VPRS 9681 Ministerial Correspondence and Papers of Ministers in Charge of Electrical Undertakings

These papers consist of both inward and outward correspondence, minutes of conferences, financial statements and so on, from the offices of successive Ministers in charge of Electrical Undertakings.Matters raised in the papers include acceptance of tenders for major purchases by the Commission, appointment of Commissioners, submissions by provincial cities for supply of power, generation of greater supply of electricity due to increased demand, financial requirements (the raising of loans for example) of the Commission.The Commissioners were obliged to keep the Minister informed of the activities of the Commission under section 32 of the Electricity Commissioners Act 1918.There is a gap in the date range of this series between 1929 and 1942. Whether or not this constitutes all the relevant correspondence handled by the various Ministers is not known.Just how all this ministerial correspondence came to be in the hands of the SEC is not known. The exception is the correspondence of Mr Tunnecliffe which was sent to the SEC when another Minister took over the office that had been occupied by Mr Tunnecliffe. A note, signed by W.J. Price, written on a scrap of brown paper was found in the front of unit 1 which reads: Present Ministers Secretary (Mr Brown) said that it was not desired to hold in Office of Minister of Water Supply papers relating to period of office of another Minister.Some of the outward correspondence appears to be drafted by officers of the SEC on behalf of the Minister. It appears that this correspondence was returned from the Ministers office for filing with the SEC. This correspondence is annotated with returned for filling and the date returned to the SEC from the Ministers Secretary.