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Array
(
    [entityType] => ITEM
    [entity] => Array
        (
            [contextId] => aims
            [description] => Array
                (
                    [0] => This series contains the extant public records which were deposited with the Public Record Office during the provincial period.
                )

            [id] => 20435
            [idSort] => 20435
            [name] => Public Records Office records
            [custom] => Array
                (
                    [custom5] => Loose documents and files of various sizes, although the majority are foolscap. Often the documents are double-paged, or more, and folded to a smaller size. Some are very large; some are parchment. Some of the documents are in poor condition.
                )

            [identifier] => Array
                (
                    [priref] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => 27158
                        )

                )

            [digitalRecordInArchive] => 
            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
                (
                    [normalizedValue] => 1852-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
                    [dateQualifier] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => exact
                            [1] => yearOnly
                        )

                )

            [hasEndDate] => Array
                (
                    [normalizedValue] => 1876-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
                    [dateQualifier] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => exact
                            [1] => yearOnly
                        )

                )

            [hasOrHadCategory] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Files
                            [type] => SeriesFormat
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Loose Papers
                            [type] => SeriesFormat
                        )

                )

            [history] => 

	This series contains the extant public records which were deposited with the Public Record Office during the provincial period (1853-1876). They consist of a variety of documents - all of legal importance to the Canterbury Provincial Government, as laid down by the Public Record Office Ordinance (Session 1, 1853). Deeds of conveyance, bonds, agreements, insurance policies, grants of land, warrants of appointment, contracts, proclamations, leases, ordinances and many other kinds of documents are included.

	The documents have been arranged in numerical order - by registration number - and placed in folders. Many of the documents have the letters 'SS' written beside their registration numbers. Documents marked SS were kept in the safe of the Provincial Secretary's Department. This arrangement did not persist following the abolition of the provincial government, as the SS records were subsequently integrated with the other documents in their correct numerical positions. The registration of records with the Public Record Office often occurred a long time after the documents were signed and sealed. For instance, a document may have been drawn up and signed into legal force in 1852, but not registered until 1858 when it was finally deposited with the Office. The chronology of records in this series is not that of the original dates of the records, but that of the date of registration.

	A small number of leases in this series were found filed incorrectly with the archives of the Christchurch District Office of the Lands and Survey Department. Following extensive arrangement and descriptive work in the 1980s, these leases were returned to their correct numerical positions.

	A note on Provenance

	All property of the Canterbury Provincial Government was transferred to the Crown on the dissolution of the provinces in 1876/77, under Section 9 of the Abolition of the Provinces Act 1875. In Canterbury, the Government’s responsibility was carried out by the Colonial Secretary, who permitted the Lands Department to have custody of the records because it inherited many of the functions previously performed by the Provincial Government and indeed was one of the only central government departments then based in Christchurch. Ownership of the records, however, was maintained by the Colonial Secretary’s office, later the Department of Internal Affairs. Over the next hundred years they were stored at the Canterbury Public Library, then at the new Lands and Survey Office in Worcester Street, transferred to the Museum as an approved repository of the National Archives, and finally moved to the new National Archives Christchurch Office in 1990.

	For a long period, some or all of the component series were incorporated with the Lands and Survey library; the Canterbury Association material that had been kept with the Provincial Government records was properly considered part of the administrative records of the Department, and attempts were made to include the Canterbury Provincial Archives in this same system. Further, over the early years a number of items were taken from the archives and the records became disordered. Several major attempts have been made to arrange and describe the records, the most comprehensive being done by Caroline Etherington working for National Archives while the records were at the Canterbury Museum. An earlier effort by W.A. Taylor resulted in the development of a typed and itemised list of extant correspondence. Over the years, researchers have made use of these lists, which are in effect a second ‘register’ providing easier access than the originals. Known as Taylor’s lists, they were collected and bound in red volumes covering the years 1853-1866.  

	To facilitate browsing the itemised list on Archway, each year has been split into 'list sections', allowing researchers the ability to view a year’s worth of records at a time. Very often, useful information can be gleaned by reading the item descriptions in their chronological context.

	Although the Canterbury Museum (AERA) is noted as being the last agency to hold records of this series, prior to transfer to Archives New Zealand, the Museum at the time was an approved repository of the then National Archives. The last government agencies to have physical and intellectual control of the records were Lands and Survey (CAAR) and the Department of Internal Affairs (AAAC); the records were physically transferred from Lands and Survey, and it is this agency that the documentation lists as the transferring agency.

	 
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                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [type] => HoldingsYears
                            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
                                (
                                    [type] => YearStartHoldings
                                    [normalizedValue] => 1852-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
                                    [dateQualifier] => Array
                                        (
                                            [0] => exact
                                            [1] => yearOnly
                                        )

                                )

                            [hasEndDate] => Array
                                (
                                    [type] => YearEndHoldings
                                    [normalizedValue] => 1876-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
                                    [dateQualifier] => Array
                                        (
                                            [0] => exact
                                            [1] => yearOnly
                                        )

                                )

                        )

                )

            [isAssociatedWithPlace] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Christchurch repository
                        )

                )

            [itemType] => Series
            [managementRelation] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Department of Lands and Survey, Christchurch District Office
                            [type] => controlled_by
                            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [hasEndDate] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [itemType] => Agency
                            [relationHasSource] => CAAR
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Department of Lands and Survey, Christchurch District Office
                            [type] => controlled_by
                            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [hasEndDate] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [itemType] => Agency
                            [relationHasSource] => CAAR
                        )

                )

            [rdfType] => recordSet
            [recordIsMissing] => 
            [ricClassificationDescription] => Single number registration. Documents were numbered in the order of their registration by the Keeper of Public Records.
            [seriesRestrictionReason] => 

	No access restrictions.
            [setSpec] => series
        )

)