VPRS 18044 Register of Old Secretary's Correspondence

This series consists of a register of correspondence of the Secretary of the Victorian Railways (VA 2876).Old Secretary's Correspondence which is inscribed on the first page also suggests that this may have been a supplementary or interim index for the cross referencing of old and new indexing systems.Most of the entries appear to be regarding property and leasing matters such as leasing of land or improvements to properties or buildings, so this index may only have been used by a particular branch of Victorian Railways (VA 2876).The relationship between this register and the Secretary's correspondence in VPRS 421 needs to be determined, and also with other indexes such as VPRS 12603.Each page is divided into a number of columns, the number of which varies from three to five. The first column is the name of the correspondent or location. The second column is an annual single number reference. In some cases this may be followed by a second reference number. The third column is a brief description of the matter. This is usually followed by a comment regarding any subsequent action taken. Some entries have dates, but most can only be approximately dated by the annual single number reference.It does not appear to be an index of all correspondence received by the Victorian Railways (VA 2876), but rather a supplementary index that was used to keep track of correspondence that was attended to by the Secretary.The dual record numbers for some entries suggest it may also have been used as a cross reference index.

本系列档案为维多利亚铁路公司（Victorian Railways，VA 2876）秘书往来函件登记簿。扉页标注的「旧秘书函件」字样亦表明，该登记簿或为用于新旧索引体系交互参照的补充性或过渡性索引。
绝大多数条目均涉及不动产与租赁相关事宜，例如土地租赁、不动产或建筑改良等，据此推测该索引仅为维多利亚铁路公司（VA 2876）某特定部门所使用。
该登记簿与VPRS 421档案中的秘书往来函件之间的关联，以及其与VPRS 12603等其他索引的关联，均有待进一步厘清。
每一页均划分为3至5列不等的栏次：第一栏为往来方姓名或地点；第二栏为年度单一编号检索号，部分条目后会附带第二检索编号；第三栏为事项简要说明，其后通常附有后续处理情况备注。部分条目标注了具体日期，但绝大多数条目仅能通过年度单一编号检索号进行大致断代。
该登记簿并非维多利亚铁路公司（VA 2876）所收全部函件的索引，而是用于追踪秘书已处理往来函件的补充性索引。部分条目带有双重档案编号，这表明该登记簿或同时兼具交互参照索引的功能。