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Crown agency

May 01, 2024

For modern crown agencies of Ontario, see Crown agency (Ontario). For The private development company from 1996, see Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations Ltd.

A crown agency was an administrative body of the British Empire, distinct from the Civil Service Commission of Great Britain or the government administration of the national entity in which it operated. These enterprises were overseen from 1833 to 1974 by the Office of the Crown Agents in London, thereafter named the Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administration. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations Ltd became a private limited company providing development services in 1996.[1]

Today the term is also used to refer to state-controlled companies in some states of the British Commonwealth.

Office of the Crown Agencies edit

Operation edit

Crown agencies nominally reported directly to (and were wholly owned by) the Crown, but in practice, reported to the Crown Agency Office in London, thus independent of the Colonial Office. This office became, in the late 19th century, the sole official British commercial and financial agent of all British protectorates and Crown colonies. The Colonial Office enforced a policy of sole usage of crown agencies for all purchases of goods for government use, creating a virtual monopoly over government retail supply within the colonies of the British Empire. The crown agencies also became financial institutions, supplying capital, routes for investment, and pensions to all public works and government in British dependent colonies (excluding such Dominions as Canada or Australia). Crown Agencies were the bodies responsible for all large projects such as railway or harbour construction throughout British Africa, India, and the West Indies.[2]

History edit

Crown agencies trace their founding to the time of the British Empire and in 1833 the British government, hived off from the Colonial Office as a financing, stores, transport, and development (to use a modern term) office. Historians have argued that crown agencies, whose organisations operated across the British Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were the de facto administrators of British colonies. Crown agencies welded governmental powers through the maze of British, territories, protectorates, dependencies, mandates, and Crown colonies which de jure made up the British Empire of the late 19th century.[3] From 1833 to 1880, they also operated in areas with Dominion status. After this, their mandate was reduced to "dependent" colonies (most of British Africa, India, and the West Indies), but they were given near monopoly rights over finance and supply of non-local manufactures for any public or government use.[4]

With the dissolution of the British Empire, many of these agencies reverted to control by their respective governments, became parts of the British government, or became non-governmental organisations. The central Crown Agency Office became involved in the secondary banking sector, but the secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 drove the office into a debt of over £2 million and the office filed for bankruptcy in 1974.[citation needed] The British government at the time found the office useful for overseas development and, argues one writer, enabled aid to be channelled to British goods, while providing cover for unsavoury expenditures such as arms sales.[5] This last function was carried out by what was originally a wholly owned subsidiary of the Crown Agency Office, Millbank Technical Services (1967–79, when it was transferred to the Ministry of Defence and renamed),[6] which has since been accused of Neocolonial involvement in former British colonies and covert arms sales.[7] The British government incorporated the Crown Agency Office as a government-mandated corporation tied to the Minister of Overseas Development, called the Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administration.[8] In 1997, the Crown Agency Office was privatised.[9] As a private limited company, the CAOGA has a number of contracts to provide governmental or para-governmental services throughout the world, such as providing the customs services of the Government of Angola[10]

Contemporary usage edit

The legal category of crown agencies still exists in some nations of the former British Empire. In most places, these have been replaced by government agencies, state-controlled companies, and (in parts of the Commonwealth) Crown Corporations. Canada and New Zealand maintain the category of government managed or government owned entities called Crown Agencies that report to the sovereign governments in the countries where they operate.[11]

Canada edit

In Canada, the term "crown agency" may refer to any government agency, created by statute, which does not report to a government ministry.[12] CN Rail and the Ontario Heritage Foundation are examples under Canadian law of crown agencies.

New Zealand edit

The term is also used under New Zealand law[13] to designate state owned enterprises which do not report directly to a single Ministry.

