NRS-18859 | Finance committee reports [Orara Shire Council]

Full description

This series consists of Finance Committee monthly reports to the Orara Shire Council.

To ease the work load at General meetings, council could delegate powers to committees composed of councillors. The minutes of the Finance Committee of the Orara Council are recorded in the same volumes as Ordinary meetings (NRS18858); however each month they compiled a report for submission at the council meeting, detailing the transactions and financial status of the shire. The report was signed by the Chairman of the Finance Committee as adopted for presentation to the council, and then by the Shire President as received and adopted by the council. The council minutes recorded only the approval of the report. The President was also the Chairman of the Finance Committee, in the period of these records.

The reports are chronological and numbered by the month of presentation from number 1 in January to 12 in December. They contain individual payments made in the past month, balances of funds, and recommendations for new payments. They are not themselves the primary financial records but a summary formatted for presentation as a meeting paper.

The holdings begin with report no.5 of 1912 and finish with no.6 of 1928. There is no indication from the volumes or the council minutes of a change in system at these times; both before and after this period the reports are recorded as submitted and adopted. Though other regular reports begin to be appended in the late 1930s, the Finance Committee reports do not.