Another way in which alteration in the existing administrative legislation was introduced was by the letters and orders which the Central Government received from Patria, and Batavia. These orders would be extracted from the letters and compiled in different forms: sometimes they would be recompiled in separate volumes as "digests" of orders.

In the outstations the same sort of procedure was adopted for the orders received there. The orders from Patria and Batavia were distributed over the Island and, mixed with the orders from Colombo, were copied in various ways. From what is left it is clear that after the compilation the Outstations had to send a copy to the Central Government.

Although the idea guiding the compilers is not clear, with the help of the old Dutch index, three main series can be recognised and have been entered, retaining their Dutch names. The order maintained in this series is more in respect of the date on which the copies were made than in respect of their compilation.