Page:The Public Records and The Constitution.djvu/27

Rh recent growth, and although members of the Privy Council appear from the time of Charles II to have been nominated to serve on all Boards of Trade, whether known as Councils or as Commissions, it was not until the reign of George III that a Committee strictly limited to members of the Privy Council became the authority for dealing with matters of trade.

Now this offshoot of the Privy Council is a descendant of the Conqueror's Council or Court no less than His Majesty is a descendant of the Conqueror himself. Yet, if we look at the functions which are or have been exercised by the Board of Trade, we shall see from a new point of view the development of the national genius, and the adaptation of the Constitution to the new condition of things. This Committee has had entrusted to it various powers in relation to our mercantile marine, the extent of which could not have been even imagined at the time of the Conquest—in relation to Railways, which have effected what the Conqueror's advisers would have thought beyond even the powers of witchcraft—and, together with the Post Office, in relation to Electric Telegraphs, which have gone even beyond Shakespeare's promise of Puck to put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes. In relation to all these and innumerable other matters, over which the Board of Trade has jurisdiction—such as Patents for Inventions, Bankruptcy, Harbours and Lighthouses, Gas Supply, Water Supply, and Electric Lighting—there are constantly growing up records of some kind or other, books or papers, which will tell of what has been done, and all of which are under the charge and superintendence of the Master of the Rolls.

Another offshoot of the Privy Council was the Committee on Education, which has, however, been remodelled by the Board of Education Act, 1899. This gives the Board an independent existence, but it is still necessary that the President of the Council should be a member. In this as in other directions the Council