VPRS 13840 Rent Roll, Melbourne, Section 47 Land Act 1869 and Section 93 Land Act 1884

All licenses for the occupation of Crown lands and leases of Crown lands required the payment of rent in amounts and at intervals as stated by legislation or regulations made under the authority of legislation. Rents could be paid either by post or personally to the Melbourne office of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538) or to local Receivers and Paymasters as designated for each parish and Land District (subsequent to the formation of the Occupation Branch in c 1874). Receivers and Paymasters were often local Clerks of Courts.Previous to the passage of the Land Act of 1869, the payment of rents had been recorded in Registers of Licensees and Lessees. These continued for Section 33 of the Land Act 1869 and at the offices of local Receivers and Paymasters. Within the Department of Crown Lands itself and the Occupation Branch these Registers were superseded by the Rent Rolls.Details given in the rent rolls are the name of the licensee or lessee, the details of the location and size of the land, details of the payments of fees and of the date and amount of regular periodic payments of rent. Remarks include details of subsequent purchase of the land, of any transfers of leases or licenses to other holders and the subsequent payments made by those persons and any cancellation or revocation or instances of abandonment of the land by the occupier.Notifications of rents due at a particular date were circulated by notice or by lists published in the Government Gazette. The latter allowed local officers to be aware of the rents due in their areas. When the rents were paid to these officers, the payments were recorded in the local records and returns forwarded to the Department. Examples of these records may be seen in VPRS 809 Returns of Pastoral Rents Received. At the Occupation Branch, clerks (the rent rollers) were employed whose sole duties were the updating and maintenance of the rent rolls and preparation of certificates documenting payments where these were to be credited against the purchase price of land. Originally from about 1877, a rent roll clerk was attached to each "District Land Office" within the Occupation Branch.Rent rolls, like registers of applications, were arranged according to sections of a specific Land Act. For major provisions such as Sections 19 and 20, Land Act 1869 or Section 29, Land Act 1898 and Section 35, Land Act 1901, the rent roll recorded only payments relating to that section. Payments for obligations under other sections of the Land Acts could be included together in one roll. Separate rolls were kept for payments made in each Land District.Section 47 of the Land Act 1869 allowed, as did Section 53 of the Land Act 1862, for a license to be granted for the use of Crown lands not under lease or license under Part II of the 1869 Act. Uses were for the extraction of raw materials such as timber and stone, the processing of rural products in such facilities as brick kilns, the occupation of fishermen's' residences, the erection of pumps and collection of ballast and any other purpose for which land might be leased under Section 45 of the Act. Clause 7 allowed the depasturing of animals on land not forming part of any run or common.Section 93 and Section 91 of the Land Act 1884 (later Section 99, Land Act 1890 and Section 145, Land Act 1901) provided for the licensing or leasing of Crown lands for a multitude of purposes such as rural businesses, the removal of raw materials and other purposes none of which were to be agricultural or grazing. Licenses were renewable annually at a fee to be set. Leases under the 1884 Act for these purposes were to be of no more than three acres at an annual rental of five pounds.From late 1907 the Department of Crown Lands and Survey began changing to cards for its recordkeeping systems with the rent roll being reported as mainly on cards by 1917.Unit 1 of VPRS 13840 / P1 was previously registered as Unit 1 of VPRS 1302 / P Rent Roll - Sundry Licenses. Unit 2 was previously registered as Unit 1 of VPRS 1303 / P Rent Roll - Business and Residence Licenses. Unit 3 was previously registered as Unit 2 of VPRS 1301 / P Rent Roll - Business and Similar Licenses and Unit 4 was previously registered as Unit 160 of VPRS 631 / P Rent Rolls.

所有王室土地占用许可证及王室土地租赁协议均要求按立法规定或立法授权制定的规章所载明的金额与周期支付租金。租金可通过邮寄方式支付，或亲自交至王室土地与测量部（VA 538）墨尔本办公室，亦可交至为各教区及土地分区指定的地方收款与出纳员（自1874年左右占用处成立后）。收款与出纳员通常为地方法院书记员。1869年《土地法案》通过前，租金支付情况记录于持证人与承租人登记簿中。此类登记簿在1869年《土地法案》第33条项下及地方收款与出纳员办公室中继续使用。在王室土地部内部及占用处，此类登记簿被租金册取代。租金册所载详情包括持证人或承租人姓名、土地位置与面积详情、费用支付详情及定期租金支付的日期与金额。备注栏包含土地后续购买详情、租赁或许可证向其他持有人的转让情况、该等人士的后续支付记录，以及占用者取消、撤销或放弃土地的实例。特定日期到期租金的通知通过公告或《政府公报》刊登的清单发布。后者使地方官员能够了解其辖区内到期的租金情况。租金交至该等官员后，支付情况记录于地方档案，并将报表提交至部门。此类记录的示例可见于VPRS 809《收到的畜牧租金报表》。在占用处，雇用的书记员（租金册管理员）的唯一职责是更新和维护租金册，以及在款项可抵作土地购买价时制备付款证明文件。最初约自1877年起，占用处内的每个“分区土地办公室”均配备一名租金册管理员。租金册与申请登记簿一样，按特定《土地法案》的条款分类编排。对于1869年《土地法案》第19条与第20条、1898年《土地法案》第29条及1901年《土地法案》第35条等主要条款，租金册仅记录与该条款相关的支付情况。《土地法案》其他条款项下义务的支付情况可合并记录于同一租金册中。各土地分区的支付情况单独留存租金册。1869年《土地法案》第47条与1862年《土地法案》第53条均允许为使用未根据1869年法案第二部分租赁或取得许可证的王室土地颁发许可证。使用用途包括采伐木材与石材等原材料、在砖窑等设施中加工农产品、占用渔民住所、安装水泵与采集压舱物，以及根据该法案第45条可租赁土地的任何其他用途。第7条允许在不属于任何牧场或公共用地的土地上放牧牲畜。1884年《土地法案》第93条与第91条（后为1890年《土地法案》第99条及1901年《土地法案》第145条）规定，王室土地可许可或租赁用于多种用途，如农村商业、原材料开采及其他非农业或放牧的用途。许可证每年可续期，费用待定。根据1884年法案，此类用途的租赁土地面积不得超过三英亩，年租金为五英镑。自1907年末起，王室土地与测量部开始将其记录系统改为卡片形式，至1917年，租金册据报主要采用卡片形式。VPRS 13840/P1的第1单元此前注册为VPRS 1302/P《租金册 - 杂项许可证》的第1单元；第2单元此前注册为VPRS 1303/P《租金册 - 商业及居住许可证》的第1单元；第3单元此前注册为VPRS 1301/P《租金册 - 商业及类似许可证》的第2单元；第4单元此前注册为VPRS 631/P《租金册》的第160单元。