Crown bodies edit

In the United Kingdom, the term is sometimes used to refer to Crown bodies: public bodies which have Crown status, meaning that material which they produce is subject to Crown copyright protection.[14][15]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Crown Agents - Home". www.crownagents.co.uk.
  2. ^ David Sunderland. Principals and Agents: The Activities of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, 1880–1914. The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 52, No. 2 (May, 1999), pp. 284–306
  3. ^ Sunderland (2004)
  4. ^ Sunderland, David (October 1999). "'Objectionable Parasites': The Crown Agents and the Purchase of Crown Colony Government Stores, 1880–1914". Business History. 41 (4): 21–47. doi:10.1080/00076799900000343.
  5. ^ Sunderland (2007)
  6. ^ Profile: Millbank Technical Services. David Leigh and Rob Evans, guardian.co.uk, Friday June 08 2007
  7. ^ (PDF). February 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 January 2007. The DSO arranged for the use of a nationalised company, Millbank Technical Services (MTS), then a wholly owned subsidiary of the Crown Agents, to pay bribes on a proposed Government-to-Government arms deal. A senior DSO official Harold Hubert wrote in 1972 about a proposed sale to the Saudi Arabian National Guard: "MTS will have little hope of business unless we [UK government] invite them to sell on our behalf. ... Since, when the Ambassador sees the King, he will indicate our willingness to do business on a G-to-G (government-to-government) basis there might be advantages to MTS co-ordinating any British equipment business to provide the quasi-government oversight as well as passing on the douceurs" (FCO 8/1914).
  8. ^ Advisory Structures for Development Cooperation Policy in the United Kingdom: survey (1993–1994) carried out by ECDPM on behalf of the National Advisory Council for Development Cooperation (NAR) of the Netherlands. Published 1996.
  9. ^ Crown Agents Act 1996 (completed 21 March 1997), Hansard, 21 Mar 1997 : Column: 917
  10. ^ ANIP e-News Bulletins GOVERNMENT NEWS: Government Approves Customs Contract 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine: Volume 3 Issue 21, 2 June 2006
  11. ^ Municipal Tax Assistance Act. R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER M.59: ""Crown agency" means an agency of the Crown in right of Ontario, but does not include Ontario Hydro Financial Corporation; ("organisme de la Couronne")"
  12. ^ Establishing a Crown Agency, Government of British Columbia, 26 August 2003.
  13. ^ Public Finance Act 1989: Crown Agencies 2008-10-16 at the Wayback Machine: Legislation Advisory Committee Report No.7, LEGISLATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE, Parliament of New Zealand (1989).
  14. ^ UK Crown Bodies, Office of Public Sector Information (2008)
  15. ^ Archives, The National. "UK Crown bodies - Re-using PSI".

Further reading edit

  • Marjorie A. R. Laird. The Ontario Crown Agency Act, 1959. The University of Toronto Law Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2 (1960), pp. 281–284
  • Lillian M. Penson. The Origin of the Crown Agency Office. The English Historical Review, Vol. 40, No. 158 (Apr., 1925), pp. 196–206
  • Sunderland, David (2004). Managing the British Empire: The Crown Agents for the Colonies, 1833–1914. Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer.
  • Sunderland, David (2007). Managing British Colonial and Post-Colonial Development: The Crown Agents, 1914–1974. Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84383-301-7.
  • Arthur William Abbott. A Short History of the Crown Agents and Their Office. Eyre and Spottiswoode, H.M. Printers (1959) ASIN: B0007JAS74 (A privately published history by a former director, cited in a number of sources detailing the less savory involvement of the Crown Agency in the run up to decolonisation)

External links edit

  • Crown Agency Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.48.
  • . Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (2002).

