VPRS 14049 Register of Approved Applications, Bairnsdale, Section 35 Land Act 1901 (Bairnsdale District Land Office)

From about 1901 there was a steady decline in new applications being made under the Land Acts. In mid -1907 a circular was sent to District Land Officers notifying them that from that time onwards, all applications regardless of Act and Section of the Act, were to be recorded in a single register kept at the District Land Office and allocated an annual single number. Details recorded were the number allocated the application, the date of receipt, the name and postal address of the applicant, the location and extent of the land and the details of the recommendation by the Local Land Board and the disposal of the application (ie where it was forwarded or filed). A weekly return of all applications received was to be forwarded to Melbourne as well as a list of the cases to be considered by the Local Land Board prior to hearings. Records of a number of Local Land Boards are currently in custody.Once applications had been ruled upon by the Local Land Board, details of those which had been successful were to be entered in the register, as in this series, to be kept at the District Land Office for specific Sections of an Act. These registers contained the same details as in the general application register and then annotations relating to the Local Land Board, the dates of issue of any license and references and remarks. Details may include the dates of the issue of any lease or Crown grant or of entries in the Government Gazette as well as references to correspondence or file management.Section 29 of the Land Act 1898 (later Section 35 under the consolidated Land Act 1901) succeeded Section 32 Land Act 1884 as the means whereby grazing areas could be leased from the Crown. Land was able to be leased for any term until 29 December 1920 when the land would revert to the Crown. Land was divided into classes for the purpose of the lease. Two hundred acres of first-class land might be leased, 640 acres of second-class land, 1280 acres of third-class land and 1920 acres of fourth-class land. A permanent agricultural allotment could be selected from leaseholds of first and second-class land and a grazing allotment from third and fourth -class land.Successful applications had cards created at the Occupation Branch replacing the registers. One card was to record the details of the application and subsequently, record correspondence and file management matters and the other was to record the payments of rent instead of these being entered in rent rolls.Unsuccessful applications were to be sent to Melbourne, marked with the application number written inside the District Office stamp to be 'Put Away'. These would continue to be available in case of appeal against the decision of the Local land Board.District Survey Offices and the Lands Enquiry Office in Melbourne could receive applications for any Land District. These were recorded in special registers, without being allocated a number, with the papers then being sent to the Land Officer of the District in which the land applied for was situated this being noted in the register.The system of District Land Offices parallelled by similar 'District Offices' in the Occupation Branch continued, with a smaller number of physically separate offices outside Melbourne. Within the Occupation Branch itself, officers dealt with the business of a number of District Offices with the number of Divisions within the Branch fluctuating relative to the amount of business to be transacted, this in turn being affected by legislative enactments.This series was previously registered as Unit 1 of VPRS 453 / P Applications Registers (Numerical) Land Act 1901.