VPRS 4106 Schedule of Despatches From the Governor to the Secretary of State for the Colonies

This series consists of a volume indexing the despatches sent by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Charles Fitzroy, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London. It is not known how this volume came into the custody of the Public Record Office of Victoria. It is believed that it was the index volume appended to the letter book containing copies of the original despatches. These might possibly be found in State Records of New South Wales series CGS4518 Despatches to the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary, 1790 - 1897.Details given are the number of the despatch, the date, a summary of the subject and the number of enclosures with the despatch. Some entries are annotated with categories. These are: execution (actions taken regarding a matter), judicial (eg. Rules of the Court), confidential (eg. an assessment of the character of applicants for office), financial, miscellaneous, ecclesiastical and legislation. Subjects include the forwarding of legislation for the Royal Confirmation, matters to do with the administration of the convict system, the formation of land districts, the Governor's visits to areas outside the settled areas of New South Wales, immigration, franchise qualifications, surveys, appointments of officials, the making and administering of land and immigration regulations, external matters to do with the Pacific Islands and Treasury matters.At the end of the volume are pencilled instructions for the establishment of the volume for the following year.