NRS-16321 | Valuation books [Cowra Shire Council]

An Act to Establish Municipalities, 1867 (31 Victoria Act, No. 12) required local authorities to appoint valuers whose task was regularly to determine the value all rateable property within the Municipality to which they were appointed. (1) Valuers were entitled to enter rateable premises and to ask the necessary questions of the occupants to enable the ratebooks to be completed. (2) The rate itself was determined by Council. (3) The Act stipulated that ratebooks should be kept (4)and that these should contain the following information. [Valuation] Number; Situation; names of occupant, lessee and owner; description of property; annual value; value assessed by Council; value determined on appeal; rate in the £; and any observation. (5) . These responsibilities were likewise enacted in the Municipalities Act, 1897 (Act No. 23, 1897) (6) Rate books were admissible as evidence in legal proceedings related to the levying or recovery of rates (7)The Valuation of Land Act, 1916 (Act No, 2, 1916) transferred the function of valuation from the municipalities to the Valuer-General’s Department. Municipalities became Valuation Districts. (8). On 1 July 1928 the Valuation of Land Act, 1916 was proclaimed to apply in the Municipality of Cowra. (9). Valuation Books ceased in the Municipality on this date. Valuation took place in the Valuer-General’s Department that supplied the Municipality with valuation lists for rating purposes.Valuation Books prior to 1912, and from 1914 to 1922 are not in the custody of State Records and may not extant.Book No. 1 of this series contains Summaries of the Valuation Books for years 1914 until 1931.Endnotes (1) An Act to Establish Municipalities, 1867 s. 172 (2) Ibid. s. 173-174 (3) Ibid. s. 164 (4) Ibid. s. 174 (5) Ibid. Schedule L(6) Municipalities Act, 1897 s. 138- 147, and Schedule 18 (7) An Act to Establish Municipalities, 1867 s. 178 and Municipalities Act, 1897 s. 156 (8) Valuation of Land Act, 1916 s. 12 (9) NSW Government Gazette 22 June 1928 p. 2814