VPRS 10644 Register of Land Purchases, Closer Settlement Acts

The closer settlement provisions of Part III of the 1898 Land Act allowed the Board of Land and Works to allocate existing Crown lands for settlement or to purchase lands from private individuals for the purposes of settlement. These provisions continued in the Closer Settlement Act 1904 and subsequent acts and were reinforced and reiterated in the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Acts from 1917 (see Section 23). The Acts specified the conditions under which the Closer Settlement Board (previously known as the Lands Purchase and Management Board) might select land and pay for it as well as the conditions required for evaluating the suitability of the land for that purpose and the amount which should be paid for it by the Crown. Some of the land was a re-acquisition by the Crown.This series contains details of land to be purchased and the process of arriving at a decision regarding acquisition. The date, the area offered, the allotment number, the parish and the municipality and the name of an estate is given. Details are given of the vendor and any agent and the price being asked for the land. Further details are given of amendments to that price, details of inspections and valuations and the decision of the Closer Settlement Board and where relevant, the price paid by the Board to the vendor. Further details of Board decisons regarding the purchase of land may be found in VPRS 10240 Minute Books. Summary details of purchases each year were also given in the Report of the Closer Settlement Board tabled in Parliament.