Early Government Commissions
Price, together with James Heywood and Arthur Stanley, was behind a petition to Lord Russell, the Prime Minister, in 1848 calling for a Royal Commission into the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
The Commission, despite some resistance from within the universities, was formed in 1850 and reported in 1852. Price gave evidence to the inquiry in which he supported reform that would cut the costs of university education; reduce the distinctions between noblemen, gentleman-commoners and ordinary undergraduates; increase the number of places by allowing the expansion of new halls and colleges; improve examinations and integrate professorial teaching into the curriculum; and dispense with the requirements of Holy Orders and celibacy for the fellowship. His ideas evolved in the following years, moving closer to the German model where students were first taught by college lecturers and then by professorial instruction. This would also create a career structure where university teachers would provide a pool of talent to become the next generation of the professoriate, and would thus be encouraged to build up their own expertise and research skills (see Kadish 1989: 36-39).In June 1856, Price was appointed as one of the three Treasury Commissioners to examine the application of grants to the Scottish Board of Fisheries and the future of the herring brand. Price took pride in claiming credit for swaying the Commissioners to retain the branding on Scottish herring barrels which he argued gave an equal chance to the small curers, against the advantages of the larger ones, and helped promote the perceived quality of the product in export markets. The Protected Designation of Origin of its day! The brand was also seen as aiding efficiency and improving storage conditions by minimising the need for the repeated reopening of barrels for inspection. The existence of the brand was likely to increase the number of German merchants willing to buy Scottish white herring as it reduced their risks as to the quality of the supply. On the recommendation of the majority of the Commissioners,[44] a fee was adopted in 1859.[45] Price and St John suggested that the fee would also be an empirical test of the benefits attributed to the brand, since the Crown Brand would come at a cost against rivals which were free. The Select Committee on the Herring Brand in 1881 concluded that this test had indeed been passed.[46]
In February the following year, reflecting his wider interests in education and earlier evidence to the Oxford University Commission (1850-1852), Price was appointed to the Royal Commission into the Queen's Colleges in Belfast, Cork and Galway. This reported in 1858, though ill health prevented Price from contributing to the final report.
4