VPRS 13588 Rent Roll, Chiltern Receipt and Pay Office, Other Sections Land Acts from 1869 to 1901

All licenses for the occupation of Crown lands and leases of Crown lands required the payment of rent in amounts and at intervals as stated by legislation or regulations made under the authority of legislation. Rents could be paid either by post or personally to the Melbourne office of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538) or to local Receivers and Paymasters as designated for each parish and Land District (subsequent to the formation of the Occupation Branch in c 1874). Receivers and Paymasters were often local Clerks of Courts.Previous to the passage of the Land Act of 1869, the payment of rents had been recorded in Registers of Licensees and Lessees. These continued for Section 33 of the Land Act 1869 and at the offices of local Receivers and Paymasters. Within the Department of Crown Lands itself and the Occupation Branch these Registers were superseded by the Rent Rolls. As may be seen in this volume, they could also be used for recording the receipt of rents at regional offices.Details given in the rent rolls are the name of the licensee or lessee, the details of the location and size of the land, details of the payments of fees and of the date and amount of regular periodic payments of rent. Remarks include details of subsequent purchase of the land, of any transfers of leases or licenses to other holders and the subsequent payments made by those persons, any cancellation or revocation or instances of abandonment of the land by the occupier.Notifications of rents due at a particular date were circulated by notice or by lists published in the Government Gazette. The latter allowed local officers to be aware of the rents due in their areas. When the rents were paid to these officers, the payments were recorded in the local records and returns forwarded to the Department. Examples of these records may be seen in VPRS 809 Returns of Pastoral Rents Received. At the Occupation Branch, clerks (the rent rollers) were employed whose sole duties were the updating and maintenance of the rent rolls and preparation of certificates documenting payments where these were to be credited against the purchase price of land. Originally from about 1877, a rent roll clerk was attached to each "District Land Office" within the Occupation Branch.Rent rolls, like registers of applications, were arranged according to sections of a specific Land Act. For major provisions such as Sections 19 and 20 Land Act 1869 or Section 29 Land Act 1898 and Section 35 Land Act 1901, the rent roll recorded only payments relating to that section . Payments for obligations under other sections of the Land Acts could be included together in one roll. Separate rolls were kept for payments made in each Land District.Section 47 of the Land Act 1869 allowed, as did Section 53 of the Land Act 1862, for a license to be granted for the use of Crown lands not under lease or license under Part II of the 1869 Act. Uses were for the extraction of raw materials such as timber and stone, the processing of rural products in such facilities as brick kilns, to occupy fishermen's' residences, to erect pumps and collect ballast and for any other purpose for which land might be leased under Section 45 of the Act. Clause 7 allowed the depasturing of animals on land not forming part of any run or common.Section 49 of the Land Act 1869 allowed the granting of a license for the occupation of auriferous (gold-bearing) land for a period of one year at a time. The amount of land was to be no more than 20 acres with an individual being permitted to hold one licence only. The fees were to be set by regulation.Section 65 of the Land Act 1884 (and Section 103 Land Act 1901) provided for the annual licensing of auriferous (gold-bearing) lands. Areas licensed were to be of no more than 20 acres with only one license being allowed for each individual. There was to be no sale of these lands. This section was amended by Section 90 of the Land Act 1898 providing for the appraisal of these lands. If the value of the land was appraised to be more than the rent already paid on them, the subsequent rental was to be no more than two shillings and sixpence per annum with no annual license fee.Section 67 of the Land Act 1884 allowed for the annual licensing of no more than 1000 acres for grazing on auriferous lands. This was allowed to continue for five years and with the right to mine the land remaining. Under Section 91 of the Land Act 1898, (later Section 105 Land Act 1901) this term was extended to 21 years and the right to fence the land extended to licensees with the land able to be treated as rateable property.Section 93 and Section 91 of the Land Act 1884 (Section 99 Land Act 1890 and Section 145 Land Act 1901) provided for the licensing or leasing of Crown lands for a multitude of purposes such as rural businesses, the removal of raw materials and other purposes none of which were to be agricultural or grazing. Licenses were renewable annually at a fee to be set. Leases under the 1884 Act for these purposes were to be of no more than three acres at an annual rental of five pounds.Section 119 Land Act 1884 provided for the issuing of grazing licenses for Crown lands not otherwise held. This provision continued as Section 123 Land Act 1890 and Section 187 Land Act 1901.Section 147 of the Land Act 1901 allowed the licensing of bee-keeping establishments of not more than one acre for one year on any Crown land including that held under an agricultural license or lease or a grazing lease.From late 1907 the Department of Crown Lands and Survey began changing to cards for its recordkeeping systems with the rent roll being reported as mainly on cards by 1917.