Page:The Public Records and The Constitution.djvu/40

 The Local Government Board came into existence by Sent virtue of an Act of the year 1871, but its functions were Board. not by any means all newly created, as it not only absorbed an older Poor Law Board, but also took over some duties from the Privy Council and the Secretary of State.

Among the offices which Acts of Parliament have brought into being, and which, perhaps, have least connexion with our earlier history, are the General Register Office, the Registry of Friendly Societies, the National Debt Office and the Public Works Loan Commission Office. Of some even of these it maybe said however, that they owe their origin in part at least to the development of Treasury methods.

The name of one of them illustrates that favourite constitutional expedient of a Commission, which, when it is to be of a permanent character, is now often set going by Act of Parliament. Thus when the temporalities of the Bishoprics were taken out of the hands of the Bishops, the lands of the respective sees were by Act of Parliament vested in Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who also became possessed of the various muniments relating to the old episcopal revenues, which thus became public records.

Various powers in relation to charities have also by Act of Parliament been given to Charity Commissioners, whose records are also under the charge and superintendence of the Master of the Rolls.

The original idea of a commission, however, is as old as the oldest of the public records. A commission was, in principle, the delegation of an authority to certain persons for the performance of some particular duty, usually within a limited time. From the idea of a temporary Commission was developed the idea of a renewable or permanent Commission.

Among Boards which are now recognized as having