NRS-17810 | Newcastle rates registers [Hunter District Water Board]

This series consists of the Newcastle office set of Rates registers maintained by the Hunter District Water Supply and Sewerage Board for properties supplied by the Board in Newcastle and its suburbs and nearby townships. Early volumes of the series also covered properties in and around Maitland, Cessnock and other localities in the lower Hunter, but from around 1904 these begin to be dealt with in separate series.The series is organised by triennia, and, within each triennium, by municipality or township. Most volumes are preceded by an index to the streets of these communities. The entry for each property carries an entry number, known as the Register Number; these numbers run continuously from volume to volume within each triennium, and properties are normally referenced simply by register number, without regard to volume number or locality. Prior to the 1928-1931 triennium, the entry for each property includes both its current register number and the register number it bore in the previous triennium. At some time subsequent to the closing of the series, each entry has been annotated (in blue pencil) with the number of the property for the succeeding triennium also.Of the original 280 volumes, numbered 1-277, there are six volumes, numbers 30, 31, 83 and two un-numbered, which appear to be no longer extant. The volumes of this series were originally labelled on their spines; many labels survive, but not all are still legible. Moreover, a number of volumes are now completely missing their spines. Where spine and labels have survived, each volume is identified by the dates of the relevant triennium and the names of the localities which it covers. From 1931, the range of register numbers contained within each volume has been marked on the spine in ink, although in many cases this too is not now fully legible. Most volumes also bear, pasted close to the top of the spine, a small paper label with the volume number; these labels were apparently added after the closure of the series in 1939, and often obscure the details of the register numbers marked on the spines of the later volumes.The series displays some changes in format over the course of the period covered, but the information recorded about each property normally includes at least these items: Register Number, Assessment Number, Situation (street and, sometimes, house name or number; from 1925 Lot and Section numbers also appear), Tenant, Ratepaying Lessee, Owner, Owner’s Address, Description of Property, Assessed Value and the details of the rates payed on the property, including any arrears. Rates were normally due every six months; assessments were normally made annually. Provision is made from the beginning of the series for the recording of both Water Rates and Sewerage Rates, although properties in the Hunter did not begin to be connected to the Board’s sewers until 1907. From 1931 rates may also be levied for Stormwater Drainage. The final triennium was not completed - the volumes were labelled for 1937-1940, but the series was brought to a close at the end of June 1939.The numbering of this series requires some comment. After the closure of the series in 1939, the volumes were numbered 1-277. At the time when this was done, there were three estrays – two from the 1895-1898 triennium, and one from the 1901-1904 triennium – which were not included in the numbering. Moreover, one volume from the 1898-1901 triennium (vol. 23) was numbered out of sequence, following those for the 1901-1904 triennium, and the volume between 36 and 38 was, for reasons unknown, numbered 36-7. After this numbering had been completed, one of the estrays from the 1895-1898 triennium was recovered, in time to receive the blue-pencil addition of succeeding register numbers mentioned above. Subsequently, the original vol. 4 was misplaced. The volumes originally labelled 5 and 6 are now counted as 4 and 5, and the returned estray appears as vol. 6; this is the numbering followed in the Index to the Rates Registers (NRS 17811), apparently prepared in the late 1960s or early 1970s. At some time between the preparation of this Index and the transfer of the records to the Newcastle Regional Library in 1978, three more volumes became estrays, but the original vol. 4 has since been located, and is now NRS 17810 [AB3516], held, like the other volumes of the series, at the Newcastle Regional Library. Estrays at present are the un-numbered West Maitland volume from the 1895-1898 triennium, the un-numbered East Maitland/Morpeth volume from the 1901-1904 triennium, volumes 30 and 31 (Newcastle nos 1 & 2), 1907-1910 and volume 83 (additional entries for Adamstown, New Lambton, Waratah and Hamilton), 1919-1922.This series is very closely related to two other series. From 1893 until 1904 duplicate volumes were maintained at Maitland and Newcastle for properties in Maitland and its environs. The information contained in the Maitland set of volumes duplicates that in the Maitland volumes of the Newcastle set (and therefore the information in two of the estrays from the Newcastle set may still be found in the corresponding volumes from the Maitland set). From 1904 onwards only one set of Maitland volumes was maintained, at the Board’s Maitland office. These Maitland volumes (including those for the period 1893-1904) constitute an independent series, numbered separately from the Newcastle office Rates registers, except that the register numbers for individual properties are still continuous between the two series for each triennium. The Maitland series is now NRS 17813, of 98 volumes, covering the period from 1893 until 1939. From 1925 a third series covers Cessnock, again with register numbers which run continuously with the other two series; this is now NRS 17814, of 37 volumes, concluding, like the other two, in 1939.

