ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 53

microfilm copies out of the fees of the office, but if the fees are
insufficient, the cost thereof shall be borne by the Mayor and City
Council of Baltimore."

Another Act was passed to resolve the dilemma in which the Police
Commissioner of Baltimore City found himself. Colonel Ober had con-
suited with the Archivist about the destruction of some of his records,
and we had recommended to the Board of Public Works that permission
be given to dispose of them. The Attorney General held, -however, that
because of certain provisions of the Baltimore City Charter, special legis-
lation would be required for this purpose. The Archivist feels that the
opinion of the Attorney General in this case may result in serious diffi-
culties in disposing of other Baltimore City records and the passage of a
good deal of legislation which we had hoped our general law would make
unnecessary. The Opinion of the Attorney General and the special act
(Chapter 454, Acts of 1951) follow:

October 30, 1950.
COLONEL BEVERLY OBER
Commissioner

Baltimore City Police Department
Fallsway and Fayette Street
Baltimore 2, Maryland.

DEAR COLONEL OBER:

You have asked whether, under the law, you may microfilm all of your
official records which are at any time more than five years old and destroy
the original. Section 553 of the Charter and Public Local Laws of Balti-
more City (1949 Ed.) is in part as follows:

"The Police Commissioner shall cause to be kept by his
secretary a full report of his proceedings, and also cause all his
receipts and disbursements of money to be faithfully entered in
books to be provided for that purpose; and said books, journals
and all other documents in the possession of said Commissioner,
shall always be open to inspection by the General Assembly, or
any committee appointed by it for that purpose; and * * *
shall at all times be open to the inspection of the Mayor and
City Treasurer, or either of them * * *'.'