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Economic Management in a Free-Trade Empire: The Work of the Crown Agents for the Colonies in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Vincent Ponko Jr.
Vincent Ponko Jr.
Affiliation:
Villanova University
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Extract

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries British overseas territories under control of the Colonial Office were required to place all business affairs which could not be handled within their own boundaries or those of an adjacent British area in the hands of an office in London known as the Crown Agents for the Colonies.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , September 1966 , pp. 363 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1966

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References

1 Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, Vol. LXIV (Accounts and Papers, VIII), Cmd. 3075, 1881, “Memorandum on the Origin and Functions of the Department of the Crown Agents for the Colonies by Sir Penrose G. Julyan, K. C. M. G., C. B.,” in Papers explanatory of the Functions of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, pp. 594–95. (Hereafter cited as “Memorandum on … the Crown Agents.”)

Until they lost their self-governing character, Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua, Tobago, Grenada, and the group of St. Vincent, Dominica, St. Christopher, Nevis, Anguilla, and the Virgin Islands continued to support individual agents recognized as such by the central Government. For an account of the origin of such independent agencies, see Penson, L. M., “The Origin of the Crown Agency Office,” English Historical Review, XL (1925), 196–206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarAbbott, A. W., A Short History of the Crown Agents and Their Office (for private circulation; London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1959Google Scholar), was not consulted when this article was written and is not in general circulation.

2 “Memorandum on … the Crown Agents,” p. 595.

3 Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, Vol. XVI (Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors, and Others, VIII), Cmd. 4474, 1909, Committee of Enquiry into the Organization of the Crown Agents Office. Minutes of Evidence and Appendices Presented to Both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty, February 1909, p. 16. (Hereafter cited as Committee of Enquiry.)

4 Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, Vol. LXIV (Accounts and Papers, VIII), Cmd. 3075, 1881, “Circular to All Colonies Employing the Crown Agents, Newcastle, December 31, 1863,” in Papers explanatory of the Functions of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, p. 591. (Hereafter cited as Papers explanatory … of the Crown Agents.) In 1868 fees instituted in 1863 for certain financial services of the Crown Agents were reduced; “Circular to All Colonies Employing the Crown Agents, Buckingham and Chandos, Jan. 23, 1868,” ibid., p. 592.

5 “Memorandum on … the Crown Agents,” p. 595. Despite the increasing financial importance of the Crown Agents, the Government in 1870 ceased to have the accounts of the office audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The stated reason was the provisions of Act 29 and 30, Viet. C.39, which modified practices hitherto employed in auditing public accounts. With this order, the responsibility of checking the Crown Agents' books was placed on the colonial governments. To help them, these governments were to receive monthly statements supplemented by other documents from the Crown Agents, their bankers, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies; “Circular to all Colonies employing the Crown Agents, Kimberley, Sept. 6, 1870; Circular to all Colonies (except the Straits Settlements) employing the Crown Agents, Carnarvon, Aug. 8, 1874,” in Papers explanatory … of the Crown Agents, pp. 592–93. This procedure was modified later in the direction of allowing some auditing control in England; The Cambridge History of the British Empire, III (Cambridge, Engl.: The University Press, 1959), 750Google Scholar.

6 “Memorandum on … the Crown Agents,” p. 595.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid., p. 596.

9 “Colonial Office to Treasury, R. G. W. Herbert, Nov. 26, 1880,” in Papers explanatory … of the Crown Agents, p. 596.

10 Ibid., and “Treasury to Colonial Office, Lingen, R. R. W., April 11, 1881,” in Papers explanatory … of the Crown Agents, pp. 596–97, 597–98Google Scholar. This consultation also induced the Secretary of State for the Colonies to explain the connection existing since 1863 between his department and the Crown Agents in the following terms: “Although their offices are under the same roof with this Department, the agency is nevertheless not an integral part of it, and though the Agents are supervised and directed by the Secretary of State in all matters of importance, or when any question of principle has to be decided, yet they execute considerable transactions without express instructions in every case …. They act in the discharge of their business not in any sense as agents of Her Majesty's Government but as the agents of each colony that employs them. The connection of the Secretary of State with the Agency consists principally in superintending and directing the Crown Agents on behalf of the colonial government, and this is obviously of much value as obviating the serious delay and loss which a reference to the Colony for further instructions would often entail.” “Colonial Office to Treasury, Herbert, Nov. 26, 1880,” p. 597. At this time also the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies took the place of the permanent (Under-) Secretary of the Treasury as a trustee, along with the Crown Agents, for Crown-Agent investments, except those guaranteed by the government; “Treasury to Colonial Office, Lingen, April 11, 1881,” pp. 597–98.

11 In 1881 the office had a working staff of about 40, including Crown Agents and messengers. By 1900 this figure had risen to about 75. In 1908 the Crown Agents commanded the services of 200 employees; Committee of Enquiry, p. 2.

12 ibid., p. 57.

13 Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, Vol. LIX (Accounts and Papers, XIII), Cmd. 1944, 1904, “Mr. Lyttelton to the Governors of all Colonies hot Possessing Responsible Government …, Circular February 26, 1904: Memo on the Position and Duties of the Crown Agents for the Colonies,” in Despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies Relating to the Commercial Business of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, pp. 3–5. (Hereafter cited as Despatch from the Secretary of State.)

