Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1813-1921 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
c. 340 linear meters
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
The office of the Chief Secretary was the head administrative office of the Civil Government. Through it were channeled all departmental, consular, ecclesiastical, and individual correspondence, and all naval and military correspondence concerning civil matters. Local Government policy emanated only from this office, through letters and orders to the various heads of department, ordinances and publications in the Government Gazette. A centralized filing system with separate registry for both departmental and private matters (petitions) kept record of every query.
The office began to function on the 5th October 1813 with the arrival of the first Governor, when its preceding office of Public Secretary was abolished.
This Chief Secretary to Government was the highest civil authority, second only to the Governor, and worked in close consultation with and under directives of the Governor’s Office. The Chief Secretaries had charge of all Government records including the archives of the Order of St. John. They also supervised the preparation of the Annual Blue Book, censored the Government Press, and controlled the working of all public civil Departments. In the Commercial Department of the Chief Secretary’s office all ships were registered under the various Shipping Acts. This branch also issued:
- Bills of health, personal passports, and certificates of competency to master mariners, mates and padroni.
- Acts of naturalization and letters patent of denization to aliens.
- Warrants to act as advocate, notary, physician, broker, land surveyor, etc.
- Licenses to deal in marine stores, to act as auctioneer, to keep schools, to exercise the art of goldsmith, etc.
The Chief Secretary’s office also kept records of licenses granted by the Governor, for marriages performed in non-Catholic churches. After the 1921 Constitution all work dealing with purely local matters was taken over by the Maltese Government. The Maltese Imperial government dealt only with ‘matter reserved to the Crown’.
Archival history
The office of the Chief Secretary to Government was situated in the Magisterial Palace, Valletta, at the quarters now occupied by the Attorney General. The old records of the CSG ended up through the years, custodied in parts, in various offices and stores. In 1972, the National Archives began to collect and organise these records.
The Departmental Files (CSG-01) and Petitions (CSG-02) of the Chief Secretary to Government date only from late 1851. Unfortunately, in the 1870s, in order to provide space for later records, all files containing papers of these classes which had accumulated since the British occupation were destroyed. Some indexes to these files were preserved but subsequent damp storage has rendered these registers too fragile to handle.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Accessions were made from the Auberge d'Aragon, the Governor General's Office, the Office of the Prime Minister at Castille, St Elmo Stores and the National Library of Malta (Bibliotheca).
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This Fonds contains several Series of records that channeled through all departmental, consular, ecclesiastical, and individual correspondence, and all naval and military correspondence concerning civil matters.
In this Fonds, one may also find: Bills of health, personal passports, and certificates of competency to master mariners, mates and padroni. Acts of naturalization and letters patent of denization to aliens. Warrants to act as advocate, notary, physician, broker, land surveyor, etc. Licenses to deal in marine stores, to act as auctioneer, to keep schools, to exercise the art of goldsmith, etc.
The Chief Secretary’s office also kept records of licenses granted by the Governor, for marriages performed in non-Catholic churches. After the 1921 Constitution all work dealing with purely local matters was taken over by the Maltese Government. The Maltese Imperial government dealt only with ‘matters reserved to the Crown’.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
This Records Group was arranged according to its various sections or classes. The cataloguing system used is: Record / Group / Class / Item / Piece. Each class or category of record is given a number.
Where the Item concerns an originally registered file or letter, the original file number is always the Item number.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English
- French
- Greek
- Italian
Script(s)
- Latin
Sources
Sources Consulted:
Dispatch to Secretary of State, No. 412 of 19th December, 1936.
Archivist's note
This description was originally prepared by former director of the National Archives, Joseph Caruana.