VPRS 13047 Register of Licensees, Benalla, Section 42 Amending Land Act 1865

Section 42 of the Amending Land Act 1865 was designed to allow the use of lands on or adjacent to the goldfields to the advantage of the general population without interfering with the operations of miners. Occupation , at a modest rental, was to be temporary and for the purposes of residence and cultivation. Each renewable licence was to cover a maximum of twenty acres for no more than one year although persons could apply for multiple licences. Rental, to be paid to Receivers of Revenue or Paymasters, was fixed at the rate of two pounds ten shillings per annum for less than 10 acres and at four pounds per annum for an area of between 10 and 20 acres. License holders were required to make identifiable improvements - to enclose their allotments and cultivate a prescribed proportion of the area to demonstrate their bona fides.As this land had already been surveyed for mining purposes and to determine the extent of the auriferous (or gold-bearing) lands, applications could be ruled upon efficiently and expeditiously. An application under this section of the Act was able to be submitted to either the Department of Crown Lands and Survey in Melbourne or at the office of the local representative or agent. Some 36 land offices were established throughout the Colony to deal with applications received under this Act. The application would be registered in an Applications Register and allocated a number in order of receipt. The application was then investigated and reported upon by a local commission. Those applications for All Districts received at Melbourne were then indexed by name of applicant and the allocated number.The functions of this commission were to investigate and report upon every application, to protect the public and local interests and promote the advantageous occupation of land. Commissions included in their membership the Surveyor-General, the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Survey, the Secretary for Mines, chairmen and members of Mining Boards and Shire Council and were assisted by District Surveyors, other officers of the Department and Mining Surveyors who had made the surveys of the sites applied for. These commissions or enquiries were made in district centres and other principal centres of population on and in the vicinity of the goldfields. The decision with respect to the application arrived at by the commission was then entered in the Applications Register. For district registers, it became the practice to register and arrange applications with them directly relating to specific sittings of the commission at a specific place on a specific date.With the granting of the application, application then had to be made to the Governor-in-Council, as prescribed in the Act, to grant a licence of occupation to the successful applicant. In the same way, cancellations and / or revocations of licences and transfers of licences had to be approved by the Governor-in-Council. Some of these records may be seen in VPRS 863 Orders in Council Regarding the Issue and Cancellation of Licences , Land Acts 1865 and 1869.Once this leave had been granted by the Governor-in-Council, the licence was issued and an entry was then made in the Licence Register. Details given in the Register were the number of the license and the date of issue, the name of the licensee, the county and the parish in which the land was located, the details of the section and allotment and its area. The opposite page then had a series of sections where payments of the yearly fees could be entered. A remarks column was used to extensively note the history of the licence. It provides details of large numbers of transfers of licences under the provisions of Section 31 and Section 19 of the Land Act 1869 including, in some cases, the relevant file number. It also recorded transfers of licenses to other holders by administrative action or inheritance, subsequent purchases of the land, the revocation or cancellation of the license and the numbers of any associated correspondence.At some point after the granting of the application, a file was created upon which were placed the original application and other subsequent correspondence with respect to it. These files have also been allocated sequential numbers (see VPRS 624 Land Selection Files, Land Act 1865). The numbers on these files do not coincide with any other number allocated during the application or the licensing processes at either the district or central levels. It is hypothesized that there has been created at some point a register to these files and their numbers which is not (as at July 2002) in custody.In August 1868, additional regulations were made under Section 42 of the Amending Land Act of 1865. These regulations extended the distance from a goldfield within which selections might be made to thirty miles and authorised the issue of eight licences per person thus allowing each selector to obtain 160 acres. Applications were able to be made once again both locally and at the Central Office. Land had been surveyed in preparation and commissions were held immediately upon the Regulations coming into operation to decide upon these applications. Records in custody show that these applications were kept separately in the Applications Registers, although, once licences were granted, they were entered into the existing Licence Registers.From the Licence Registers, it is apparent that much of the land selected and occupied under Section 42 of the Amending Land Act 1865 was either purchased under Section 31 of the Land Act 1869 or converted to leases under section 19 of the Land Act 1869. Other selections were able to be purchased at public auction, whilst others remained under the occupation of licensees for a lengthy period of time with licences able to be transferred or bequeathed.

