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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
co
Reference :-
885/26
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON,
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
15,808.
MY LORD,
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE COLONIES AND INDIA,
SOUTH KENSINGTON, LONDON, S.W.7.
11th March, 1919.
In compliance with the request contained in the Colonial Office letter of the 5th July, 1918, forwarding the Report of the Committee on Internal Economy, the Executive Council of the Imperial Institute have now considered the recommendations of that Report in relation to the Estimates of the Institute for the ensuing year.
Having regard to the great importance of the matter and the need for careful and detailed consideration, the Council appointed a Committee to go carefully into the questions involved and to make a full report.
This Committee consisted of Lord Islington, Lord Emmott, Lord Burnham, Sir Robert Carlyle, Sir Robert Kindersley, Sir Thomas Mackenzie, and Mr. D. O. Malcolm. The Committee have presented a full Report which has been considered and adopted by the Council.
I am desired by the Council to submit this Report with its enclosures for your consideration. The Report and the accompanying documents include a full explanation and discussion of all the important points involved, and the reasons for regarding certain of the recommendations of Mr. Hewins' Committee as inadequate. The completeness of the Report renders it unnecessary for me to do more in this letter than refer to the general considerations involved.
The Council desire me in presenting the Report to you to recall the circumstances in which they were appointed under the Imperial Institute Act of 1916.
As explained by the Government at the time, this Act was passed in order to place the Imperial Institute in a stronger position, and to enable it to improve and extend the services rendered by it to this country as well as to other parts of the Empire, especially in connection with inter-Imperial trade in raw materials. The value of these services was especially evident after the outbreak of war, and received important recognition.
It should be remembered that the Imperial Institute is the only organisation in the Empire which acts as a centre for the preliminary investigation of Imperial raw materials and as a clearing house for technical and commercial information respecting their sources and utilisation, It has always been recognised by the Council that in some cases the results of this work must be amplified by the operations of other bodies, but this affords no reason for restricting the work of the Institute and especially that class of work which is best done by a single organisation and is not done elsewhere. The Council regard it as unfair as well as uneconomical to endow other bodies to overlap with the successful work of the Imperial Institute in its own sphere, or to withhold adequate endowment of that work on the ground that portions of it might be undertaken by other bodies which have not so far done it or which are not at present in being,
The Council appointed under the Act of 1916 was so constituted as to include representatives not only of the Dominions, Colonies, and India but also of various commercial interests in this country.
The first step taken by the Council after its appointment was to form, in addition to Committees of its own body for financial and general purposes, representative Committees for the Dominions and India with a view to bringing the operations of the Institute into close touch with overseas trade and commerce, and also Technical Committees composed of commercial and other experts in this country on special subjects such as timber, silk, rubber, &c., in order to obtain the advantage of their advice as to the matters which demand attention especially in connection with inter-Imperial trade and the promotion of new industries both here and over- seas. In addition to these Technical Committees on special subjects, a Committee on Raw Materials, consisting of representatives of the principal Chambers of Commerce, was appointed to make known throughout this country those materials which, as the result of investigations at the Imperial Institute, afford opportunities for successful commercial utilisation. The Associa- tion of Chambers of Commerce have recently passed a resolution expressing appreciation of the value of the work of the Institute and its importance to inter-Imperial trade. The Association refer to the serious limitations at present imposed on this work by the inadequacy of the Treasury grant, and recommend that a financial contribution more in proportion to the value and import- ance of the services rendered by the Institute should be made by His Majesty's Government. This resolution has been forwarded to the Prime Minister and to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
The Council desire to emphasise the importance of these Committees and the value of the results already obtained by them, especially in bringing representatives of trade and commerce into direct touch with the work of the Institute in its various branches.
Simultaneously with the appointment of these Committees the Council appointed a Special Committee of its own body to consider the general financial position of the Institute; the question of the adequacy of the staff for the work before it, and its remuneration. This Com- mittee reported to the Council that having regard to the work which it was desirable to carry out, considerable additional income was required in order to place the staff and the conduct of the work on a satisfactory footing, and also to meet certain extensions of staff and work which were considered to be necessary.
