a Requisitions covering the printing and binding executed for this department were approved by the secretary of finance and justice.

APPENDIX D.

REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF ARCHIVES.

BUREAU OF ARCHIVES, Manila, October 25, 1902. SIR: Under the Spanish Government the archives of the different departments were not regularly organized and were in charge of clerks. This was due to the constant changes among the Government employees, who held their positions only for a short time before they were suspended or transferred to other offices. Furthermore, as a consequence of the war which terminated Spanish sovereignty in these islands, all the offices were left in a state of absolute confusion, and the documents, the furniture, and all other office material were thrown together and mixed up in such a way that when the army of occupation entered the city the archives were full of documents proceeding from the departments of the general government, civil administration, inspection of public works, forestry, mines, council of administration, auditor of state, paymaster and treasurer general, direct and indirect imposts. To these were added later the documents derived from the civil government of the province of Manila, the court of accounts, and the post-office. All these documents were formerly distributed among the different buildings occupied by the various offices. When the undersigned was appointed to reorganize this immense accumulation of papers and documents, which occupied nearly the entire intendencia building, his first care was to select the personnel of his office from those Filipino employees who had rendered long and satisfactory service and who were well acquainted with the organization and conduct of the late Spanish administration. A definite and uniform system was then adopted in order to proceed properly to arrange, classify, and separate in branches and subjects all these papers as they were before.

The documents were then distributed among the different offices or rooms in the building, and divided into branches or departments. The work was difficult, as under the Spanish Government there was barely room in the intendencia building for the five sections of the treasury, and we had now to add nine divisions for the general government, civil administration, forestry, mines, public works, civil government, court of accounts, council of administration, and post-office. Although the space was only occupied by the documents of each branch, without the personnel, we had to use even the passages and galleries.

At that time the new bureau of forestry, auditor's office, civil-service board, and coast and geodetic survey were organized and occupied three-fourths of the building, the space occupied at present by the archives being thereby reduced to one-fourth, and many of the documents having to be left on the ground in the galleries of the lower part of the building, under the stairs, in the hallway, and in the court, exposed to be destroyed by the inclemency of the weather, the dampness, and the white ants. I must also state that on account of the constant transfers, due to the establishment of the above-mentioned offices, our work has been greatly delayed, which was unavoidable with the confusion resulting from so many changes and removals.

It is only lately that the bureau of archives has been able to go on with its work with due regularity, to classify by dates all royal briefs, royal orders, and letters addressed to the Madrid Government from 1660 to 1898, and to prepare the corresponding indexes by items, branches, and chronology.

In regard to the classification by branches and items of the records, miscellaneous and other documents which exist in the archives, the following order has been observed:

Leases of houses for central and provincial offices.
Construction and repairs of telegraphic lines.
Municipal stations.

Compensations to personnel.

Service of mail by land.

Cables of the Visayas and Mindanao.

Cable from Bolinao to Hongkong.

Mail boxes and mail carriers.

School of telegraphy.

Printing plant.

Telephonic section.

Reform in the general administration.

Orders to leave, transfers, promotions, and removals of personnel.

Personnel and material of post-office, itineraries,

distribution of mail, correspondence, subven-
tions.

Distribution of material to Luzon and the Visayas.
Provisional stations.

Services of semaphores and meteorological sta-
tions.

Ayuntamientos.

Branch of public works.

Branch of the civil government of Manila.