-21=. FIRST KIIG'S PRJOTEE In 1786 when Edmund Fanning became Lieutenant- Governor» he found the governmental records unprinted and in a state of confusion. The following year Fanning was suc¬ cessful in influencing a printer from Halifax,, James Robert ¬ son, to establish a press on the Island, with the object of printing ail statutes and orders-in-council previously passed. However, Robertson found that many of the documents had bean lost. He contented himself, therefore, with print¬ ing a collection of what statutes he could find, a copy of which Gov. Fanning forwarded to the Secretary of State . This copy may be examined in the Public Records Office, London, When Robertson found he could not live on the small salary (60 pounds) paid to the King's Printer, he left the Island in the spring of 1789 for Quebec , thence to Britain, W »A. Rind who had arrived on the Island of Saint John in 1788, tool* over Robertson's press and was made King's Printer with an annual salary of forty pounds. This office he held until he left the Island in 1798. The Island was now left without an official printer until 1805» when James Douglas Bagnall was appointed to the post. In 1811 the duties of the office consisted in pub¬ lishing the statutes, journals of the Council, journals of the House of Assembly, such reports as were authorised by the Legislature, and a newspaper which was considered semi¬ official in that it contained the Lieutenant - Governor 's notices and proclamations. In 18 J 2 an appendix was added to the journals of the House of Assembly, which was to con¬ tain those items the House ordered to be printed, such as despatches, reports of committees, etc In 18 J 8 the Coun¬ cil followed suit and added an appendix to their journals. This policy has been continued by the Legislative Assembly and a copy of the annual report of certain departments, determined by a committee, is to be found in the appendix. Since 1836 when a committee of the House of Assem ¬ bly decided to call for tenders to publish its journals, more and more government publications have been printed by private firms, until now all publications, other than the Royal Gazette and statutes are handled, not by the King's Printer, but by private companies. J »G»