1865年《土地修订法案》（Amending Land Act 1865）第42条旨在允许在金矿区内或毗邻金矿区的土地用于惠及全体民众，同时不干扰矿工的作业活动。相关土地可按适度租金进行临时占用，用途仅限居住与耕作。每份可续期许可证的覆盖面积上限为20英亩，有效期不超过1年，但个人可申请多份许可证。租金需缴纳给税收专员（Receivers of Revenue）或出纳员（Paymasters），收费标准为：占地不足10英亩者，每年缴纳2镑10先令；占地10至20英亩者，每年缴纳4镑。许可证持有人需进行可识别的改良工程：圈定其分配地块，并按规定比例耕作该区域，以证明其具备合法占用的诚意。
由于这些土地已为采矿目的及确定含金（auriferous）土地范围完成测量，因此申请可得到高效且迅速的审批。根据该法案条款提交的申请，可向墨尔本的王室土地与测量部（Department of Crown Lands and Survey）递交，或递交至当地代表或代理人的办事处。该殖民地共设立约36个土地办事处，处理依据该法案收到的申请。申请将被登记至申请登记册（Applications Register），并按接收顺序分配编号。随后，当地委员会将对申请进行调查并提交报告。所有在墨尔本收到的跨地区申请，将按申请人姓名及分配编号进行索引。
该委员会的职能为：对每一份申请开展调查并提交报告，保护公众与当地利益，推动土地的合理占用。委员会成员包括测量总长（Surveyor-General）、土地与测量助理专员（Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Survey）、矿业秘书（Secretary for Mines）、矿业委员会（Mining Boards）及郡议会（Shire Council）的主席与成员，并由地区测量员（District Surveyors）、王室土地与测量部其他官员及已对申请地块完成测量的矿业测量员（Mining Surveyors）提供协助。这些委员会或调查会议在金矿区内及周边的地区中心与其他主要人口中心举行。委员会就申请作出的审批决定将被记入申请登记册。对于地区登记册，通常会将申请与特定日期、特定地点举行的委员会会议直接关联并进行登记。
若申请获得批准，还需按照法案规定向总督会同行政会议（Governor-in-Council）提交申请，以向成功申请人颁发占用许可证。同理，许可证的撤销/废止与转让也需经总督会同行政会议批准。部分此类记录可在VPRS 863《关于许可证发放与撤销的枢密院令，1865及1869年土地法案》中查阅。
一旦总督会同行政会议批准该许可，许可证将被签发，并在许可证登记册（Licence Register）中进行登记。登记册中记录的信息包括：许可证编号、签发日期、被许可人姓名、土地所在的郡与教区、地块所在的区段与分配号，以及土地面积。登记册的反面页面设有多个栏位，用于记录年度费用的缴纳情况。备注栏则用于详细记录许可证的历史沿革，包括依据1869年《土地法案》第31条与第19条进行的大量许可证转让细节，部分记录还包含相关档案编号。此外，登记册还会记录通过行政行为或继承产生的许可证转让、土地后续购买、许可证的撤销或废止，以及相关通信的编号。
在申请获批后的某个阶段，会创建一份档案，存放原始申请及后续相关的所有通信。这些档案也被分配了连续编号（详见VPRS 624《土地选拨档案，1865年土地法案》）。这些档案编号与申请或许可证流程中在地区或中央层级分配的任何其他编号均不重合。据推测，曾有一份针对这些档案及其编号的登记册，但截至2002年7月，该登记册并未被妥善保管。
1868年8月，依据1865年《土地修订法案》第42条制定了补充规定。这些规定将可申请地块与金矿区的最大距离扩展至30英里，并授权每人可领取8份许可证，使每位选拨者可获得总计160英亩的土地。申请仍可通过本地渠道或中央办事处提交。相关土地已完成测量筹备，补充规定生效后立即召开委员会会议以审批此类申请。现存记录显示，此类申请在申请登记册中单独存档，但一旦许可证获批，相关信息将被录入现有的许可证登记册。
从许可证登记册可见，依据1865年《土地修订法案》第42条选定并占用的大部分土地，要么依据1869年《土地法案》第31条完成购买，要么依据1869年《土地法案》第19条转为租赁。其他选定地块可通过公开拍卖购得，另有部分地块仍由许可证持有人长期占用，许可证可转让或遗赠。