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134. The Executive Officer and Clerk No. 1 should make a daily inspection of the clerks under their direct control and ensure that arrangements are made to dispose of outstanding cases with the minimum delay.
Dicisions on routine cases.
135. This Branch is employed on many routine cases of a simple nature, and the Establishment Officer should consider how far the authority for signing a minute, memorandum, letter, etc., should be delegated. For this purpose each class of case should be considered and an experience built up within the Branch whereby cases can be efficiently disposed of at an appropriate level.
Transfers within the branch.
136. It will be seen that the proposed organization provides for clerks to specialize on a group of subjects and while this arrangement should prove of benefit to the work of the Branch, clerks should be transferred within the Branch at reason- able periods, to broaden their experience and make them more fit for promotion.
Registry.
137. This Branch should retain its own decentralized registry and it should be known as the Establishment Registry. It should be organized in the manner shown on Appendix F. A simplified registry procedure is fully described in Chapter XII and the recommendations made there should be adopted by this registry.
Storage of confidential files.
138. The Confidential Registry are now holding about 300 "confidential” Estab- lishment Branch files. These files should be withdrawn from the Confidential Registry, re-classified if necessary, and retained within the Establishment Branch. All establish- ment files should be retained within the Branch, with the exception of those classified "Secret" or "Top Secret", which should be stored in the strong room.
Gazette notices.
139. Gazette notices for the recruitment of local staff and similar gazette notices are sent to the Deputy Colonial Secretary for his approval before publication. Authority for approving publication of such notices should be transferred to the Establishment Branch.
Rental and grading of quarters.
140. This Branch is now consulted on the rental and grading of individual Government quarters.
141. The Branch should only be consulted on policy aspects of this subject, and the rental and grading of individual quarters should be the responsibility of the Quartering Authority, after the Rating Authority has assessed the rent chargeable.
Furniture.
142. Where requests are received from officers for supply of furniture exceeding the prescribed scale, an Assistant Colonial Secretary considers action to be taken. This is an Establishment Branch function and all such cases should be considered upon by that Branch.
143. Details of damaged or lost furniture are referred from the Controller of Stores to this Branch for lodging claims against officers. It is recommended that the Controller of Stores should be authorized to lodge claims direct and refer only excep- tional cases to this Branch.
Particulars of appointment form.
144. The new General Orders may provide for an amended type of form. That form should be comprehensive, and include pre-printed minutes for the complete action, to avoid the necessity of typing and forwarding covering memos.