At about the time of the beginning of the administration of Sir William Denison (1847) the Colonial Secretary carried out a reorganisation of his Office (see General Introduction) and the division of the registry into three parts was abandoned (see under CSO 8). A new single series of registration numbers (1-10914) was introduced, and the step constituted a reversion to the system which had been found effective during the terms of Arthur and Franklin up to 1841 (see under CSO 1 and CSO 5). Thus we may assume that the "Branch" system, which has certainly proved confusing in the use of the records as archives, had been found wanting in its administrative effectiveness.

Since all the functions discharged by the Colonial Secretary are from this period again documented in a single series of correspondence, reference is considerably simplified; the only difference between the arrangement of these files and those of CSO1 and CSO5 is that they are not bound consecutively; therefore, as in the case of all series of the "Branch" system, reference to the registers (CSO25) is necessary in order to locate any file referred to in the index (CSO26). No volumes of this series are known to be missing, though about thirty per cent of the files are not present under the allotted registration number. Copies of outward letters are included.

These records are part of the holdings of the Tasmanian Archives