Trade Protection Societies

Trade Protection Societies are associations composed of merchants, tradesmen, and others, which have been formed for the promotion of trade and for protecting the individual members from losses in their business transactions; one of the earliest being the 'London Association of Guardians for the Protection of Trade,' established in 1776. In 1871 the Board of Trade granted a license for incorporation to one under the Companies Acts, 1862-67. The operations of these societies used to be confined chiefly to the compilation of registers of bankruptcies, insolvencies, and private settlements with creditors. Each member informed the secretary of the name, occupation, and address of the customers who became insolvent, with the amount of dividend their estate yielded; and latterly, whether the insolvency was due to recklessness and extravagance, or was innocent misfortune. Special attention was directed to the exposure of swindlers and persons who had been guilty of fraud or embezzlement. The information accumulated in the registers, though always accessible to such members as made inquiry at the offices of the society, was kept strictly private from all others. But the extraordinary development of commercial enterprise which took place in the early part of the 19th century added a new stimulus to the trade protection movement. The registers which the societies now printed and circulated among their members contained transcriptions from the following public records—viz. the records of the bankruptcy courts, registers of assignments and trust deeds, bonds or warrants of attorney, bills of sale, judges' orders, protested bills, and decrees in absence. The societies also undertook to recover past-due bills and accounts for their members, to investigate the circumstances connected with bankruptcies and insolvencies, collect dividends, and perform the general agency business of their members—the whole being done under the direction of a committee appointed for this purpose. Committees were also appointed to scrutinise all measures affecting trade and commerce which might be introduced into parliament, and to promote legislation favourable to the commercial interest. The sphere of action of trade protection societies thus rapidly widened. The older societies established offices and branches throughout the country; new societies sprang up in the large provincial cities, which in their turn opened agencies and branches in other towns and villages; and the various societies being in communication, the machinery of the whole is available for the purposes of each. In 1852 the various societies formed themselves into an association, which now includes upwards of sixty societies. An annual meeting of delegates from all these is held in London, at which matters affecting trade are discussed.