10. The Clerk of the Papers will have the sole charge of the official documents of all kinds, so that he may be able, at any time, to produce any Despatch with the whole correspondence connected therewith, or to show, by his Register, what has become of it. He will bring to the Head of the Despatch Branch, at the beginning of each week, all the Despatches under reference, and papers in connection with them, (having first noted the action taken thereon during the preceding week,) in order that they may be filed or further dealt with, as may be required.
11. All Papers which are either Records of the Despatch Branch, or under reference thereto, will be considered as with the Clerk of Papers, unless he can show, by his Indexes or Receipt-Book, that they are being acted on by some other person.
12. No original Papers are, on any account, to be sent out of the Office, without a note being taken of the person to whom, and the date at which, they are delivered. No original Papers will be communicated except to the Governor, and to the Colonial Secretary. When it is necessary to communicate any official documents to the Heads of Departments, or to other persons, copies will be sent.
13. No person is, on any account, to be allowed access to the Despatches, except by order of the Governor.
14. The hours of attendance in the Despatch Branch will be dependent entirely upon the amount of work which requires to be performed. The ordinary daily attendance is from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.
15. Extra-assistance, when necessary, will be furnished to the Despatch Branch by the Clerks in the General Branch. It will be clearly understood that the correspondence with Her Majesty's Government must be considered to be the most important part of the work of the Colonial Secretary's Office.
Government House, Hongkong, August 4th, 1883.
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G. F. BOWEN, Governor.