Council The Scottish Development Council was established on 8 May 1931. At that time, Scotland was experiencing the worst effects of the depression, and the then-called Scottish National Development Council was created to analyse the courses of the collapse which had occurred and to find and apply solutions. The leading figures involved in organising the first meeting were the Earl of Elgin, Sir Henry Keith (former Provost of Hamilton and Unionist MP) and William Watson of Glasgow (organiser of Scottish Trades Development Association). It was attended by representatives of the Burghs and Counties, Industry, Commerce and Banking, Trade Unions and prominent individuals, who felt the common need to aid their industry and their country. It was a response to a crucial, immediate situation, and this is stressed in the Constitution: “It will be the duty of the Council to examine and consider impartially the industrial, commercial and economic problems with which the country is faced for the time being; to endeavour to arrive at a solution of these problems and where necessary, to obtain from Parliament such legislation as may be required to give effect to the conclusions reached by the Council”. On 23 July 1931, Lord Elgin, who was now President and Sir Henry Keith, Vice-chairman of the Executive, invited Sir James Lithgow to become Chairman of the Executive. This was a boost to the morale of the council and to its financial situation, as in December 1931, Lithgow donated £1,800 to the funds to meet the salary of the Secretary (W C Kirkwood) for three years. It was also at this time that the Scottish Development Council undertook to rent its first office in the premises of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, 39 Elmbank Street, Glasgow. Previous to this, meetings had been held in Lanarkshire House in Ingram Street and in the City Chambers of Glasgow and Edinburgh. The first sub-committees were set up in December 1931 and the topics covered shows the area over which the Development Council hoped to spread its influence. Committees on Agriculture, Rating and Taxation, Textiles, Electrical developments, Chemical industries and the Fishing industry were formed. An Economic Committee, Chaired by Sir Steven Bilsland was formed by the Council in collaboration with the Scottish Office in the early 1930s as an economic action group to explore and promote the new regional policies of the thirties. By 1938, it already had to its