VPRS 13050 Register of Licensees, Talbot, Maryborough, Avoca, Section 42 Amending Land Act 1865

Section 42 of the Amending Land Act 1865 was designed to allow the use of lands on or adjacent to the goldfields to the advantage of the general population without interfering with the operations of miners. Occupation at a modest rental, was to be temporary and for the purposes of residence and cultivation. Each renewable licence was to cover a maximum of twenty acres for no more than one year although persons could apply for multiple licences. Rental, to be paid to Receivers of Revenue or Paymasters, was fixed at the rate of two pounds ten shillings per annum for less than 10 acres and at four pounds per annum for an area of between 10 and 20 acres. License holders were required to make identifiable improvements - to enclose their allotments and cultivate a prescribed proportion of the area to demonstrate their bona fides.As this land had already been surveyed for mining purposes and to determine the extent of the auriferous (or gold-bearing) lands, applications could be ruled upon efficiently and expeditiously. An application under this section of the Act was able to be submitted to either the Department of Crown Lands and Survey in Melbourne or at the office of the local representative or agent of the department. Some 36 land offices were established throughout the Colony to deal with applications received under this Act. The application would be registered in an Applications Register and allocated a number in order of receipt. The application was then investigated and reported upon by a local commission. Those applications for All Districts received at Melbourne were then indexed by name of applicant and the allocated number.The functions of this commission were to investigate and report upon every application, to protect the public and local interests and promote the advantageous occupation of land. Commissions included in their membership the Surveyor-General, the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Survey, the Secretary for Mines, chairmen and members of Mining Boards and Shire Council and were assisted by District Surveyors, other officers of the Department and Mining Surveyors who had made the surveys of the sites applied for. These commissions or enquiries were made in district centres and other principal centres of population on and in the vicinity of the goldfields. The decision with respect to the application arrived at by the commission was then entered in the Applications Register. For district registers, it became the practice to register and arrange applications with them directly relating to specific sittings of the commission at a specific place on a specific date.With the granting of the application, application then had to be made to the Governor-in-Council, as prescribed in the Act, to grant a licence of occupation to the successful applicant. In the same way, cancellations and / or revocations of licences and transfers of licences had to be approved by the Governor-in-Council. Some of these records may be seen in VPRS 863 Orders in Council Regarding the Issue and Cancellation of Licences , Land Acts 1865 and 1869.Once this leave had been granted by the Governor-in-Council, the licence was issued and an entry was then made in the Licence Register. Details given in the Register were the number of the license and the date of issue, the name of the licensee, the county and the parish in which the land was located, the details of the section and allotment and its area. The opposite page then had a series of sections where payments of the yearly fees could be entered. A remarks column was used to extensively note the history of the licence. It provides details of large numbers of transfers of licences under the provisions of Section 31 and Section 19 of the Land Act 1869 including, in some cases, the relevant file number. It also recorded transfers of licenses to other holders by administrative action or inheritance, subsequent purchases of the land, the revocation or cancellation of the license and the numbers of any associated correspondence.At some point after the granting of the application, a file was created upon which were placed the original application and other subsequent correspondence with respect to it. These files have also been allocated sequential numbers (see VPRS 624 Land Selection Files, Land Act 1865). The numbers on these files do not coincide with any other number allocated during the application or the licensing processes at either the district or central levels. It is hypothesized that there has been created at some point a register to these files and their numbers which is not (as at July 2002) in custody.In August 1868, additional regulations were made under Section 42 of the Amending Land Act of 1865. These regulations extended the distance from a goldfield within which selections might be made to thirty miles and authorised the issue of eight licences per person thus allowing each selector to obtain 160 acres. Applications were able to be made once again both locally and at the Central Office. Land had been surveyed in preparation and Commissions were held immediately upon the Regulations coming into operation to decide upon these applications. Records in custody show that these applications were kept separately in the Applications Registers, although, once licences were granted, they were entered into the existing Licence Registers.From the Licence Registers, it is apparent that much of the land selected and occupied under Section 42 of the Amending Land Act 1865 was either purchased under Section 31 of the Land Act 1869 or converted to leases under section 19 of the Land Act 1869. Other selections were able to be purchased at public auction, whilst others remained under the occupation of licensees for a lengthy period of time with licences able to be transferred or bequeathed.VPRS 13050/P1, Unit 2 was previously registered as VPRS 1309/P Register of Licences, Land Act 1865, Section 42 Unit 8.

