VPRS 11872 Register of Leases and Licences Granted Under Sections 32 and 42 Land Act 1884

Leases were registered in Registers of Leases.The Register of Leases recorded details of the reference (or file) number, the name and parish of the lessee or licensee, the allotment and section of the land and its area in acres, roods and perches, the date of the lease and whether under Section 21 or 32, the date of the licenses for the agricultural allotment, the date of the Governor's consent to it, the date of its execution, and any remarks relating to surrender, transfer or receipt of documents at the Occupation Branch of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey.Under the Land Acts, Crown land could be leased for use by private persons or organisations under various terms and conditions. Some leases were for the use of the land for a finite time, others were perpetual leases whilst others were a form of deferred purchase whereby the rent paid under a fixed term lease was credited against the total purchase price for the land. The terms and conditions of leases were specified in the relevant sections of the Acts and in regulations made under the Acts.Before leases came into force, they may have needed to be approved by the Board of Land and Works (VA 744) as shown in VPRS 11870 / P1 Schedules of Land Grants, Leases, Licenses and Sales Submitted for Approval to the Board of Land and Works. The extent of this requires further research. All substantial leases needed the approval of the Governor-in-Council. These approvals may be seen in the records of the Executive Council and of the Department of Crown Land and Survey's own records relating to the Executive Council. Leases were then executed by the parties to them, the drawing up of them and their execution being the responsibility of the Deeds Branch of the Department. Often leases were sent to country areas for execution and delivery and their receipt there may be seen in the Registers of Deeds for districts throughout Victoria.Section 21 of the Act provided for the granting of fourteen year leases for pastoral lands. One only of these leases was to be allowed for each person. Where there were competing applicants, the lessee was determined by who was the highest bidder at an auction. Certain conditions were laid upon the lessee for the continuation of such a lease.Section 32 of the Land Act 1884 (as confirmed in the consolidated Land Act 1890) allowed for the leasing of Crown land for grazing purposes. Lands thus leased could not be purchased and were to revert to the Crown after the expiration of fourteen years. No person was to hold more than one lease and no one lease was to exceed 1000 acres. Land was to be appraised for the purpose of setting a rental of between twopence and fourpence per acre with the right to levy an additional rental of five per cent per annum based on the capital value of improvements made on the leasehold. Special conditions of occupation were to be the control of vermin and noxious weeds, to keep any improvements in repair, to fence the land and to not cut any timber. The Crown was able to resume the land at any time for certain specific purposes listed in the Act or if the lease conditions were not complied with or at the conclusion of the fourteen years with compensation to be paid to the lessee for any improvements made.An agricultural allotment of not more than 320 acres could be excised from such a leasehold under the same conditions as was set out in Section 42 of the Act. Persons who had selected that amount of land under previous land Acts were not eligible for this provision. Those who had selected less than the 320 acres could select the amount of land necessary to make it up to 320 acres. A license to occupy would then be issued for land thus selected.