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This work, comparable to what one might have expected from a royal commission's report (had one been formed to investigate the subject), was initiated by the Canadian Political Science Association received financial assistance from the Canada Council, The CPSA, the institute of Public Administration of Canada, and was encouraged by the Canadian Library Association. It examines both the policies and practices o the provincial governments in regard to the services performed by the Queen's Printers or their equivalents, and the holdings and availability of government documents, both processed and published. In these areas it finds many defects and it makes recommendations for improvements, in the name of the responsibility functioning of our democratic government. The work should concern all Canadian scholars who use such documents, all public servants who are responsible for publishing programs, and librarians, both in their work and in their teaching.

This work was originally prepared as a doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford, and began as a mere examination of the complications relating to French treaty rights in Newfoundland. It was soon obvious that the subject could not be examined in vacuo, for the influence of the colony of Newfoundland became increasingly apparent. If Newfoundland can be called the Cinderella of the Empire, then certainly Canada was one of the notorious step-sisters, and very often the United States took on the appearance of the handsome prince. The story of the French shore problems is not merely concerned with international treaties which both Britain and France interpreted to their advantage, but is also much of the story of Newfoundland's emergence from Imperial proscription.