NRS-15825 | Cement concrete plant register [Municipality of Balmain]

Full description

The Engineer’s Department created the Cement Concrete Plant Register, in order to record the total unit cost of cement concrete batches utilised in public works such as road construction and maintenance. The register also appears to have been created to record the cost of labour incurred in these Public Works. Details of expenditure on cement were also recorded in the Stores and Materials Books (NRS 15821).

The Cement Concrete Plant Register was maintained in a double page format recording the following information: date, reference (voucher or stores number), details of provider or account, details of metal, sand, cement bags, gallons of petrol, and pints of oil used, cost of labour supplied, the value of balance of materials, direct charge of materials, material ex store (already purchased), and total for period. The register also recorded the following information: Reference (date the work was carried out), job number (each street was allocated a job number) details regarding work which included the street name, ward, and type of maintenance such as kerb and guttering, number of batches of concrete used in work, unit costs of batches, total number of batches used, totals, and ledger totals.

A summary of the type of maintenance carried out is recorded monthly, including the municipal ward the work was carried out in, the number of batches for the month, subtotal, and total. A half yearly typewritten summary is also recorded indicating stock on hand, and costs for type of maintenance for that half year. The back of the volume in this series also contains a monthly summary recorded from 1931 – 1939. The summary includes totals for each numeric column in the register, and the relevant folio.

The municipal accounting regulations do not specify the process of entering information contained in the register into the main accounting system. However, the summary from each half-year was entered into the General Journal, and then posted into the relevant accounts in the General Ledgers. Ledgers form part of a standard public sector accounting system. This system generally comprised Cash Books, Journals (General and Subsidiary), and Ledgers (General and Subsidiary).

Income and expenditure recorded by the Cement Concrete Plant Register was accredited through the General Ledger into the General Fund. The Council also maintained other funds such as loans and trust funds. Under Schedule 1 of the 1908 Municipal Accounting Regulations (1), accounts were classified into General Purpose (G.P) Public Works (P.W), Public Service (P.S), Health Administration (H.A) and Shire Property.

Custody History
This series was in the custody of Mitchell library until December 2001 when it was transferred to State Records NSW under section 29 of the State Records Act, 1998

End Notes
(1) NSW Government Gazette 19 November, 1908 p. 6131 – 6135