An Act was passed (1 & 2 Viet. c. 49) calculated to remedy effectually what preceding efforts had in vain attempted, by constituting a special agency for the custody of the records ; to the want of which and a sufficient responsibility, all the defects of the old system are attribu table. By this Act the Master of the Rolls is made the guardian of the public records, and he has powers to appoint a deputy, and, in conjunction with the treasury, to do all that may be necessary in the execution of this service. The Act contemplates the consolidation of all the records, from their several unfit reposi tories, into one appropriate receptacle ; their proper arrangement and repair ; the preparation of calendars and indexes, which are more or less wanting to every class of records; and giving to the public more easy access to them. Lord Lang dale, the present Master of the Rolls, to whose influence the change of system is greatly due, has already brought the above Act into as full operation as circumstances have allowed. The old custodyship of
most of the offices has been superseded, and the offices are constituted branches of one central depository, the Public Record Office, which, until a proper building is ready, is at the Rolls House in Chancery Lane. The arrangement and repair, as well as the making of inventories of records, have been generally begun in most of the offices.
Preparations are also making for a uni form system of calendaring, a gigantic work which a century will hardly see completed. To select what is useful from the judgments of a single court, the Common Pleas for instance, at least 1200 miles of parchment nine inches wide must be patiently read through ; and yet with out the performance of this labour these records can scarcely be consulted.
The principal changes which have been made for the better accommodation of the public may be seen in the following table :— The best work of general reference as to the subjects to which the public records relate is the ' Report of the Select Com mittee in 1800!