Administrative Problems of the Board of Trade1
| Date | 01 June 1948 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1948.tb02640.x |
| Published date | 01 June 1948 |
| Author | John Henry Woods |
Administrative Problems
of
the
Board
of
Trade'
By
Sir
JOHN
HENRY
WOODS,
K.C.B.,
M.V.O.,
Permanent Secretary,
Bod
of
Trade
1
HAD
perhaps better begin by giving
a
factual description, which must be
so
brief as to be rather inadequate,
of
the various branches
of
the Board
of
Trade and of their functions. Roughly speaking there are
two
sides of the
Board's work: foreign
and
domestic.
I
will begin
on
the external side
with
the Commercial Relations and Treaties Department. This
is
concerned
with the overseas commercial policy
of
this
country, and with its implementation
in the form of trade agreements
with
other countries.
It
provides,
so
to
speak,
the general 'frarnawork
of
commercial policy
and
of
international commercial
agreements within which the individual industries
and
trades carry on their own
business. In the new conditions of today,
this
department of the Board has
an immensely
important
and difficult function
and
a very positive
one.
It
bore
the brunt of the
Tarif€
and
Trade discussions at
Geneva,
and
is
bearing
the
brunt
of the further conferences at Havana
now.
I
do not
rhink
it has yet been
dsed
by many people what
an
immense undertaking this has been. There has never
before
been
a
conference like it,
in
which you had the representatives of
22
different nations
all
negotiating together at the same
time
not
only
on
the
general
principles of international trade but also
on
the
tariff
and preference schedules
subsisting between them. The department is clearly
most
deeply concerntd
with the Treasury and other Departments in the whole complex
of
questions
which now arise on our balance of payments situation.
It
is concerned with
all aspects of Marshall Aid.
It
is this department of the Board which has
to
take
a
leading
part
in
the series of bilateral negotiations with other countries
which we are now obliged to undertake in order to
obtain
our
vital imports
with the least possible expenditure of gold, dollars
and
other scarce currencies.
At
this
moment we are engaged
in
negotiattions with Canada, Argentina, Russia,
Yugoslavia, Sweden,
and
Belgium. We have standing arrangements for discus-
sion with France
and
Eire. We have just had representatives
in
Geneva on the
Industries and Materials Sub-committee of the Economic Commission for Europe.
Turning now to the internal side of the Board's work
I
will begin with the
group of Industries and Manufactures Divisions.
Two
of
these are production
dzpartments dealing direct
with
the production problems of
a
mass
of industries-
textiles, films, tobacco, pottery, glass, hosiery, furniture, hardware,
and
so
on-
all industries,
in
fact, except those specifically allocated to other Ministries.
Then the
Planning
and Priorities Division, as its name implies, deals
with
the
general production questions as distinct from the particular problems
of
the
individual industries, which are dealt with by the other
I.
and
M.
Divisions
I
have
mentioned.
It
collates the needs of the several industries in term
of
basic
requirements-steel, timber, transport,
fuel
and
power.
It
is
the place
at
which
the Board of Trade arrives
at
a general view
as
to the allocation of materials
needed by Board cf Trade industries. In consultation with other Ministries it
fixes export targets,
and
in
so
doing
is
concerned of course
with
industries which
Lecture
delivcred
to
the
Instimtc
d
Public
Adminiiation
on
9th
December,
1947.
85
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