Until the 1890s, most of the information relating to the various government departments was incorporated into the Governor's Annual Report for submission to Parliament, a series which stemmed from the recommendations of the 1845 House of Commons' Select Committee on Colonial Accounts. The first Annual Report for the Gold Coast was that of 1846, the commencement of a series which continued with minor interruptions until 1954. In addition, separate series, identical in form and content to the Annual Report for the Gold Coast, were produced for both Ashanti and the Northern Territories. In contrast to the wide ranging reports of the Governor, there were the more parochial and narrowly administrative reports of the Provincial Commissioners. Intended primarily for the information of the governor, they were printed from 1912 to 1930/31 and thereafter submitted in typescript. Unfortunately no reports from the Gold Coast Colony Provincial Commissioners for 1917 have been located. The Department for Native Affairs was formed in March 1902 as a branch of the Colonial Secretary's Office" ...the intention being to secure greater continuity in the Administration of Native Affairs and to collect more complete records with regards to them than has previously been possible". See also Reports of the Special Commissioner for Anthropology, under Section IX, Miscellaneous. The Gold Coast also contained a number of major municipalities, e.g. Accra, Cape Coast, Sekondi, etc., whose finances and activities were duly recorded in Annual Reports. Finally, the Governor of the Gold Coast Colony was assisted by an advisory Legislative Council, whose sessions were opened by an Address from the Governor which often contained major official policy statements. See also the appendixed Review by Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisburg.