Hunt, Diane: Submissions to Defence Committee of Enquiry - (Chair CORNER, Frank H) working set of Diane Hunt

J C Beaglehole Room Collected Archives Re-Appraisal Report

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION: The Defence Committee of Inquiry This series consists of some of the records of the ‘Defence Committee of Inquiry’ , also known as the ‘Defence Review Committee’. This committee was convened in 1985, finished it’s deliberations in 1986 and tabled it’s final report in 1987. The chairman was Frank H. Corner and other members were Sir John White, Brigadier J. Lindsay Smith and ???. Secretary was Diane Hunt J C BEAGLEHOLE ROOM HOLDINGS: The J.C. Beaglehole Room holds 200 linear centimetres of Defence committe of Inquiry records. The records were received from Diane Hunt who was the secretary to Frank H. Corner, the chairman of the Committee.. These records are in the form of 6 boxes of photocopied submissions. There are a few annotations. In Mr. Corner’s letter to MR V. G. Elliott [University Librarian] from 1990 he says: 1) With possible rare exceptions the annotations are not in my hand but would be , I assume, jottings by one or more of the readers engaged to read the documents to me because at that time my eyesight had almost entirely failed....they should not be regarded as having any significance or necessarily representing attitudes of mine. [paper copy of full letter held in file at the Beaglehole Room. 2) As well as the submissions, there was also included an envelope which contained two typed submissions and a handwritten note from Brigadier Smith to Frank Corner. The note read as follows :”Frank, the paper I showed to the Prime Minister. His view is that it would be unwise for me to make a written submission as some would seek to exploit my action. He said the arguments advanced should be put – he wondered if I could appear without a prior submission. He remarked that the Review Committee has sensibly called some people before it. The points I made may very well have been made by others, if so my conscience is clear. Lin” Two submissions are attached – that of Brigadier Smith and Sir Frank White, who were both members of the Defence Review Committee. To this point, Frank Corner replies “Please would you consult Sir John White and Mr J.L. Smith directly for their wishes as to the treatment of their papers. I would wish to comply with any decision made by each writer.” On the outside of the envelope is written “Hold as confidential (restricted) until death of Sir John White and Brigadier J.L. Smith” Both are now deceased 3) Frank Corner also notes that with the submissions are included two volumes of poll results and that he would consider that ‘ a serious student would find them particularly useful for the light they cast on attitudes of New Zealanders.. OTHER HOLDINGS: Archives NZ have created an artificial record group called the Commissions of Inquiry (Record Group) (ADQU), which encompasses the various Commissions of Inquiry that have transferred their records to Archives NZ. Therefore access to these documents is through Archives NZ as the controlling agency. All the records of the the Defence Committee of Inquiry are open access part from some oral submissions. The writer has been unable to find a current Appraisal Report which covers any or all of the 64 different commissions that Archives NZ holds records for, though they are all listed as being covered by the General Disposal Authorities and there is a generic Commission appraisal report and schedule (DA368) which expired in 2008. Some government departments such as the Department of Internal Affairs and State Services Commission include Commissions in their agency specific Retention and Disposal Schedules. 139 records on the Royal Commission are held at Archives NZ. They comprise records of the administration of the Commission, submissions, unregistered files, poll results, background material, floppy discs, oral and video transcripts. Everything is open access except for the oral and video recordings. They have restricted access however this access has been placed upon these records for preservation reasons and not for sensititivity reasons. CONSULTATION: Two of the members of the Commission are now deceased and unable to be consulted and the chairman of the Committee has made his views available in a letter addressed and sent to the Chief Librarian. CONCLUSION: The 6 boxes of submissions that are held at the J.C. Beaglehole Room are duplicates of and a subset of material that is held at Archives NZ and which is freely available to researchers. These include the poll results. However Archives NZ has noted 3 missing submissions and if they are easily removed from the boxes of submissions they should be offered to Archives NZ. The two submissions from Brigadier Smith and Sir John White have been removed and stored separately for permanent retention. The three submissions that have been listed as missing from the set held by Archives NZ have been removed and stored for transfer to Archives NZ. Amount of records recommended for retention: 1% [2linear centimetres] Amount of records recommended for destruction: 99% [198 linear centimetres] Reason for destruction: Duplication and unannotated

................................................... Di Dickson, Appraisal Project officer IMPLEMENTATION:

Approved

................................................... Nicola Frean, Special Materials Librarian