VPRS 11874 Register of Leases Granted Under Sections 5, (Village Settlement) 20, and 26 (Homestead Associations) of the Settlement on Lands Act 1893

Leases were registered in Registers of Leases. The Register of Leases recorded details of the reference (or file) number, the name and parish of the lessee, the allotment and section of the land and its area in acres, roods and perches, the date of the lease, the date of the Governor's consent to it, the date of its execution, the date and place of its final issue and any remarks and the depth to which the lease applied. This followed upon the 1891 amendment to the Land Act which provided that land would be alienated only as to the surface and down to such depth as the Governor-in-Council might direct (usually 50 feet).Under the Land Acts, Crown land could be leased for use by private persons or organisations under various terms and conditions. Some leases were for the use of the land for a finite time, others were perpetual leases whilst others were a form of deferred purchase whereby the rent paid under a fixed term lease was credited against the total purchase price for the land. The terms and conditions of leases were specified in the relevant sections of the Acts and in regulations made under the Acts.Before leases came into force, they may have needed to be approved by the Board of Land and Works (VA 744) as shown in VPRS 11870 / P1 Schedules of Land Grants, Leases, Licenses and Sales Submitted for Approval to the Board of Land and Works. The extent of this requires further research. All substantial leases needed the approval of the Governor-in-Council. These approvals may be seen in the records of the Executive Council and of the Department of Crown Land and Survey's own records relating to the Executive Council. Leases were then executed by the parties to them, the drawing up of them and their execution being the responsibility of the Deeds Branch of the Department. Often leases were sent to country areas for execution and / or delivery and their receipt there may be seen in the Registers of Deeds for districts throughout Victoria.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 three main types of rural settlement. Homestead Associations was one of these.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 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).The Governor in Council could proclaim land for the purpose of Village Settlements 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 cost 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.