NRS-16866 | Reports of the Leichhardt Annandale Garbage Destructor Committee

This series consists of reports from the 1907 meetings of the Garbage Destructor Committee, a joint committee of Leichhardt and Annandale Councils.The reports are contained within a single volume and consist of numbered, itemised recommendations that were presented to Council. Also included are the date of the relevant Committee meeting, the names of persons attending the meeting, and the authorising signature of the Committee chairman. Matters dealt with in the reports include maintenance, repair and modification of the garbage destructor (including installation of an office, bath and coal store); preparation of plans and estimates; employment of destructor staff; compensation claims etc. The Committee is always referred to as the ‘Garbage Committee’. The same committee is referred to as the 'Garbage Destructor Committee' in the related series Minutes of the Leichhardt Annandale Garbage Destructor Committee [Leichhardt Council].Also included in the single volume of the series is a table dating from 17 September 1908 to 26 November 1908 in which the names, addresses and trades of persons working as fish or rabbit hawkers, butchers, fish shop proprietors etc. are listed.While this series only contains reports from the 1907 committee meetings, the first identified meeting of the Committee is referred to in the Council Minutes of 3 March 1902 where it is stated that the Committee 'met on 24th Feby 1902 at 5 PM on Piper St Bridge'. The date the committee ceased to operate is subject to research, however by August 1908 the Health Committee was dealing with both minor and major matters relating to the operation of the garbage destructor. The Health Committee minutes of 16 March 1910 record that the agreement with Annandale Council for use of the destructor was to be extended for five years (until 1915).Section 109 of the Municipalities Act of 1867 (31 Vic. No.12), which was assented to on 23 December 1867, allowed municipal councils to appoint either standing committees or occasional (special) committees, composed of councillors, and to delegate to the committees 'any inquiry negotiation or arrangement or power to do any emergent act or to carry out any work which such Council may have ordered agreed to or directed'. However, Committees had to report to the council at the earliest opportunity. The reports and recommendations document the decisions made by the Committee at its meetings. The Committee's recommendations were normally submitted to the next Council meeting. Council could reject the recommendation, send the recommendation back to the committee for further discussion, amend the recommendation, or accept the recommendation. The recommendations were not binding upon Council unless, and until, adopted by Council as shown in the minutes of the Council meeting.