VPRS 14276 Register of Inward Correspondence, Kerang Land District

This series consists of registers of inward correspondence maintained by the Occupation Branch of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538) both prior to the introduction of a new recordkeeping system for correspondence management for the whole Department in 1876 and after that date until 1878.It would appear that until 1876 all correspondence relating to the occupation of Crown lands was forwarded to the Branch. Here it was registered either in a general register or in registers for a specific Land District. Whether in a general or in a Land District register, details recorded were the number of the letter, the dates of the letter and of entry in the register, the name and address of the sender, a summary of the subject of the correspondence and how the matter was dealt with. A reference was given to the number of any other piece of correspondence or file to which the correspondence was attached.For the period 1876 to 1896 correspondence had already been registered centrally in VPRS 166 Alphabetical Registers of Inwards Correspondence. After 1896, correspondence had already been registered in either VPRS 3217 Secretary's Correspondence Registers (Numerical) or more likely in VPRS 620 Register of Secretary's Inward Correspondence (Lands). The last column in the central registers gives the division or Branch to which the correspondence was referred and distributed for action.The subsidiary registers, which documented the receipt of correspondence by these divisions or Branches, were kept in a number of locations within the Department of Crown Lands and Survey. Subsidiary registers kept in the Occupation Branch were arranged according to Land District (e.g Ballarat, Horsham) or a number of Land Districts in conjunction or specialist activity (e.g. Village Settlement as shown in VPRS 14104). Other subsidiary registers were kept by the Secretary of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey and by the Land Sales Branch. This series is the register used for inward correspondence relating to the Kerang Land District.The subsidiary registers record the date of receipt, the number already allocated in the central registers (VPRS 166 or the post-1896 numerical registers), often but not always the name of the correspondent, the subject of the letter and how the letter was dealt with. For correspondence dealt with in the Occupation Branch, it was most often placed upon a land file with the file number being given in the subsidiary correspondence register.Matters dealt with in the correspondence were those relating to the making of applications for land, the process of dealing with a selection and ensuring that conditions were carried out, the performance of surveys and matters pertaining to hearings of Local Land Boards.At the front of the volume an index to the volume gives the number of the piece of correspondence and the page upon which it is registered. In some volumes, the index is sub-divided according to the section of a Land Act to which correspondence relates (e. g. Section 31 or Section 33) or according to the alphabetical designation or simply in order of receipt.Correspondence registered in this system may be found in series composed of land files, in VPRS 44 Inward Registered and Unregistered Correspondence, VPRS 989 General Correspondence Files, VPRS 1003 Correspondence Files (Land Sales Branch), VPRS 1016 Miscellaneous Correspondence Files or in the other series identified in the Series Controlled entry.Correspondence might also have been further referred onwards to a relevant District Land Office outside Melbourne for further action. Its receipt at that Office would also have been registered in the inward correspondence register maintained by that office with the appropriate reference to the original registration number and a summary of further action taken.