Page 13 - BHTA 100 years

It seems that, right from the very start of the Association, strong links with Government were formed as one of the rst invitations was to a meeting at the War Of ce. On the agenda was a discussion of a scheme referred to a being proposed in ‘The Whitley reports’.
In 1917, John Henry Whitley chaired a committee which produced a report on the ‘Relations of Employers and Employees’. As smooth running of industry was vital to the war effort, good industrial relations were a priority and Mr Whitely had proposed a system of regular consultative meetings between workers and employers, known to this day as Whitley Councils. Many of them later developed into wage negotiating bodies.
The new Association decided that it should ‘march with the times’ and adopt the new scheme, giving it ‘whole-hearted’ support’. It seemed a good call as when representatives attended the War Of ce meeting and explained that they had already decided to adopt the Whitley Report proposals, they were ‘congratulated on so promptly giving our adherence’. Also at that meeting a discussion took place about ‘large supplies’ that were wanted by the Russian Government. A large order was placed which was then taken back to the member companies and distributed among them so that the order could be delivered in record time.
After the rst year in existence, the Association already had nine sub-sections. The last section to be formed in the rst year of operation was the Surgical Appliances Section and it seems that all the leading companies joined. It was all about the war effort at this time and a number of meetings were being held with the Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Munitions and Committee on Production.
The minutes of that rst AGM make it clear that the members of the Association saw great potential for the industry after the war. Before the war, Germany had been the largest manufacturer of surgical instruments, producing them at lower cost than British companies. The Association felt that there would be a reluctance to buy from German companies after the war and saw an opportunity for expansion.
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