VPRS 12409 Index to Land Leasing Register

This series consists of Indexes to the Land Leasing Register (the Registers are not in PROV custody and it is unknown whether this series is extant in 1999). It would seem that these Indexes were one component of the recordkeeping system used to administer and manage the lease agreements that Victorian Railways entered into with people wishing to rent railways-owned land.The Engineer for Existing Lines Branch was responsible for administering the majority of leases on railway lands along Melbourne and country lines. (The Traffic Branch was responsible for some leases, such as those of stations.)The 1895 Report of the Railway Inquiry Board concerned itself briefly with the question of the railways revenue from the leasing of land. It was claimed that at this time, the railways had over 4700 tenancies, with a revenue from rents of over 50,000 pounds.This series evidently functioned as an index to the Land Leasing Register. The recordkeeping system changed throughout the life of this series and each system will be described in turn.Units 1-5It would seem that when an application to lease land was received by the Railways, an entry was made in the Index. The name of the applicant and the particulars of the application (eg, proposed rent, locality, area of land, etc) were recorded. If the application was successful and a lease was entered into, a File No or Register No was allocated (presumably using the next available number in the Land Leasing Register). This File No number is recorded in the right hand-most column of each page, often in red.A column headed Correspondence records all file numbers of items of correspondence relevant to the particular application or lease. This column is divided into 2 sub-columns: one for the Secretarys Correspondence, one for the Existing Lines Branch Correspondence. At times there were 3 columns for correspondence file numbers to be recorded: an extra column headed Lands appears on some pages. Presumably the file numbers in this column refer to correspondence received or created by the Lands sub-branch within the Railways, which was responsible for matters including the acquisition and purchase of land.In the column headed Remarks, brief details of the progress of the application or the lease and actions taken by railways staff are recorded. The dates when outward correspondence was prepared and in which Press Book are recorded. The entries made in this column often cover a period of several years.Particulars of the application, and any actions/remarked are recorded in the registers. It would seem that a file number was allocated for every lease.Units 6-18It would seem that the system changed c.1895 so that one entry was made in the index when a file number was allocated from the Land Leasing Register. The former system that involved several entries being made in the index as the matter progressed was abandoned around this time.Significantly less detail is recorded in Units 7-18. Each page has 3 columns, headed: Name, No, Particulars. The name of the applicant, lessee (or in some cases the locality, for example for a file concerning tenders for the lease of land) and file number are recorded. The Particulars column contains a brief precis (eg, re Lease of land at Illowa). The relevant correspondence numbers and actions taken by staff are not recorded in these units.As no dates or correspondence number are recorded in these units, on the Records Description List an approximate file number range has been given for each Units 6-18, rather than a date range.