14 Colonies receiving self-government seem to have been reluctant to divorce themselves from the financial services of the Crown Agents; Papers explanatory … of the Crown Agents, p. 598, 600.

15 Great Britain, Parliamentary Debates, Fourth Series, CXXX, Feb. 25, 1904, 946–49, 954–59Google Scholar; CXXXV, June 10, 1904, 1328–38, 1338–46, 1357–61.

16 The following table is quoted directly from: Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, Vol. LXXVIII (Accounts and Papers, XIII), Cmd. 194, June 1904, “Office of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, 31st May 1904,” pp. 839–42.

Number of Firms invited by the Crown Agents to Tender for the Supply of Certain Articles on the latest occasion within the last Three Years on which an Order for Considerable Quantities of such Articles was given by the Crown Agents.

17 Great Britain, Parliamentary Debates, Fourth Series, CXXX, Feb. 25, 1904, 951–53, 959–61Google Scholar; CXXXV, June 10, 1904, 1346–57, 1361–63.

18 Ibid., CLXXXIII, Feb. 4 and 11, 1909, 713–14, 1528; CLXXXIV, Feb. 18, 1909, 633; CLXXXVI, Mar. 26, 1909, 1563; CLXXXVIII, May 5 and 7, 1909, 46, 417; CLXXXIX, May 25 and 28, 1909, 767, 1344.

19 Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, Vol. XVI (Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors, and Others, VIII), Cmd. 4473, 1909, “Crown Agents Enquiry Committee Report to the Right Honourable the Earl of Crewe, K. G., P. C., etc. etc., Secretary of State for the Colonies,” in Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Organization of the Crown Agents Office with a Despatch hereon from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, p. ii. (Hereafter cited as Report of the Committee of Enquiry.) The committee held 24 meetings, 16 of which were devoted to the hearing of oral evidence from 29 witnesses. Two subcommittees were organized, one of which reported on an inspection of the Crown Agents' office; the other held four meetings and heard seven witnesses in an effort to investigate the Crown Agents' shipping and packing arrangements; ibid.

20 Report of the Committee of Enquiry, pp. 42–48.

21 Ibid., pp. 48–50.

22 Ibid., pp. 31–33, 83–88, 115–17.

23 Ibid., Appendix ix, pp. 215–16.

24 Ibid., p. 216.

25 Ibid., p. 217.

26 Report of the Committee of Enquiry, pp. viii, xix–xxi. The Committee also recommended that Parliament take steps to control the financial arrangements of the office and that an annual report of the office funds of the Agency be given to the public. This latter recommendation was subsequently implemented by order of the Secretary of State; Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers; Vol. LXVI (Accounts and Papers, VIII), Cmd. 5391, 1910; ibid., Vol. LIII (Accounts and Papers, IX), Cmd. 5744, 1911. In addition it was recommended that the Crown Agents become more conscious of the desirability of maintaining good relations with the colonies and the public at large; Report of the Committee of Enquiry, p. xxi.

27 Ibid., p. iv.

28 Ibid. This report was pleasing to Lord Crewe, the reigning Secretary of State for the Colonies. In announcing his acceptance of the report and its recommendations to the Crown Colonies, he wrote, “You will doubtless observe that the conclusions of the Committee with regard to the position and function of the Crown Agents and their Office and the Crown Agents' Office and Reserve Funds coincide with the views which have been held and stated in public documents, by the successive Secretaries of State”; Report of the Committee of Enquiry, “The Secretary of State to the Governors, Et' c, of all Crown Colonies and Protectorates … 18th February, 1909,” p. i.

29 To arrive at these figures certain colonies and protectorates were grouped together; The Colonial Office List for 1908 (forty-seventh publication; London, n.d.), p. xvi.

30 Great Britain, Parliamentary Papers, Vol. LXXVIII (Accounts and Papers, XXX), No. 264, 1905, Return showing the total amount, including loans, on which any commission was charged or received by the Crown Agents for the Colonies during each of the last five years … July, 1904, pp. 841–50. Ibid., Vol. LVI (Accounts and Papers, X), No. 181, Return … during 1904, 1905, and 1906 … June, 1907, pp. 73–82. A digest of these reports is given in Appendix Table 1.

31 Committee of Enquiry, p. 167.

32 Strauss, George, “Tactics of Lateral Relationship: The Purchasing Agent,” Administrative Science Quarterly, VII, No. 2 (Sept. 1962), 161–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 Committee of Enquiry, p. 57.

34 This situation was seriously jeopardized only once, when Joseph Chamberlain in 1901 sent inquiries to his colonial officials to find out if the system of Crown Agents was working well and would fit in with his scheme of imperial economic development. The replies were generally favorable to the existing arrangements, so the Crown Agents for the Colonies remained relatively undisturbed; Despatch from the Secretary of State, p. 3.

35 Knaplund, Paul, Britain: Commonwealth and Empire, 1901–1955 (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1956), pp. 39–43, 255–56, 258Google Scholar; Semmel, Bernard, Imperialism and Social Reform: English Social-Imperial Thought, 1895–1914 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1960), pp. 53–82, 128–65Google Scholar; Spender, John A., Great Britain: Empire and Commonwealth, 1886–1935 (London: Cassell, n.d.), pp. 699–700, 790–96.Google Scholar