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Hokitika Guardian, 8 July 1937, Page 4

The final resting place of historic documents relating to the overseas Dominions is discussed iu the United Em-

piro Journal, a question raised anew by a letter in the Times. Should the records be retained by Great Britain or go to the part of the Empire with which they are particularly concerned? In these days, says United Empire, the problem need not occasion very grave difficulty. The record rather than the document itself is the thing that matters to the student, and photography enables an exact replica to be retained if the original is transferred. IVlr Douglas Vnrley the assistant-librarian of the Royal Empire Society, points a. way. The question of transference is a matter of policy on which custodians of records by nature and profession acquisitive, rightly hold strong views. -May not. a/ solution be found in the wise use of the new photographic processes of reproduction, which have developed greatly during tne last few years? that would leave the choice of the Dominions not between records or no records but between records and copies of records which are in every respect except the sentimental as good as the originals. During 1935-36 more than 2,000,000 pages of historical material wen; reproduced by photostat for the Library of Congress from European archives; and it is said that the Japanese have sei ured photostat copies of all important records housed outside their own country. Such methods might well be applied, not only to the building up of Dominion archives, but to the filling up of the gaps in our own public records.