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6
O
N°
343.
C
47275
ZONOV 141
GOVERNMENT HOUSE.
HONGKONG. 21st October, 1914.
Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that on receipt of your circular despatch of the 9th March, I appointed a Committee com- posed of the Colonial Secretary, the Captain Superintendent of Police and the Registrar, Supreme Court, to investigate the arrangements made in this Colony for the housing and preservation of official records. The Committee after an inspection of the conditions under which the records in the custody of the Land Office and the Colonial Secretary's Office, the only departments responsible for the housing
of records, are kept, reported as follows:-
"The only two departments of the Government, which possess "such records are the Colonial Secretary's Office and the Land Office.
The latter office is housed in the new Law Courts building and has
"a strong room specially designed for the preservation of its records
"from the effect of damp and the ravages of insects. In the office of
"the Colonial Secretary, however, we are of opinion that the present
"arrangements for the preservation of the records are inadequate, and "we recommend that steps should be taken to provide a strong room of "adequate size to hold all the official records of value".
2.
Owing to the difficulty of making the necessary exten-
sive alterations in the record room at the Colonial Secretary 's
Office, I decided after consulting with the Colonial Secretary and
the Director of Public Works to meet the Committee's recommendations
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LEWIS HARCOURT, M.P.,
&C..
&C..
&c.