VPRS 14435 Register of Estate Purchases, Closer Settlement Acts

The registers in this series contain the summary details of the purchases of estates for the purpose of closer settlement. The files relating to these purchases may be found as the Estates files in VPRS 5714 Closer [and Soldier] Settlement Files.The closer settlement provisions of Part III of the 1898 Land Act allowed the Board of Land and Works to allocate existing Crown lands for settlement or to purchase lands from private individuals for the purposes of settlement. These provisions continued in the Closer Settlement Act 1904 and subsequent acts and were reinforced and reiterated in the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Acts from 1917 (see Section 23). The Acts specified the conditions under which the Closer Settlement Board (previously known as the Lands Purchase andManagement Board) might select land and pay for it as well as the conditions required for evaluating the suitability of the land for that purpose, arriving at a valuation of the land and the procedures for any subsequent purchase.Details given in the registers include the date, the location, extent and name of the estate and the vendor, the agent and district, the price asked , the names of the inspector , the valuers and the Board's Inspector (see VPRS 14433). Further details refer to the Section of the Act under which the purchase was made (Section 6, 11 or 20), the price asked, the price per acre, the number of allotments and the price received by the Board for each allotment and the date of Ministerial approval of the purchase.