Page 843 miscellaneous 921 



Processing Office may be under the general supervision of the senior Commanding 

 Officer in the area or, if at a city which is a district headquarters, may be under the 

 general supervision of the District Supervisor. 



921. Personnel at Processing Offices 



a. Officer-in-charge. — The officer-in-charge is assigned by the Director, usually 

 for a period not to exceed 1 year. So far as practicable the officer is selected, upon 

 recommendation of the Chiefs of Party whose records are to be processed, from those 

 who have been employed during the preceding season on the field work of one of the 

 survey ships, the work of which is to be processed at the office. The officer-in-charge 

 at some Processing Offices acts as Chief of Party and handles all accounts of his office, 

 including payment of personnel, rent of office space, and miscellaneous expenditures. 



The officer-in-charge shall be directly responsible for the maintenance and oper- 

 ation of his office. He is in immediate charge of all persomiel assigned to the office, 

 all general property and instrumental equipment, and all records and data transferred 

 to him for processing, and is responsible for the care and upkeep of the quarters occupied. 



b. Additional officer personnel. — ^When practicable, additional officers are tem- 

 porarily assigned between field seasons — one officer from each of the survey ships, 

 whose records are to be processed at the office, except the ship from which the officer- 

 in-charge is transferred. 



The officer next junior in rank to the officer-in-charge acts as assistant to the 

 officer-in-charge in the conduct of the Processing Office and is in charge during his 

 absence. 



c. Civil service j^ersonnel. —C'iyH service personnel employed at the Processing 

 Office are appointed by the Secretary of Commerce upon recommendation of the 

 Director. They shall be employed, under supervision of the officer-in-charge, on 

 drafting, computation, preparation of correspondence, reports, accounts, and other 

 duties connected with the work of the offices, and will be responsible to the officer-in- 

 charge for the efficient prosecution of the duties assigned. 



922. Transfer of Records 



Records of field work to be processed shall be transferred to a Processing Office by 

 chiefs of field parties under authority from the Du-ector. Receipt of the records should 

 be acknowledged by the officer-in-charge on Form 413, Letter Transmitting Field 

 Records, the original copy being forwarded to the Chief of Party concerned and a 

 duplicate copy being forwarded to the Director. After receipt by the officer-m-charge, 

 that officer shall be responsible for the safekeeping of the records until they are returned 

 to the Chief of Party or forwarded to the Washington Office. 



Copies of letters transmitting records to the Washington Office shall be forwarded 

 by the Processing Office to the Chief of Party who accomplished the field work. 



Chiefs of Party, whose surveys are to be processed, shall forward the records 

 promptly during the season as the field work and the preliminary office work are 

 completed, in order to establish and maintain a regular flow of work to the Processing 

 Office. 



Likewise, surveys on which the office work has been completed at Processing Offices 

 shall be forwarded promptly to the Washington Office, or to the Chief of Party con- 

 cerned for his inspection, in order to maintain a steady and regular flow of sheets to the 



