local machinery for promoting the sale of National 
 Savings Certificates issued at 15s. 6c^. each and redeemable at II. 
 on the fifth anniversary of the date of issue or at 11. 6.5. on the 
 tenth anniversary. The object of the "Savings Movement" is 
 to encourage economy among all classes, to provide facilities for 
 safe and profitable saving for the small investor and incidentally 
 to raise money for the Government. From time to time the Com- 
 mittee's organisation has been used for work outside its primary 
 intention, e.g., the conduct of special campaigns connected with 
 the issue of various Government loans and bonds, the most 
 recent example of such special work being in regard to the 
 arrangement whereby one-half of the sum received from the 
 sale of certificates in each area is to be applied towards 
 financing the local housing schemes of the area. 
 
 4. The activities of the Committee are confined to England 
 and Wales but on behalf of the Treasury they exercise a 
 supervision over the two provincial Committees in Ireland. 
 A separate organisation has been set up for Scotland. 
 
 5. The local machinery above referred to consists of — 
 
 (1) Local Savings Committees. — Of these over 1,800 have been 
 formed by or at the instance of the National Committee. 
 
 (2) Local Savings Associations or Cliihs. — Of these over 
 40,000 have been established by the Local Savings Committees 
 who also supervise their work. About 13,000 Associations have 
 been dissolved since November, 1918, the number in existence 
 at the time of our inspection being approximately 28^000.
 
 40 
 
 (3) Honorary Ofieial Agents. — Tlie National Committee 
 have recognised about 6,500 shopkeepers and others as official 
 agents for the sale of Certificates. No effort is now being made 
 to extend these Agencies. 
 
 It should, of course, be understood that National Savings 
 Certificates can be purchased by any member of the community 
 at a local Post Office or Bank irrespective of any association or 
 local agency. 
 
 6. The whole of the w^ork of these local Committees and 
 Associations is carried out on a strictly voluntary basis, but 
 since 1918 provision has been made for payment of grants to 
 Committees in aid of the expenses incurred by them in respect 
 of stationery, postages, printing, rent of rooms used for offices 
 and for meetings and, in the case of the larger Committees, 
 clerical assistance. The grants are paid according to a scale 
 not exceeding 10s. per annum per thousand of the population 
 (in/nimum grant 10/.). 
 
 7. The total number of Certificates issued (in II. units) from 
 the inauguration of tlie movement in 1910 until the end of 1919 
 was 382,615,980, and the net sum invested during the same 
 period, after deducting repayments, was 266,981,976L 
 
 8. Prior to 1st April, 1919, the expenses of the National 
 Savings Committee were met from the Vote of Credit. Since 
 then provision has been made for them in the Civil Service 
 Estimates under " Unclassified Services," the total amount of 
 the Vote for 1920-21 being 106,190/. made up as follows :— 
 
 £ 
 
 A. Salaries and Wages - - - - 61,940 
 
 B. Travelling and Subsistence - - 11,050 
 
 C. Incidentals ----- 750 
 
 D. Expenses of Local Coniniittees - - 21,030 
 
 E. Advertising ----- 2,500 
 
 F. Special Campaigns and Propaganda - 8,920 
 
 £106,190 
 
 9. At the date of the Armistice, the staff employed l)y the 
 National Committee numbered 391. Since then the volume of 
 work has diminished wdth the result that it has been possible to 
 effect a considerable reduction in staff, the number actually 
 employed on 1st Decenil)er, 1920, being 301. Of these only 29 
 were pensionable civil servants, 10 held permanent but non- 
 pensionable appointments and the remainder, 262, were employed 
 on a purely temporary basis. 
 
 10. The staff employed, in relation to the work to be per- 
 formed, is constantly kept under review by an Establishment 
 Committee consisting of the Secretary, the Director of Accounts 
 and the Establishment Officer, Avho informed us that the 
 retrenchment above mentionel would have been much greater 
 
 o 15088
 
 50 
 
 but for a temporary accession of work arising out of tlie dissolu- 
 tion of some 13,()()() Local Associations which has necessitated 
 the clearing up and audit of their accounts and the administra- 
 tion of their residuary assets and liabilities. Propaganda and 
 organising work connected with the scheme of housing finance, 
 to which a passing reference is made in paragraph 3, has 
 also been responsible for a slight increase in the work of the 
 Department. 
 
