VPRS 14366 Register of Applications, Castlemaine Sections 145 and 187 Land Act 1901 (Castlemaine District Survey 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 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. The register of Applications in this series is one used in this fashion whilst awaiting the arrival of new stationery to be used for the new recordkeeping system.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.VPRS 14366 was previously registered as Unit 23 of VPRS 10078 / P Applications Registers, Land Act 1901.