本系列为亨特区供水与排水委员会（Hunter District Water Supply and Sewerage Board）为纽卡斯尔（Newcastle）及其郊区、周边乡镇内由该委员会供水的物业编制的税率登记册纽卡斯尔馆藏系列。本系列早期卷册还涵盖梅特兰（Maitland）、塞斯诺克（Cessnock）及亨特河下游其他区域的周边物业，但约1904年起，此类物业的登记册开始归入独立系列。本系列按三年周期（triennia）组织编排，每个三年周期内再按自治市或乡镇分类。多数卷册前附有对应社区的街道索引。每个物业条目均带有登记编号（Register Number），该编号在每个三年周期内的各卷册间连续递增，且物业通常仅以登记编号进行引用，无需提及卷册编号或所属区域。1928-1931三年周期之前，每个物业条目会同时标注当前登记编号与上一个三年周期使用的登记编号。在本系列闭馆后的某个时间，所有条目均被用蓝铅笔批注了后续三年周期对应的物业编号。原始馆藏共280卷，原编号为1-277，其中6卷已佚失：编号30、31、83，以及2卷无编号的卷册。本系列卷册最初均在书脊标注编号，多数标签尚存，但并非所有标签仍可辨认；此外，部分卷册已完全缺失书脊。若书脊及标签留存完好，可通过标注的三年周期日期与覆盖区域名称识别卷册。1931年起，各卷册所载登记编号范围会以墨水标注在书脊上，但多数情况下该标注如今也已无法完全辨认。多数卷册的书脊顶部还粘贴有标注卷号的小型纸质标签，此类标签显然是1939年本系列闭馆后添加的，且时常会遮挡后期卷册书脊上的登记编号标注。本系列在覆盖时段内存在格式调整，但每条物业记录通常至少包含以下条目：登记编号（Register Number）、评估编号（Assessment Number）、物业位置（街道信息，有时含房屋名称或门牌号；1925年起新增地块与分区编号）、租户（Tenant）、税费缴纳承租人（Ratepaying Lessee）、业主（Owner）、业主地址（Owner’s Address）、物业描述（Description of Property）、评估价值（Assessed Value），以及该物业已缴税费及欠费详情。税费通常每半年缴纳一次，评估则每年进行一次。本系列自起始便预留了供水税（Water Rates）与排水税（Sewerage Rates）的记录栏，但亨特区的物业直至1907年才开始接入委员会的排污系统。1931年起，还可征收雨水排水费（Stormwater Drainage）。本系列的最后一个三年周期并未完成：卷册标注的周期为1937-1940，但系列已于1939年6月底终止。本系列的编号规则需要说明。1939年闭馆后，卷册被统一编号为1-277。当时有3卷失散馆藏：2卷来自1895-1898三年周期，1卷来自1901-1904三年周期，未被纳入统一编号序列。此外，1898-1901三年周期的第23卷未按顺序编号，被排在1901-1904三年周期的卷册之后；而编号介于36与38之间的某卷，因不明原因被标注为36-7。完成上述编号后，1895-1898三年周期的其中一卷失散馆藏被找回，得以按前述方式添加后续登记编号的蓝铅笔批注。此后，原第4卷被误放。原本标注为第5、6卷的卷册如今被计为第4、5卷，而找回的失散馆藏则被编为第6卷——这一编号规则被《税率登记册索引》（NRS 17811）采用，该索引显然编制于20世纪60年代末至70年代初。在该索引编制完成至1978年档案移交至纽卡斯尔区域图书馆期间，又有3卷失散。不过原第4卷现已寻回，现编号为NRS 17810 [AB3516]，与本系列其他卷册一同由纽卡斯尔区域图书馆馆藏。目前尚存的失散馆藏包括：1895-1898三年周期的无编号西梅特兰卷册、1901-1904三年周期的无编号东梅特兰/莫佩特（Morpeth）卷册、1907-1910年的第30、31卷（纽卡斯尔馆藏第1、2卷），以及1919-1922年的第83卷（亚当斯顿、新兰姆顿、沃拉塔及哈密尔顿的补充条目）。本系列与另外两个系列关联紧密。1893年至1904年间，委员会为梅特兰及其周边区域的物业分别在梅特兰与纽卡斯尔保存了副本卷册。梅特兰馆藏卷册的信息与纽卡斯尔馆藏系列中的梅特兰卷册内容完全重复（因此，纽卡斯尔馆藏系列中的两卷失散馆藏的信息，仍可在梅特兰馆藏系列的对应卷册中找到）。1904年起，仅在委员会梅特兰办公室留存一套梅特兰馆藏卷册。该梅特兰馆藏系列（含1893-1904年的卷册）为独立系列，编号规则与纽卡斯尔馆藏系列完全独立，但各三年周期内单个物业的登记编号仍在两个系列间保持连续。梅特兰馆藏系列现编号为NRS 17813，共98卷，覆盖1893年至1939年的时段。1925年起，第三个系列覆盖塞斯诺克区域，其登记编号同样与另外两个系列保持连续，现编号为NRS 17814，共37卷，与另外两个系列一同于1939年终止。