VPRS 14104 Register of Inwards Correspondence, Settlement on Lands Act 1893 (Alphabetical)

This series consists of subsidiary registers of inward correspondence maintained by the Department of Crown Lands and Survey to other registers in which correspondence had been centrally registered. 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.Each of these subsidiary registers records 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.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, in VPRS 989 General Correspondence Files or VPRS 1003 Correspondence Files (Land Sales Branch). In this particular case, correspondence might most likely be found on files in VPRS VPRS 5357 Land Selection and Correspondence Files.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.The Settlement on Lands Act 1893 was passed with a view to providing an outlet for the unemployed labour of Victoria through the establishment of rural settlement. Village Settlements (Section 5) and Homestead Associations (Section 20) were two of these types of settlement.For Village Settlements, the Governor in Council could proclaim land for this purpose which could be then divided into allotments of between one and twenty acres. Under Section 5 of the Act (Section 318 of the Land Act 1901), a permit to occupy a village community allotment could be granted for three years at a nominal rental. After that time a lease for up to twenty years could be applied for if certain conditions, as set by regulations, had been met. The price of an allotment was to be no less than one pound per acre and was to be paid in forty half yearly instalments. For a Crown grant to be obtained at the end of the period, the lessee had to pay this sum, repay any advances made and the post of the survey of the land. As well, the lessee or his family was to reside on the land with certain proportions to have been brought into cultivation within specified time periods.It was recognised relatively soon that not all the land allocated by the Board of Land and Works was suitable for village settlements and that 20 acres was an inadequate area for a settler to make a living. As a consequence, provision was made in Sections 344 to 346 of the Land Act 1901 for landholders to acquire more land to, with the original holding, the value of two hundred pounds.For settlements by Homestead Associations, associations or combinations of not less than six people who desired to settle on Crown land adjacent to each other could, on registration of the association and its members with and the payment of the registration fee to the Board of Land and Works have up to 2,000 acres reserved for allocation to the members of the association. Members had to be over the age of eighteen and not have any other land holdings.Each member was able to occupy no more than 50 acres. Occupancy was by license for three years at a nominal rent with no member able to receive more than one permit to occupy. After this time, a lease could be granted for a period of twenty years as long as specific conditions were met including the cultivation of set proportions of the allotment within specific time frames and residence by the lessee or a member of his family during the period of the lease (Section 20 of the 1893 Act and Section 332 of the consolidated Land Act 1901). Advances not exceeding fifteen pounds for building upon and improving the allotment by way of a loan might be made to permissive occupants. These advances were to be repaid in some twenty annual instalments with the first instalment being due with the issue of the lease. Those who received advances were to match the sum advanced in expenditure.Township sites were to be located within the same area with no more than 100 acres to be allowed. Each occupant of a homestead allotment could also be granted a lease of a one acre township allotment (Section 26 of the 1893 Act and Section 337 of the consolidated Land Act 1901).These associations were deemed to have been unsuccessful with the relevant portions of the Act being repealed in 1904 with the passing of the Closer Settlement Act 1904.