Colonial Secretary Guide - Flipbook - Page 14
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Previous to this the Governor must still have received many papers direct as the Memorandum of papers
handed over at the end of 1825 shows. (16)
Further instructions changing the channels of communication in the colony were given by Darling in a
Government Order dated 1 September 1829. Persons having:
"Occasion to make any Application upon Subjects relating to any particular Department"
were to "address themselves in the first instance to the Head of that Department, who in
all Matters of unquestionable regulation, will at once afford such information as may be
required. In Cases where it may be necessary to bring the Subject under the
Consideration of the Governor, the Head of the Department will forward the Application
with every necessary Information, accompanied by his own remarks to the Colonial
Secretary". (23)
For the following requests the persons to be addressed were set out specifically:
"Land - To The Colonial Secretary, where the Object is to obtain a Grant or Permission to
purchase or rent; and to the Surveyor-General in all other cases ....
Respecting Roads - To the Surveyor of Roads and Bridges. On the subject of Provisions
and other Ordinary Supplies, to the Deputy Commissary General.
Relating to the Revenue - To the Collector of Customs, or the Collector of the Internal
Revenue.
To the Marine - To the Superintendent of Government Vessels.
To the Police - The Police Magistrates, or Benches in the Respective Districts.
To Convicts - To the Principal Superintendent of Convicts.
On Legal Matters - To the Crown Lawyers.
And relative to Accounts - To the Auditor General."
A "List of Periodical Returns required to be furnished by the various Departments of the Government"
dated about 1831 (watermark 1829) gives some indication of the amount of information the Colonial
Secretary required from government offices at that time and the amount of detail that may be found in his
records. A copy of this list is appended (page 25).
After responsible government in 1856 the Colonial Secretary (at times known as the Principal Secretary,
or Chief Secretary) frequently acted as Premier or Prime Minister prior to the establishment of the
Premier's Department in 1907. During the nineteenth century the Colonial Secretary's Department
continued to be the most important administrative unit in New South Wales. It had dealings with other
public offices on nearly all major developments and activities, as well as having responsibility for a wide
and varied range of functions.
The diversity of the functions and duties of the Colonial Secretary are clearly shown in the administrative
arrangements published in the New South Wales Government Gazette, No. 155, of 9 October 1856 whereby
the Colonial Secretary was charged with the business connected to: legislative matters; naval and military
establishments, including the Volunteer Corps; foreign correspondence; postal arrangements and
contracts; immigration; Police, including Petty Sessions; gaols and penal establishments; medical
establishments, including quarantine, vaccination and lunatic asylums; registration and statistics;
municipal institutions; Government printing; proclamations, commissions, and other instruments under
the Great Seal; naturalization of aliens; ecclesiastical establishments; public education; literary and
scientific institutions; hospitals and charitable institutions; Aborigines; remission and execution of
sentences; and "all other matters of internal arrangement not confided to any other Minister".