Colonial Secretary Guide - Flipbook - Page 23
The practice had developed of placing a carbon copy of an out-letter with the previous papers, and it was
recognized after some years that for most purposes access through the registers of in-letters provided
adequate means of reference to replies. In a memorandum from H. Deering (Chief Clerk) to the Under
Secretary of the Colonial Secretary's Department, dated 6 September 1915, it is stated:
"A great saving of time and labour, however, would be effected if the Under Secretary
were to agree to the discontinuance of the present practice of the press-copying and
indexing ... of practically every typewritten letter in the Office ... There is always the
carbon copy with the papers to refer to. I have made enquiries at the Works Department
and at the Railways Department (our nearest neighbours) and find that, in the Works
Department, only letters on very important subjects are press-copied, whilst in the
Railways Department the system of press-copying has been abandoned altogether." (41)
The junior clerk responsible for entering and indexing letters sent in the letter-press books having enlisted
for active service abroad the Under-Secretary agreed that "only letters of importance (were) to be copied
in future - officers will be held responsible for placing with files carbon copies of all letters (sent)."
Later, separate registries were set up in the Chief Secretary's office for a variety of functions, including the
State Trawling Industry, the State Fisheries Branch, the Lord Howe Island Board of Control, the
Unemployment Relief Council, the Birds and Animals Protection Branch, and the Bush Fires Advisory
Committee. These will be treated separately from the main series of letters received and are outside the
scope of the present work.