Section 17
SEC. 17. The provincial secretary shall be the custodian of all official records. He shall receive and shall translate for the provincial governor all communications from the several townships in the province, and shall serve as interpreter for the governor, in official proceedings, whenever requested to do so. He shall make written translations of all official orders or communications which the provincial governor may desire to have translated. He shall act as recorder in all judicial and official proceedings presided over by the provincial governor. He shall be a member of the board of assessors provided for in section nineteen and shall serve as its recording officer. He shall receive from the township secretaries the certified copies of the civil registers and other statistical lists required to be kept by them, and shall file the same and make a compilation thereof for the use of the provincial governor, and the same shall be a record open to the inspection of the public. He shall be ex officio a notary public in and for the province. All the powers and duties of that office which are now or may hereafter be provided by law, are vested in him.