Historical Records Commission

THE Historical Records Commission, which holds its eighth session at the University Hall, Lahore, on November 23-24, is a permanent body of experts which owes its origin to certain recommendations made by the Royal Commission on the Public Records of England and Wales. It was constituted by the Government of India in 1919 and held its first sitting at Simla. Since then, it has met at regular intervals at such places as Lahore, Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and Poona. Sir Evans Cotton, who has already presided over three successive sessions of the commission, will preside for the last time over the ensuing session at Lahore, while the proceedings will, according to the now established practice, be opened by His Excellency the Governor. Abdul Ali, the able and energetic Secretary of the commission, is already in our midst, and the preparations for the session are nearing completion. It must be admitted that the public knows far less of the activities of the commission than it ought to. This is regrettable for two reasons. In the first place, the work in which the commission is engaged is of the greatest possible public importance, consisting as it does of the collection and treatment of records, whether in the archives of government departments, public institutions or private individuals, that are the material of history. One has only to go through the proceedings of any single session of the commission to form some idea of the vast field covered by its activities and of their enormous importance.