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Wellington City Council, Rate Books
Descriptive Data
Archives Identifier00163Date Range1869-1975DescriptionUnder the Rating Act 1876 all boroughs had to appoint a Valuer to prepare a valuation roll by January 15th of every year. The valuation roll was also the rate roll for the district and the electoral roll for the elections (as there was a property qualification for voting).
Following the Valuation of Land Act 1896 Government carried out valuation of land. WCC had its own valuer until 1901, from which time it used valuation rolls prepared by Government Valuer to prepare the rate book
Each volume covers a particular locality, and is arranged internally by street. Within a street, information is recorded in property legal-description order. For a brief period around 1905, information within each volume is arranged in valuation roll number order. Therefore, an examination of the valuation rolls for the corresponding period will be required to access information in the rate books.
The following information concerning each property is recorded in the rate books:
- Number on valuation roll;
- occupier's name,
- address and sometimes occupation or trade;
- owner's name, address and sometimes occupation or trade;
- legal description of property including area;
- various valuations including gross, capital, unimproved, improved and rateable value.
In addition, each entry includes the specific amounts levied under the particular rates being applied for the period. Sometimes information on when and by whom the rates were paid is also included. Often the relevant newspaper notice setting out the current rates is attached within the front cover of the volume.
Volumes are indexed by street, where the internal arrangement is not in alphabetical order. The rate books do not include house-number information until the early 20th century, therefore it is not easy to correlate present-day address information to corresponding legal description information, especially from last century.
A group of volumes, covering 1922-23 to 1930-31, have suffered extensive water damage. Due to its fragile nature this material is not available for research. For this period researchers must use the valuation rolls.
There are also related series for rate books and valuation rolls of the various boroughs that later became part of Wellington City Council area. Melrose: For the 1903-1904 rating year the WCC continued to use a Melrose Borough Council headed rate book but labelled it 'Melrose Ward' , subdivided into Ohiro, Kilbirnie and Island Bay portions. In 1906 they also created a volume labelled 'Melrose Rate Arrears 31.3 06 - see Series 00163:0:946, 947. The system changed in 1978 with the rates transactions books taking over from the old rates books in 1978 and introduced a new format based on an account/roll number reference. Quantity (Linear Metres)366.25MediumBound VolumeSystem of ArrangementVolumes are arranged in annual rating period order and generally number between 4 and 13 volumes. Each volume covers a particular locality.
The system changed in 1978 with the rates transactions books taking over from the old rates books in 1978 and introduced a new format based on an account/roll number reference. The rates transaction books are a hard copy generated for office use from an electronic record. Hard copies for every financial year are kept making the rates transactions an historical record.
The information format consists of Account No., Roll No., Arrears, Current Rates, Outstanding Penalties, Payment Dates, Outstanding Arrears, Outstanding Current Payments.
Additional volumes relating to the farm land and special rural land incorporated in WCC after 1 April 1973.
Collection TypeWellington City Council
Following the Valuation of Land Act 1896 Government carried out valuation of land. WCC had its own valuer until 1901, from which time it used valuation rolls prepared by Government Valuer to prepare the rate book
Each volume covers a particular locality, and is arranged internally by street. Within a street, information is recorded in property legal-description order. For a brief period around 1905, information within each volume is arranged in valuation roll number order. Therefore, an examination of the valuation rolls for the corresponding period will be required to access information in the rate books.
The following information concerning each property is recorded in the rate books:
- Number on valuation roll;
- occupier's name,
- address and sometimes occupation or trade;
- owner's name, address and sometimes occupation or trade;
- legal description of property including area;
- various valuations including gross, capital, unimproved, improved and rateable value.
In addition, each entry includes the specific amounts levied under the particular rates being applied for the period. Sometimes information on when and by whom the rates were paid is also included. Often the relevant newspaper notice setting out the current rates is attached within the front cover of the volume.
Volumes are indexed by street, where the internal arrangement is not in alphabetical order. The rate books do not include house-number information until the early 20th century, therefore it is not easy to correlate present-day address information to corresponding legal description information, especially from last century.
A group of volumes, covering 1922-23 to 1930-31, have suffered extensive water damage. Due to its fragile nature this material is not available for research. For this period researchers must use the valuation rolls.
There are also related series for rate books and valuation rolls of the various boroughs that later became part of Wellington City Council area. Melrose: For the 1903-1904 rating year the WCC continued to use a Melrose Borough Council headed rate book but labelled it 'Melrose Ward' , subdivided into Ohiro, Kilbirnie and Island Bay portions. In 1906 they also created a volume labelled 'Melrose Rate Arrears 31.3 06 - see Series 00163:0:946, 947. The system changed in 1978 with the rates transactions books taking over from the old rates books in 1978 and introduced a new format based on an account/roll number reference. Quantity (Linear Metres)366.25MediumBound VolumeSystem of ArrangementVolumes are arranged in annual rating period order and generally number between 4 and 13 volumes. Each volume covers a particular locality.
The system changed in 1978 with the rates transactions books taking over from the old rates books in 1978 and introduced a new format based on an account/roll number reference. The rates transaction books are a hard copy generated for office use from an electronic record. Hard copies for every financial year are kept making the rates transactions an historical record.
The information format consists of Account No., Roll No., Arrears, Current Rates, Outstanding Penalties, Payment Dates, Outstanding Arrears, Outstanding Current Payments.
Additional volumes relating to the farm land and special rural land incorporated in WCC after 1 April 1973.
Collection TypeWellington City Council
Access Information
Restriction StatusOpen
Related Agencies
Controlling or Creating AgencyWellington City CorporationRelationship Date Range1870-
Related Series
Predecessor SeriesWellington Board of Works, Rate Books, Wellington City
Wellington City Council, Rate Books. Archives Online, accessed 14/08/2026, https://archivesonline.wcc.govt.nz/nodes/view/1658