NRS-17888 | Stores and materials book [Dumaresq Shire Council]

Regulations under the Local Government (Shires) Act, 1905 (Act No. 33, 1905) set down requirements for the management and recordkeeping of stores and materials. Stores and materials were defined as ‘such stores and materials as are required for use in the work supervised by the Engineer, and also such articles of what are called “plant” – such as picks, shovels, barrows and scaffolding.' (1) [The regulations defined plant as ‘alliances of a comparatively permanent nature’ such as engines, ferries and pumps (2) and these are excluded from regulations governing stores and materials.] The regulations specified that within a month of the establishment of a shire the Engineer submit to the Clerk an inventory of the stores and materials taken over from the Public Works Department, indicating their condition and including an estimate of their value. The statement was required to distinguish between the items in use and those retained in storage. This inventory was to be pasted into a guard book to be labelled ‘Stores and Materials’ and the value entered into the ledger as a ‘stores and materials account’ under the 'Government Grants Account’. (3) The Engineer was required to keep a record of all materials purchased indicating the purposes for which the items were required and these were debited to the stores and materials account. (4) The Dumaresq Shire's stores and materials book contains the return of tools and plant held from 1915. It contains the following information: date, value, purchases and returns. It also contains summary lists of tools. Inserted into the volume are a number of loose pages which are forms for the return of tools.The index at the front of the volume indicates the folio number for lists of tools of a particular type. Endnotes: (1) Local Government (Shires) Act, 1905 (Act No. 33, 1905). Regulations [NSW Government Gazette 28 November 1906 p. 6446 ff. No 138]. (2) Ibid. 147(3) Ibid. 139 (4) Ibid 140-141