 IJ. The establishment Committee anticipate that the follow- 
 ing staff, amounting to 60 clerks and officers, will be gradually 
 dispensed with during the current year : — 
 
 Administrative Department. — Five Clerks in from 2 to 3 
 months. 
 
 Accounts Department. 
 
 Audit Branch. — 25 Clerks during the next 12 months — 
 now engaged on work arising out of dissolved Associa- 
 tions. 
 
 Coupons Branch. — 26 Clerks during the next 12 months — 
 reduction possible through the introduction of the 
 "Standing Imprest System" in connection with the 
 Coupon Supplies Accounts. 
 
 External Organisation. — One Organiser. 
 
 Establishment Department. — One Interviewer. 
 
 One Women Welfare Superintendent. 
 
 One Clerk in Supplies Branch. 
 
 12. Economy in staffing arrangements and in methods of 
 working has been and still is the subject of close attention on 
 the part of the members of the National Committee. Thus on 
 11th February, 1920, the Committee appointed a sub-committee 
 of their number, consisting of Sir Joseph Burn, K.B.E., Actuary 
 of the Prudential Assurance Company, Sir Wm. Schooling 
 K.B.E., Mr. T. J. M. More, O.B.E., Inspector of Schools, Board 
 of F>ducation, and Mr. H. Muspratt, O.B.E., Hon Secretary of 
 the Liverpool Savings Committee, " to examine the size and 
 " expense of the staff at Headquarters and to consider whether 
 " any suggestions could be made for reducing the cost without 
 " impairing efficiency." The sub-committee, after making a com- 
 plete inspection of the work of the establishment, reported on 
 10th June last that they did not feel themselves in a position to 
 make any specific recommendations but they suggested " that 
 " the whole position might with advantage be reviewed at a later 
 " date when fresh premises, which it is hoped will be more 
 " suitable, are available ; when the present temporary conditions 
 " have come to an end and the working of the Movement can be 
 " developed on more permanent lines than are at present avail- 
 " able." Meantime a detailed return of the Staff employed is 
 submitted to the Committee at each of their monthly meetings. 
 
 13. Certain minor matters in regard to which the sub-com- 
 mittee suggested slight economy of work and staff have been
 
 51 
 
 attended to. The most important of these which had not been 
 fully remedied at the time of our inspection referred to the 
 system of registering letters-. We entirely endorse the sub-com- 
 mittee's opinion that many letters are registered which are of no 
 permanent value. Having to deal witli sucli a large nu]id)cr of 
 Local Associations and other agencies the correspondence is 
 naturally of considerable volume. But on examination it 
 appeared to us that many of the letters were of temporary 
 interest or were not likely to be referred to again and might 
 have been disposed of without the formality of registration. 
 For example, we saw no reason for registering letters from 
 Local Associations and Committees merely requesting supplies 
 of leaflets, posters, forms, c^-c, or for continuing the present 
 elaborate method of dealing with such recjuests in the Supplies 
 Department. 
 
 14. While agreeing with the sub-committee's view that the 
 local workers in the movement being almost wholly voluntary 
 " should appropriately be given an amount of consideration 
 and attention which need not be given to paid officials," we 
 are of opinion that the registering and recording of letters 
 could be materially cut down without impairing the efficiency 
 of the Committee's work. We suggest that the staff engaged 
 thereon might be reduced by approximately 30 per cent, (i.e., 
 from 17 to 12). Attention might at the same time be directed 
 to the question whether it vv^ould not be possible to reduce the 
 number of copies of letters and other documents which are 
 now made for distribution among the various sections of the 
 Department. 
 
 15. We concur in the sub-committee's opinion that tlie 
 building in which the National Committee and their staff are 
 accommodated is ill-adapted for efficient organisation, and tliat 
 " the conditions in regard to sanitation, lighting, and large 
 rooms leave much to be desired." It is probable that the high 
 sickness rate prevailing among the staff is partly attrilnitable 
 to the state of tlie building. 
 
