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The registers provide a list and a brief description of reports presented by members of the Executive Council. The reports (or memoranda as they were sometimes called) recommended that certain actions be taken by the Cabinet with regard to specific issues that were of concern to individual ministries or departments of the government. If a report was accepted by the Executive Council - as was usually the case - a Minute of Council, embodying the report, would be drafted by the Clerk of the Council. The Minute was then referred to the Lieutenant-Governor, for his consideration. Once his approval had been received the Executive Council could take action on the report, by announcing an appointment to the public service, issuing a proclamation, or, generally, by passing an Order-in-Council. Orders-in-Council (i.e. regulations made by the Cabinet under the authority of the Lieutenant Governor) were then transcribed by the clerk into a large volume known as the state book. The Clerk of the Council, who was responsible for keeping the state book, for recording cabinet minutes, and for receiving much of the Executive Council correspondence, was expected to follow a number of rules and procedures when conducting cabinet business.

The paper copy of the finding aid contains a copy of the regulations which were in effect from the 1870s to the early 1900s. In order to locate a particular report, researchers should first consult the registers. As well as providing a brief description of the report, the registers provide: the number of the report (such numbers were known properly as "page numbers" and were entered in the left-hand column of the Registers); the name of the ministry of department responsible for the report; and the date when the report was submitted and the date when the report was approved by the Lieutenant-Governor.

Having determined the date and number of a report, the researcher should turn to the appropriate volume of GR-0444, since copies of the reports were often filed with correspondence inward. The researcher might also consult Executive Council Minute Books (GR-0444 vols. 20-26) for mention of the report. The researcher should then consult the state books, wherein will be found full particulars of the report, along with a letter-book copy of the Order-in-Council implementing the report's recommendations. Lastly, the researcher might consult the British Columbia Gazette, which will provide confirmation of Orders-in-Council, as well as a record of proclamations, appointments, and miscellaneous notices arising from other Executive Council reports.

The inter-relationships between the registers, the correspondence inward files, the Executive Council minutes, state books, and the B.C. Gazette, may be seen through the following example:

A. The register of Executive Council Reports for 1872-78 (GR-0444 vol. 271) mentions a report pertaining to the "Comox Stock Breeding District." The register indicates that this report was submitted by the Provincial Secretary on 15 Apr 1873 and approved by the Lieutenant-Governor on 18 Apr 1873. The report is designated number 425 in the register.

B. A report concerning the Comox Stock Breeding District is noted as having been "'passed and approved" in the minutes of the Executive Council on 18 Apr 1873 (GR-0444 Vol. 20, p. 161).

C. A copy of the report, approved by the Lieutenant-Governor, is interfiled with correspondence inward papers (GR-0444 Vol. 45, file 1873 (I))

D. A fuller, more detailed copy of the report is entered in the Executive Council state book (GR 444 Vol. 32, p.279). The state book copy of this report notes that a petition to the Lieutenant- Governor had been received by the Provincial Secretary from residents of Comox, asking that their district be made a Stock Breeding District pursuant to the Stock Breeding Act, 1872. That petition is recorded (under the heading, "Petitions") in the Provincial Secretary's index to letters inward, 1871-76 (GR-0524, Box 1), wherein it is listed as document number 396/73. The original petition can thus be found in the letters inward files of the Provincial Secretary (GR-0526). Since the files are arranged numerically and chronologically, the Comox petition (number 396) will be found among letters inward for 1873). The entry is numbered 425, which corresponds with the "page number" entered in the left-hand column of the register above.

E. In the British Columbia Gazette (19 Apr 1873, p.2) a Proclamation is published stating that Comox has been declared a district for the purposes of the Breeding Stock Act of 1872.

Essentially, the registers provide a convenient, chronological listing of Executive Council reports. The registers may also be used to determine the origins of various proclamations, notices, and orders-in-council which were announced to the public through the weekly issues of the B.C. Gazette. In addition, the registers may be used as a guide to the meetings of the Executive Council itself. Although minutes of these meetings were recorded by the Clerk of the Council, not all of the minute books survived. Moreover, the minute books which are extant are not indexed. By perusing the registers of reports, however, one can determine, albeit in a general sort of way, the business that was transacted by the Council at any given meeting.

Volumes 37 - 44 include registers of official dispatches, departmental reports, orders-in-council, general correspondence, and other records received by the Clerk of the Executive Council. Many of these records are filed in volumes 45-74. Records which are indexed here but are not in volumes 45-74 may have been filed with the Provincial Secretary records or among the records of the Lieutenant-Governor (GR-0443).

GR-0444 volumes 45-74 consist mainly of petitions, official dispatches, executive council reports, and miscellaneous letters received by the Clerk of the Executive Council. Although many of the petitions, dispatches, and letters were addressed directly to the Lieutenant-Governor, they were in fact reviewed and considered by members of the Executive Council.

Incoming correspondence was dealt with in several ways. Official dispatches from London or Ottawa were acknowledged, via the Clerk of the Council, by the Lieutenant-Governor. Petitions from citizens, applications for mineral leases and the like, were considered by the Council but were answered by the Provincial Secretary. The Provincial Secretary also answered, or redirected, many of the miscellaneous letters. For example, a letter concerning the constabulary would be directed to the Department of the Attorney-General, while a query about the operation of a school would be referred by the Provincial Secretary to the Board of Education. In most instances, letters and petitions which had been referred elsewhere for action were returned to the Clerk of the Executive Council and so are to be found in the GR-0444 series.

Researchers unable to locate particular correspondence, however, should consult the Provincial Secretary records, especially GR-0524, GR-0526, GR-0614, and GR-0644, since letters addressed to the Lieutenant-Governor or to the Executive Council were on occasion retained by the Provincial Secretary's office. Researchers might also consult the appropriate volumes of GR-0443 (British Columbia. Lieutenant-Governor).

Normally, each item of incoming correspondence received by the clerk of the council was given a departmental control number. That number, along with a brief descriptive note, was entered into one of several registers, depending on the nature of the correspondence. The items were then filed numerically. But as correspondence was transferred to and from various departments and ministries, the original order or arrangement of the papers was frequently broken; moreover, in some years, different clerks used individual methods of filing. Accordingly, while a semblance of the original order has been maintained within the volumes that comprise this series of records, the papers are now arranged chronologically, by year.

Deputy Game Wardens (DGWs) were officials appointed by the Provincial Game Warden to be responsible, on the spot, for enforcement of the Game Act and its regulations in all areas of the province. Their reports and correspondence document their activities and are especially useful to researchers studying regional variations and difficulties with game management over time. Some of this type of material may also occur in the general correspondence series. The Provincial Police Force under the 1918 re-organization absorbed this function.

Correspondence inward and outward

Papers connected with his work in mining development in Kootenay District, principally as an agent for George J. Ainsworth in the development of the Blue Bell Mine

Correspondence, bills, account books: contains letters from Clinton, Lillooet, Savona, Kamloops, etc. re personal and farm matters; letters from friends in California and from relatives in England [family spell name Hefley]

Papers re his connection with mining, Germanson Creek. 1871 to 1879, and regarding his involvement with the Skidegate Oil Co.

Papers, including letters from relatives in Dalton and Gleaston Park, Lancashire, England