1865年《土地修正法案》（Amending Land Act 1865）第42条旨在允许在金矿区内或毗邻金矿区的土地用于惠及全体民众，且不干扰矿工的作业。该类土地的占用须以适度租金为对价，且为临时性质，仅限用于居住与耕作。每份可续期许可证的单次有效覆盖面积上限为20英亩，有效期不超过1年，但个人可申请多份许可证。租金需缴至税收征收官（Receivers of Revenue）或出纳员（Paymasters）处，收费标准为：面积不足10英亩者，年租金2英镑10先令；面积介于10至20英亩者，年租金4英镑。许可证持有人须开展可识别的土地改良工程：圈定其分配地块，并耕作规定比例的土地，以证明其善意占用的诚意。
由于该土地已为采矿目的完成勘测，并明确了含金（auriferous）地块的范围，相关申请可得到高效且迅捷的审批。依据本法案本条提出的申请，可提交至墨尔本王室土地与测量部（Department of Crown Lands and Survey），或该部门当地代表与代理机构的办事处。该殖民地境内共设立约36处土地办事处，以处理依据本法案提交的各类申请。申请将在申请登记簿中完成登记，并按接收顺序分配专属编号。随后，当地委员会将对申请进行调查并出具正式报告。对于在墨尔本接收的所有地区的申请，将按申请人姓名及分配编号编制索引目录。
该委员会的职能包括：对每份申请开展调查并出具报告，保护公众与本地利益，推动土地的合理高效利用。委员会成员涵盖测量总监、土地与测量助理专员、矿业秘书、矿业委员会与郡议会的主席及成员，并由区测量员、部门其他在岗官员，以及已完成申请地块勘测的矿业测量员提供专业协助。此类委员会问询会均在金矿区内及周边的区中心与其他主要人口聚居中心举办。委员会就申请作出的审批决定，随后将记入申请登记簿。就区登记簿而言，通常会将与特定地点、特定日期的委员会听证会直接相关的申请进行专项登记与整理。
若申请获得委员会批准，申请人还须依据法案规定向枢密院总督（Governor-in-Council）提交申请，以获取正式的土地占用许可证。同理，许可证的注销、撤销与转让，也须经枢密院总督批准。部分此类记录可于VPRS 863《关于许可证颁发与注销的枢密院令、1865及1869年土地法案》档案系列中查阅。
枢密院总督批准该许可后，正式许可证将予以颁发，并在许可证登记簿中录入相关信息。登记簿记录的信息包括：许可证编号与颁发日期、持证人姓名、土地所在的郡与教区、地块所属分区与分配号，以及土地总面积。登记簿的对页设有若干栏位，用于逐年记录年费缴纳情况。备注栏用于详细记录许可证的完整历史，涵盖依据1869年《土地法案》第31条与第19条规定开展的大量许可证转让细节，部分记录还附带相关案卷编号。此外，该栏还记录了通过行政处置或继承产生的许可证转让、土地后续购买、许可证的撤销或注销，以及相关往来函件的编号。
在申请获批后的某个时间节点，相关案卷将被创建，其中收录原始申请及后续所有与之相关的往来函件。此类案卷亦被分配了连续编号（详见VPRS 624《1865年土地法案土地选择案卷》）。此类案卷的编号，与申请或发证流程中在区或中央层级分配的任何编号均不重合。据推测，曾有一份针对此类案卷及其编号的登记簿在某个时点编制，但截至2002年7月，该登记簿并未被妥善保管。
1868年8月，依据1865年《土地修正法案》第42条制定了补充条例。该条例将可选择土地的金矿区周边距离上限拓展至30英里，并授权每人最多颁发8份许可证，使每位土地选择者可获得总计160英亩的土地。申请渠道仍保留本地提交与中央办事处提交两种方式。相关土地已完成勘测准备工作，条例生效后，委员会随即召开会议审批此类申请。现存保管的记录显示，此类申请在申请登记簿中单独存档，但在许可证获批后，相关信息将录入现有许可证登记簿。
从许可证登记簿的记录来看，依据1865年《土地修正法案》第42条选择并占用的大部分土地，要么依据1869年《土地法案》第31条完成购买，要么依据1869年《土地法案》第19条转为租赁。其余地块可通过公开拍卖完成购买，另有部分地块由持证人长期占用，许可证可依法转让或遗赠。VPRS 13050/P1 单元2，此前登记为VPRS 1309/P《1865年土地法案第42条许可证登记簿》单元8。