 16. We were impressed with the large amount of corre- 
 spondence arising from (1) the detailed scrutiny and examina- 
 tion of the audit rei^orts of local associations, and (2) the 
 winding up of the affairs of dissolved associations, ^fany of 
 the officials of these associations, although estimable in other 
 respects, appear to be poor correspondents, and it seems there- 
 fore a matter for consideration whether in a numbci' of cases 
 outstanding questions might not be more e.\:i)editiously and 
 economically disposed of by personal visit rather than by 
 prolonged and frequently ineffectual letter writing. 
 
 17. It appeared to us that in certain instances the work now- 
 undertaken by officers of the intermediate and higher grades is 
 comparatively simple and might appropriatelv be given to 
 officers of lower grades. We understand that tliis matter is 
 being looked into.
 
 52 
 
 18. The work of the Uoiumittee's external organisation, 
 which is distributed over the country, was fully described 
 to us by the Director. We did not consider it necessary to 
 inspect it. 
 
 19. Subject to tlie foregoing observations, we are of opinion 
 that the affairs of the National Committee are being adminis- 
 tered with due regard to efficiency and economy, and we are 
 satisfied that the Committee are fully alive to the importance 
 of the matter. Any reduction in work or in staff which may 
 I'csult from our inspection is small compared with the savings 
 above referred to (paragraphs 9 to 11) which the Committee 
 have themselves accomj^lished or have in contemplation. It is 
 chiefly in the direction of simplifying the local savings schemes 
 that any further substantial economies can be looked for. For 
 example, under the latest scheme (Scheme 7) designed by the 
 Committee, clerical work is reduced to a minimum and book- 
 keeping is practically eliminated. We ^vere informed that if 
 this scheme were universally adopted by local associations, the 
 Audit and Coupon Branches Avould be no longer necessary, and 
 their stall', which now numbers 119, could be dispensed with. 
 The extent to which associations can be urged to adopt the 
 scheme is a question of policy outside the purview of our 
 inquiry. Its advantages, however, are so obvious that the 
 Committee may be trusted to secure its introduction wherever 
 practicable. 
 
 20. In conclusion we desire to record our indebtedness to 
 the Secretary and other members of the staff for their courtesy 
 and assistance which have greatly facilitated our labours. 
 
 27th January 1921. 
 
 R. WILLIAMS. 
 E. H. POOLE. 
 JOHN JEFFREY, 
 
 UNIVERSITY of CALIKOKN 
 AT 
 LOS ANGELES 
 LIBRARY 
 
 I'linf.Ml iiiuler the authority of His MAJESTY'S Stationery OffICK 
 
 I'.y liyie ami Spottiswoode, Ltd., East Harding Street. E.C. 4, 
 
 Printer^ to the King'? most Excellent Majesty.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 _SQ2 (iL 
 
 :ar.: 
 
 G79r 
 
 Committee 
 on'stamn 
 _an4 m« t hod s -of — 
 
 _work___oX tl:ie =^ 
 
 Board of trade - 
 -Repor^r^ 
 
 
 
 ^. 
 
 -^^-i 
 
 *> 
 
 
 »v 
 
 AA 001 006 862 5 
 
 This book is DUE on the last 
 date stamped below 
 
 ^' :i 
 
 >- 
 
 
 's:-'
 
 ^■/ 
 
 '^.. 
 
 V- -'"S.. 
 
 X 
 
 >^. 
 
 
 h^ \ 
 
 
 
 •■:.#•' 
 
 
 
 ' ,'<^' 
 
 
 , .^ >-' 
 
 
 iu. 
 
 
 
 > i': I? 
 
 ^ 
 
 1i 
 
 'ft "■ .// 
 
 i 
 
 ;|t' 
 
 V'' 
 
 ■■■-^f 
 
 ^f 
 
 r-(,f ■' 
 
 ';^' 
 
 -^T" ^ 
 
 *^ 
 
 
 ■A.'.