A STUDY OF THE THEORY OF APPRAISAL FOR SELECTION By ...

was historical value. The destruction schedule was prepared by a
departmental officer who identified the period of time during
which each series of records needed to be retained. The officer
was to exclude from the schedule all documents of historical
interest, as noted in the schedule's preamble. As the report
notes, this responsibility "is a very considerable requirement to
make of an officer . . whose main experience may therefore be
expected to have been in duties connected with the executive
business of the Department."56 The resulting practice was that
the officer entrusted with the preparation of the schedule used
as a criterion for selection the administrative needs of the
department, and placed the onus for implementing the historical
criterion on the inspecting officers.57
The second phase of the procedure was the examination of the
documents listed in the schedule by the Committee of Inspecting
Officers. The committee consisted of the Deputy Keeper of the
Records, an Assistant Keeper, and one barrister of seven years'
standing.58 It examined all the series of documents listed in
the schedules to make sure that the historical criterion
specified in the schedule's preamble was being implemented. The
Grigg Report notes that the identification of historical value
was directly dependent on the clarity of the classification of
56 Ibid, 20, paragraph 32.
57 Ibid, 20-21, paragraph 32.
58 Ibid, 21, paragraph 33.
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