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In January, 1917, the Council presented a Report to the Secretary of State asking for additional income to be provided by the Treasury in order that the Council might be in a position to carry out effectively the operations in view. In February, 1917, the Council at the request of the Secretary of State sent in a full statement of the manner in which the addi- tional income would be expended, accompanied by a detailed statement of the staff to be employed, its disposition and remuneration.
The Council were greatly disappointed, having regard to the reasons given by the Govern ment for their appointment, that the consideration of their plan and financial proposals war deferred, first on account of the Report of the Dominions Royal Commission, to which the Council had made what they regarded as a conclusive reply, and secondly on account of the possibility that the Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy after the War would report on the work of the Institute. Later the Council were informed by the Secretary of State that he had appointed a Committee of three members, with Mr. Hewins as Chairman, to report on the internal economy of the Imperial Institute, including the Council's proposals. The Report of this Committee, which forms the principal subject of the present communication, was received by the Council in July, 1918.
I am desired to say that whilst the Council could have taken no exception to the appoint ment at the outset by the Secretary of State in communication with the Treasury of a Special Committee to examine the details of their financial proposals, this step was long delayed, and the Council did not expect that the Committee would traverse the fundamental questions of principle connected with the nature of the work of the Imperial Institute and the value of the results achieved by it, which the Council in the circumstances of their appointment regarded as already clearly established and as justifying the confident expectation of early and increased financial support.
In considering this part of the Hewins Committee's Report the Council are placed at a great disadvantage in not having before them the evidence of the unnamed witnesses referred to in the Report as affording support to the principal conclusions arrived at. It is obvious that the value of this evidence must depend on the competence and authority of the witnesses on the subjects on which they speak, and on their independence of interests which may conflict with those of the Imperial Institute.
The Council desire me to point out that the delay in providing additional funds without which it was clear from the outset that they would not be able to proceed to improve the position of the Institute as contemplated by the Government in 1916 has been most unfortunate, and has placed the Council, and the Institute as a whole, in a difficult and unsatisfactory position. In the belief that these funds would be promptly provided and with the approval of the Secretary of State, the Council set up the new machinery of government of the Institute and the Standing Committees already referred to were appointed.
These operations, additional to the current work of the Institute, have imposed on the staff and especially on the Director and the senior members considerably increased work which came at a time when the Institute was labouring under severe disabilities caused by the War.
The Council are of opinion that it is essential that at least the measures proposed in the Report now presented should be carried into effect if the Council and the Institute are to be relieved from the anomalies and difficulties of the present situation. The Council cannot indeed contemplate any further endeavours on the lines now established unless such relief as is now indicated is afforded by the Treasury.
As is recognised in the Report of the Hewins Committee, the work of the Institute has been an acknowledged success on certain lines which the Council earnestly desire should b continued and properly provided for by adequate endowment.
The Council endorse the opinion expressed by their Committee that the initiative in pro viding sufficient funds properly to carry on the work of the Imperial Institute will have to come from His Majesty's Government, before corresponding action can be anticipated from Governments and Parliaments overseas.
The Council therefore trust that you will give them your support by accepting the moderate proposals now made. These if carried into effect will suffice to enable the operations of the Institute to be conducted satisfactorily on the present lines, and without the undesirablo pressure, at present unrelieved, which has existed for some years, but they make no provision for any further extension of the Institute's work, such as was clearly in contemplation when the Act of 1916 was passed, or for the fixing of regular incremental scales of salaries such as are universally recognised in all Government Departments as being desirable in order to secure continuous and contented service.
The Council are the more confident that you will appreciate their difficulties in view of the speech which you made in the House of Lords on the introduction of the Bill of 1916.
In requesting that an additional sum of £8,900 a year should be granted by the Treasury, it has been thought desirable to prepare in some detail provisional draft Estimates in order to indicate how the expenditure proposed will be employed, chiefly in improving the salaries and wages of the staff, and also in making such additions to the staff as are obviously necessary.
In the latter connection the Council desire me to refer to the recommendation of their Committee that an Assistant Director should be appointed to relieve the Director of some
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