VPRS 7981 Minute Books (Chairman's Copies)

In February 1913, under the provisions of the Melbourne Harbor Trust Act 1912 (No.2449), the Melbourne Harbor Trust Commissioners was reconstituted from a body of 17 elected members to a body of 5 Commissioners appointed by the Governor-in-Council, including a full-time Chairman.In conjunction with the reconstitution, the 1912 Act repealed those sections of the Principal Act (at this time the Melbourne Harbor Trust Act 1890 (No.1119) relating to provisions for : special meetings of the Commissioners; how notice of meetings was to be given; and the appointment and proceedings of Committees. Hence the multitude of minute books and related series that were maintained prior to the introduction of the 1912 Act, ceased upon the reconstitution of the Harbor Trust Commissioners.This series consists of the Chairman's copies of the minutes of the reconstituted Melbourne Harbor Trust Commissioners. As the only record extant, this series comprises minutes which follow on from those found in VPRS 7980 Minute Books : General Meetings, although it is not technically a subsequent series.The minutes, which were required to be kept under section 27 of the Melbourne Harbor Trust Act 1890 (No.1119), comprise an official record of decisions made at the meetings of the Commissioners. The minutes were bound in annual volumes according to the year in which the meetings were held. Indexes to the Chairman's Reports, which form part of the minutes, can be found in each volume. This series represents one of several duplicate sets of copies of the minutes maintained for the benefit of various officers of the agency such as the Chairman, Secretary and the Treasurer.Note reg: Original Minutes and Chairman's BooksThere is significant evidence to suggest that original, handwritten and signed minute books once existed for the period 1913 to 1944, however, no such books were extant at the time of transfer. From July 1944 original, signed copies of the minutes of meetings are extant (see VPRS 7982 Minute Books), and hence only those volumes containing the Chairman's copies of the minutes prior to 1945 have been retained permanently as the only record extant.A series closely related to the Minute Books were the Chairman's Books. The Chairman's Books comprised draft agendas of business to be raised at meetings of the Commissioners, and were presumably known as Chairman's Books because they were maintained for the benefit of the Chairman. Until 1944 these were handwritten and numbered sequentially in chronological order by date of meeting. There is evidence to suggest that this arrangement reflects the arrangement of the original series of Minute Books for the same period which are not extant (see also VPRS 7983 Index to Minute Books). In July 1944 the Chairman's Books changed to the same format and arrangement as VPRS 7982 Minute Books. For Chairman's Books, refer to VPRS 11230 Meeting Agenda (Chairman's Books).The volumes comprising this series are in good condition. For their continued preservation it is requested that they be handled with the usual care shown to archival materials.