The Crown Agents for the Colonies (4, Millbank, S.W.1) act
as agents for the sale of Colonial Government publications.

ROBERT HUDSON, LTD.,

LIGHT RAILWAY ENGINEERS,

The leading British Manufacturers of narrow-gauge

LIGHT RAILWAY MATERIAL

INCLUDING THE COMPLETE EQUIPMENT OF

RAILS.

SLEEPERS.

SWITCHES.

TURNTABLES.

LOCOMOTIVES. STEEL TIP WAGONS.

MINING TRUCKS AND LIGHT ROLLING STOCK.

Write for our General Catalogue of Light Railway Material,

: published in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Contractors to-
THE WAR OFFICE. THE ADMIRALTY, CROWN AGENTS TO THE COLONIES.
INDIA OFFICE, AND ALL LEADING COLONIAL AND FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.

WOOLLEN MERCHANT,

W.BILL, LONDON, W.1.

Invites the special attention of British representatives (official and trade), in foreign countries to his wellknown Standard Woollens as detailed below, the productions of the first manufacturers in the British Isles; and of peasant handiwork, of which he always holds an important and extensive stock, and distributes at a moderate cost:

HOMESPUNS, for travel and sport.
FRIEZES & FLEECES, for great coats.
CHEVIOTS, for useful country suits.
TWEEDS, for hard wearing suits.
WORSTEDS, for town and dress wear.
SERGES, for general wear, all weights.
CASHMERES, for tropical wear.
SUPERFINES, for sub-tropical wear.

ANGOLAS, for summer suitings.

FLANNELS, for light colonial wear.

COSTUME TWEEDS for ladies' wear.
TRAVELLING RUGS, IRISH and SCOTCH.

Wholesale, Retail, and Export.

The name and goods will be familiar to a number of Embassies, Legations and Consulates scattered all over the world. The object of this announcement is to make them still more widely known overseas with the assistance of our country's representatives.

THE COLONIAL
COLONIAL OFFICE.

THE first separate organisation in this country for the central administration of Colonial affairs was a Committee of the Privy Council appointed by Order in Council of 4th July, 1660, "for the Plantaçons." On the 1st December, 1660, a separate Council of Foreign Plantations" was created by Letters Patent.

It may be interesting to state that on the 28th of February, 1671, Evelyn's Diary records the author's appointment as a member of this Council, with "a salary of £500 per annum to encourage me."

In September, 1672, the Council was united, by Letters Patent, to the Council for Trade, and was henceforward known as the "Council of Trade and Plantations." It was suppressed on 21st December, 1677, and its functions, which had been much neglected, were transferred to the Privy Council. It was re-constituted in 1695, and continued to exist until 1782, at which date it consisted of eight Members of Parliament, who received a salary of £1,000 per annum each.

The affairs of India were placed under its charge in 1748, and remained so until the establishment of the Board of Control in 1784. From 1768 Colonial affairs have been dealt with by a Secretary of State.

The office of Secretary to the Sovereign dates at least from the reign of Henry III. There was one principal Secretary only (who was already called Secretary of State) down to 1539, when a second was appointed. From 1708 to 1746 a third Secretaryship existed, dealing exclusively with Scotland.

In 1768, a Secretary of State for the American, or Colonial Department, was appointed, in addition to the two principal Secretaries of State then existing; but the commissions to the Council of Trade and Plantations continued to run as before. Both the Council and the New Secretary of State's Department were abolished in 1782 by Burke's Act, 22 Geo. III., cap. 82, on the loss of the United States.

By this Act power was given to delegate to a Committee of the Privy Council all the functions hitherto exercised by the Council of Trade and Plantations, and by Order in Council of 11th September, 1782, circular instructions were sent to the Governors of the Plantations to transmit their returns and accounts to the Privy Council. Pending the appointment of a Committee, Colonial affairs were dealt with by a subordinate branch of the Home Department, styled the Plantations Branch.

At this time the duties of the two principal Secretaries of State were divided into "Home" and "Foreign," the affairs of Ireland devolving on the Home Department, which now undertook also those of the Colonies.

In 1784, by Order in Council of 5th March, a "Committee for Trade and Foreign Plantations was appointed in pursuance of Burke's Act, and the new body was reorganised and placed upon a definite footing by the subsequent Orders of 22nd August and 25th August, 1786. The business hitherto dealt with by the Plantations Branch of the Home Office was transferred to this Committee.

At its commencement in 1793, the affairs of the French War were managed by the Home Department, but in 1794 Mr. Dundas (afterwards Lord Melville),