May 01, 2024
crown, agency, modern, crown, agencies, ontario, ontario, private, development, company, from, 1996, crown, agents, oversea, governments, administrations, crown, agency, administrative, body, british, empire, distinct, from, civil, service, commission, great, . For modern crown agencies of Ontario see Crown agency Ontario For The private development company from 1996 see Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations Ltd A crown agency was an administrative body of the British Empire distinct from the Civil Service Commission of Great Britain or the government administration of the national entity in which it operated These enterprises were overseen from 1833 to 1974 by the Office of the Crown Agents in London thereafter named the Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administration Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations Ltd became a private limited company providing development services in 1996 1 Today the term is also used to refer to state controlled companies in some states of the British Commonwealth Contents 1 Office of the Crown Agencies 1 1 Operation 1 2 History 2 Contemporary usage 2 1 Canada 2 2 New Zealand 2 3 Crown bodies 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External linksOffice of the Crown Agencies editOperation edit Crown agencies nominally reported directly to and were wholly owned by the Crown but in practice reported to the Crown Agency Office in London thus independent of the Colonial Office This office became in the late 19th century the sole official British commercial and financial agent of all British protectorates and Crown colonies The Colonial Office enforced a policy of sole usage of crown agencies for all purchases of goods for government use creating a virtual monopoly over government retail supply within the colonies of the British Empire The crown agencies also became financial institutions supplying capital routes for investment and pensions to all public works and government in British dependent colonies excluding such Dominions as Canada or Australia Crown Agencies were the bodies responsible for all large projects such as railway or harbour construction throughout British Africa India and the West Indies 2 History edit Crown agencies trace their founding to the time of the British Empire and in 1833 the British government hived off from the Colonial Office as a financing stores transport and development to use a modern term office Historians have argued that crown agencies whose organisations operated across the British Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the de facto administrators of British colonies Crown agencies welded governmental powers through the maze of British territories protectorates dependencies mandates and Crown colonies which de jure made up the British Empire of the late 19th century 3 From 1833 to 1880 they also operated in areas with Dominion status After this their mandate was reduced to dependent colonies most of British Africa India and the West Indies but they were given near monopoly rights over finance and supply of non local manufactures for any public or government use 4 With the dissolution of the British Empire many of these agencies reverted to control by their respective governments became parts of the British government or became non governmental organisations The central Crown Agency Office became involved in the secondary banking sector but the secondary banking crisis of 1973 1975 drove the office into a debt of over 2 million and the office filed for bankruptcy in 1974 citation needed The British government at the time found the office useful for overseas development and argues one writer enabled aid to be channelled to British goods while providing cover for unsavoury expenditures such as arms sales 5 This last function was carried out by what was originally a wholly owned subsidiary of the Crown Agency Office Millbank Technical Services 1967 79 when it was transferred to the Ministry of Defence and renamed 6 which has since been accused of Neocolonial involvement in former British colonies and covert arms sales 7 The British government incorporated the Crown Agency Office as a government mandated corporation tied to the Minister of Overseas Development called the Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administration 8 In 1997 the Crown Agency Office was privatised 9 As a private limited company the CAOGA has a number of contracts to provide governmental or para governmental services throughout the world such as providing the customs services of the Government of Angola 10 Contemporary usage editThe legal category of crown agencies still exists in some nations of the former British Empire In most places these have been replaced by government agencies state controlled companies and in parts of the Commonwealth Crown Corporations Canada and New Zealand maintain the category of government managed or government owned entities called Crown Agencies that report to the sovereign governments in the countries where they operate 11 Canada edit In Canada the term crown agency may refer to any government agency created by statute which does not report to a government ministry 12 CN Rail and the Ontario Heritage Foundation are examples under Canadian law of crown agencies New Zealand edit The term is also used under New Zealand law 13 to designate state owned enterprises which do not report directly to a single Ministry Crown bodies edit In the United Kingdom the term is sometimes used to refer to Crown bodies public bodies which have Crown status meaning that material which they produce is subject to Crown copyright protection 14 15 See also editCrown Agents Philatelic and Security Printing Archive Crown corporations Crown corporations of CanadaReferences edit Crown Agents Home www crownagents co uk David Sunderland Principals and Agents The Activities of the Crown Agents for the Colonies 1880 1914 The Economic History Review New Series Vol 52 No 2 May 1999 pp 284 306 Sunderland 2004 Sunderland David October 1999 Objectionable Parasites The Crown Agents and the Purchase of Crown Colony Government Stores 1880 1914 Business History 41 4 21 47 doi 10 1080 00076799900000343 Sunderland 2007 Profile Millbank Technical Services David Leigh and Rob Evans guardian co uk Friday June 08 2007 Submission from the Campaign Against Arms Trade to the Quadripartite Committee on Strategic Export Controls PDF February 2006 Archived from the original PDF on 29 January 2007 The DSO arranged for the use of a nationalised company Millbank Technical Services MTS then a wholly owned subsidiary of the Crown Agents to pay bribes on a proposed Government to Government arms deal A senior DSO official Harold Hubert wrote in 1972 about a proposed sale to the Saudi Arabian National Guard MTS will have little hope of business unless we UK government invite them to sell on our behalf Since when the Ambassador sees the King he will indicate our willingness to do business on a G to G government to government basis there might be advantages to MTS co ordinating any British equipment business to provide the quasi government oversight as well as passing on the douceurs FCO 8 1914 Advisory Structures for Development Cooperation Policy in the United Kingdom survey 1993 1994 carried out by ECDPM on behalf of the National Advisory Council for Development Cooperation NAR of the Netherlands Published 1996 Crown Agents Act 1996 completed 21 March 1997 Hansard 21 Mar 1997 Column 917 ANIP e News Bulletins GOVERNMENT NEWS Government Approves Customs Contract Archived 2011 07 18 at the Wayback Machine Volume 3 Issue 21 2 June 2006 Municipal Tax Assistance Act R S O 1990 CHAPTER M 59 Crown agency means an agency of the Crown in right of Ontario but does not include Ontario Hydro Financial Corporation organisme de la Couronne Establishing a Crown Agency Government of British Columbia 26 August 2003 Public Finance Act 1989 Crown Agencies Archived 2008 10 16 at the Wayback Machine Legislation Advisory Committee Report No 7 LEGISLATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE Parliament of New Zealand 1989 UK Crown Bodies Office of Public Sector Information 2008 Archives The National UK Crown bodies Re using PSI Further reading editMarjorie A R Laird The Ontario Crown Agency Act 1959 The University of Toronto Law Journal Vol 13 No 2 1960 pp 281 284 Lillian M Penson The Origin of the Crown Agency Office The English Historical Review Vol 40 No 158 Apr 1925 pp 196 206 Sunderland David 2004 Managing the British Empire The Crown Agents for the Colonies 1833 1914 Suffolk Boydell and Brewer Sunderland David 2007 Managing British Colonial and Post Colonial Development The Crown Agents 1914 1974 Suffolk Boydell and Brewer ISBN 978 1 84383 301 7 Arthur William Abbott A Short History of the Crown Agents and Their Office Eyre and Spottiswoode H M Printers 1959 ASIN B0007JAS74 A privately published history by a former director cited in a number of sources detailing the less savory involvement of the Crown Agency in the run up to decolonisation External links editCrown Agency Act R S O 1990 c C 48 Directors of Crown Corporations An Introductory Guide to Their Roles and Responsibilities Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat 2002 Portals nbsp British Empire nbsp Monarchy Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Crown agency amp oldid 1218160828, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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