CO885-(26N14) — Page 92

91

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

885/26

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

MEMORANDUM

ON THE

REGISTERING AND FILING OF OFFICIAL PAPERS.

50865.

The system of registration for official papers in the Colonial Office is believed to have existed much in its present form since 1850. The total number of communi- cations received in those days during twelve months was probably but a fraction of those now recorded by any one of the branch Registries. There were no telegrams or urgent business as known to-day.

2. No comprehensive overhaul of the system has ever been undertaken since 1850, although business and staff conditions have greatly changed. At the present time the office business is so heavy and exacting as to be almost unmanageable under prevailing conditions. From time to time a few special modifications have been introduced in the registration system to meet the urgent needs of the moment. That system is not essentially elaborate but the work has quite outgrown it.

3. As a preliminary to some suggestions for the saving of clerical labour, it seems desirable to notice briefly the main features of the system and the modifications which it has undergone.

4. In the main, papers are registered, treated and deposited on the single- paper unit plan. That is to say each separate communication received, with a few exceptions not worth mention, is given a number from an annual series common to the whole office. Every such numbered paper has a minute sheet attached, is headed geographically, Dominion or Colony, or General, Honours, Accounts, &c. After entry in numerical order in the Daily Register by the Central, or as it is called, Chief Registry, the paper is passed to the branch Registry concerned, where it is given a label, called the "subject matter" followed by a précis of the contents varying in length, supposedly according to the importance of the document, and the office, &c., of origin with the date are inserted. This "docket" is next entered in the Register for the particular dependency, &c., to which it refers, in order of receipt, according to origin, i.e., Governor, &c., Office, &c., Individual. The regis- tered paper is then

back to the "last previous paper connected "

on the same subject or point, the relevant papers are assembled from various sources, and the file is sent forward to the proper Department for executive action.

5. As soon as action has been taken on a paper and before it is " put by," the draft of any outward communication is attached to the particular unit bearing the approval for such action. Outward communications are noted in an Index, accord- ing to destination and date (indexing). The Index is the complement of the Register, but the operation of indexing is now shorn of the précis formerly included, only the subject matter being entered, with, of course, the other necessary identifying particulars.

6. Registered papers are ultimately deposited (put by) according to the regis- tered number of each unit. A file or series of papers, if more than a very few, may be kept together (waiting papers) if the correspondence is expected to continue. As soon, however, as correspondence on a given subject is thought to be ended, the series is broken up, each unit being dispersed to its place according to number in the several bundles for the Dominion, Colony, &c., to which it belongs. These "put by " bundles may weigh anything up to 50 lbs. each. In practice this assembly and dispersal of units is continually in progress with the expenditure of much time in sorting and heavy physical labour.

7. The principal modifications introduced in recent times may next be noticed. 8. (a) In or about 1892 the registration of the Governors' Schedule acknow- ledgments of the Secretary of State's despatches and other routine checks on the correspondence was stopped. In themselves they formed no part of the records. Some small amount of clerical work was thereby saved.

(24078-3) WL, 18724-271 30 3/20 H. 8, G.I

(b) In 1900 the great development of the Tropical African Colonies, &c., then in progress, which had led to the selection by the Colonial Office of a very large European staff for those Colonies (in West Africa alone in 1914 there were 2,839; at the end of 1918 the total had fallen to 2,305), and the increasing attention devoted to the health and training of these officials, involving much correspondence, both at the time of selection and during subsequent periods of leave after short tours, made it imperative to simplify the method of keeping their records. upon was a distinct departure so far as the Colonial Office was concerned.

The system decided separate registration of each communication received ceased, such communications The being sent from the central Registry as soon as opened to the branch Registry con- cerned. where it was placed in a Tropical African series. This series has now reached in 1919 to over 12,800. The jacket" bearing a distinctive number from a jacket was labelled with the officer's name. appointment and Colony. In these Tropical African Service files all communications received with the drafts of those sent out are arranged together in the order of receipt and despatch on the right- hand side, while all minutes are written on continuous sheets on the left-hand side, in both cases the latest uppermost. The action taken is noted beneath the minutes thus rounding off the correspondence stage by stage. Particulars of new communi- cations follow on, in effect re-opening the file. elaborate docketing with the consequent entering, decreased the bulk of paper, and This plan eliminated the more reduced to a minimum the labour of getting out and putting by papers. An officer's complete record came to be comprehended in one file capable of being produced at a moment's notice by a mere reference to its invariable number. The Colony Registers and Index Books were relieved of anything beyond a bare reference to the file in the case of despatches under the "Governor" cutting.

(61) With the Tropical African files loose-leaf Registers were introduced recording the papers relating to any one officer much more briefly than had been the practice, and by continuous entries on one page, instead of by numbers of scattered entries in various parts of the Colony Register books according to origin or destination, the sheets being arranged alphabetically.

(c) This file or jacket system has stood the test of 10 years' working without any need for alteration. It made possible the management of the correspondence respecting the great numbers of officers and non-commissioned officers sent out to East Africa during the War, when the old system must have broken down.

9. A further modification of system came about gradually, beginning first in the branch Registries for Tropical Africa, which obtained authority in 1909 to cease indexing. that is précising the contents of outward communications, entering instead the bare particulars referred to in paragraph 5. This again saved much labour and made papers more quickly available for further action. To obviate any possible difficulty. facsimile copies of outgoing communications were made when they were typed for signature, these copies being arranged in the order of the Index divisions and bound in volumes for each year. More attention was devoted to noting names and precedents, and the Colony Register became, as it should be, the main book of record for registered documents. gradually followed by other branches without any serious resulting inconvenience, The curtailment of indexing was and now for some years past indexing has ceased throughout the office.

10. In its early days the Registry staff was quite small, the duties being limited as they then were, to the receipt, registration and indexing of correspondence for the few geographical Departments of the time. Even down to the early nineties there were only six men in the Registry including the Superintendent.

11. In 1896 the policy of development of the Colonies under the late Mr. Joseph / Chamberlain brought with it a great accession of business and a consequent increase of staff. It then became necessary to reorganise to some extent the previous office methods by a devolution of duties until that time performed in the main by administrative officers.

12. For some years before 1896 the work of sending off letters and telegrams, making up despatches and mails, the filling up of letter forms (Lff) and the writing of routine drafts had been relegated, as far as two Geographical Departments were concerned. to a clerk transferred from the Registry and attached to the Departments. In 1892 similar duties for another Department were assigned to a second clerk from the Registry.

94978

A 1