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Fonds consists of records created and/or maintained by the Office of the Governor General of Canada and by the colonial predecessors of that office. As regards the pre-Confederation period, some general comments about the relationships among the various levels of administration are useful at this point in order to provide a context for understanding the scope and type of records created. The Governor or Lieutenant Governor of each colony in British North America may be seen to have maintained three levels of communication, which are reflected in the structure of the record-keeping systems in their offices. Great consistency is evident in the segregation of despatches prepared in the Governor's name (first and second level) from letters prepared at his orders but signed by his Secretaries (third level). At the first level were despatches exchanged with the Colonial Office. More detailed comments on the nature of this relationship and the records it created are found elsewhere within this fonds in the descriptive entry for the Correspondence with the Colonial Office series. At the second level were despatches exchanged with fellow governors and senior officials who might be categorized as colleagues. Although practice varied in detail from one colony to another and over time, despatches exchanged between the Governor-in-Chief and Lieutenant Governors, with the Commander of the Forces, the British Minister at Washington and with certain senior government officers were traditionally filed or recorded together. The resulting series of despatches received, drafts of outgoing despatches and entry books of despatches received or sent may not at first glance appear as so coherent a mass, particularly as not all the records have survived. The text of any one despatch may be found in multiple locations: as received by the addressee, as recorded (in an entry book) by the signatory for future reference, or as a duplicate/copy sent to a third party for reference. Thus, while no one series can be said to be complete, the texts of all documents relevant to a specific question can generally be tracked down in at least one location. At the third level were letters addressed to and received from subordinates. Responsibility for preparing and signing correspondence at this level was delegated to the Private, Civil or Military Secretaries. More detailed comments on the nature of this relationship and the records created are found elsewhere within this fonds in the descriptive entries for those series which contain records created and maintained by the Civil and Military Secretaries.