VPRS 11876 Register of Perpetual Leases Sections 7 and 19 Mallee Lands Act 1896

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, the allotment and section of the land and its area in acres, roods and perches, the date of the lease, the date of the Governor's consent to it, the date of its execution, the date and place of its final issue and any remarks.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 / or delivery and their receipt there may be seen in the Registers of Deeds for districts throughout Victoria.Section 7 of the Mallee Lands Act 1896 allowed for the selection of an agricultural allotment by license or perpetual lease by any person whether the holder of a mallee allotment or not. The total acreage held was not to exceed 640 acres. Section 19 allowed for holders of mallee allotments to select out an agricultural allotment within five years of the commencement of their lease. This selection could be by license or perpetual lease and total holdings were not to exceed 640 acres.