Area dell'identificazione
Codice di riferimento
Titolo
Date
- 1813-1921 (Creazione)
Livello di descrizione
Consistenza e supporto
c. 340 linear meters
Area del contesto
Nome del soggetto produttore
Storia istituzionale/amministrativa
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’.
Istituto conservatore
Storia archivistica
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.
Modalità di acquisizione
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).
Area del contenuto e della struttura
Ambito e contenuto
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’.
Valutazione e scarto
Incrementi
Sistema di ordinamento
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.
Area delle condizioni di accesso e uso
Condizioni di accesso
Condizioni di riproduzione
Lingua dei materiali
Scrittura dei materiali
Note sulla lingua e sulla scrittura
Caratteristiche materiali e requisiti tecnici
Strumenti di ricerca
Area dei materiali collegati
Esistenza e localizzazione degli originali
Esistenza e localizzazione di copie
Unità di descrizione collegate
Area delle note
Identificatori alternativi
Punti di accesso
Punti d'accesso per soggetto
Punti d'accesso per luogo
Punti d'accesso per nome
Punti d'accesso relativi al genere
Area di controllo della descrizione
Codice identificativo della descrizione
Codice identificativo dell'istitituto conservatore
Norme e convenzioni utilizzate
Stato
Livello di completezza
Date di creazione, revisione, cancellazione
Lingue
- inglese
- francese
- greco
- italiano
Scritture
- latino
Fonti
Sources Consulted:
Dispatch to Secretary of State, No. 412 of 19th December, 1936.
Nota dell'archivista
This description was originally prepared by former director of the National Archives, Joseph Caruana.