VPRS 13807 Register of Deeds, Casterton

Under the Land Acts and the Mines Act, formal documents relating to Crown grants, leases and licenses needed to be forwarded, in an accountable fashion, from the main office of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey or the Mines Department in Melbourne to individuals throughout Victoria. For this task, as for the collection of payments such as rents, the services of local Receivers of Revenue and Paymasters were used. Often the local Clerk of Courts performed this function. In larger places such as Bendigo, Sub-Treasury Offices might be used.Originally the Registers of Deeds were maintained by the Receiver and Paymaster, Colonial Treasury. Once Deeds of Grant were signed by the Governor, they were conveyed to the Colonial Secretary and then to the Treasurer for delivery upon payment of the established fees. The Receiver and Paymaster was responsible for entering the relevant particulars in the registers, issuing the deeds to the owners or their accredited representative after the payment of fees and obtaining signatures on the registers in acknowledgment of the receipt of deeds. When Sub-Treasuries were established in non-metropolitan areas, the Receiver and Paymaster, Colonial Treasury was able to send deeds for local residents to the local Receiver and Paymaster for delivery. Later, deeds went directly to local Receipt and Pay OfficesThe Register of Deeds was used by the Receiver and Paymaster to record the documents handled and their transmission to the owner. For the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538), once licenses for the occupation of Crown Lands were approved by the Board of Land and Works (VA 774) or leases and Crown grants approved by the Governor-In-Council details were forwarded to the Deeds Branch within the Department for the preparation and execution of documentation. Many, if not most, related to matters in areas away from Melbourne.The deeds were forwarded, with a covering circular and after advertisement in the Government Gazette, to the local Receiver and Paymaster for transmission to the licensee or lessee or grantee. The Receiver, once the deed was delivered was to return the circular to the Department notifying it of that delivery. The intended recipient was informed by a standard letter or card that the deed was available for collection from a specific official at a nominated place. In the original list of Land Districts and parishes, a Receiver of Revenue was nominated for each parish in the Land District. Some locations could be nominated for parishes in a number of Land Districts. Casterton was a Receipt and Pay Office for the Hamilton Land District.Details given in the Register of Deeds are the number of the deed, the allotment and section of the land, the town or parish, the extent of the land, the name of the person receiving the deed, the date of the deed, the dates of its receipt and issue and a signature of acknowledgment of its receipt by the owner. Registers may also have filed in them correspondence from recipients requesting and giving authority for deed to be forwarded to solicitors or banks or to be handed to someone other than the person named on them.Other documents dealt with in the same register included Certificates of Naturalization, Licenses for the occupation of Unused Roads and Water Frontages (administered by VA 669 Department of Public Works) and Eucalyptus Licenses. Further details regarding Unused Roads and Water Frontages may be found in such series as VPRS 10542 Rent Rolls Unused Roads and Water Frontages and VPRS 4683 Regional Rent Rolls, Unused Roads and Water Frontages.VPRS 13807/ P1 was previously registered as Unit 51 of VPRS 406 / P Register of Deeds. Earlier volumes of the register are presumed to have been destroyed with other records in a fire at the office of the Casterton Receiver and Paymaster in January 1908.

根据《土地法》与《矿产法》，与王室授予地（Crown grants）、租赁协议（leases）及许可（licenses）相关的正式文件，需以可追责的方式，从墨尔本的王室土地与测量部（Department of Crown Lands and Survey）或矿产部（Mines Department）总办事处，流转至维多利亚州全境的相关主体。此类任务与租金等款项收缴工作同理，均依托当地税收接收员与出纳员（Receivers of Revenue and Paymasters）的服务开展，该职能通常由当地法院书记员兼任。在本迪戈（Bendigo）等较大城镇，则可使用国库分局（Sub-Treasury Offices）执行相关工作。
最初，契约登记簿（Registers of Deeds）由殖民国库（Colonial Treasury）的税收接收员与出纳员负责维护。授予契约（Deeds of Grant）经总督签署后，需先移交至殖民大臣（Colonial Secretary），再转交财政大臣（Treasurer），待缴纳规定规费后方可交付申请人。税收接收员与出纳员需将相关信息录入登记簿，在规费缴清后向土地所有者或其授权代表（accredited representative）发放契约，并在登记簿上留存接收者的签收签名。
当非都会区设立国库分局后，殖民国库的税收接收员与出纳员可将本地居民的相关契约转交至当地税收接收员与出纳员进行交付。后续，契约可直接寄送至当地收款与办公处。
契约登记簿由税收接收员与出纳员用于记录所处理的文件及其向所有者的流转情况。对于王室土地与测量部（Department of Crown Lands and Survey, VA 538）而言，一旦王室土地占用许可经土地与工程委员会（Board of Land and Works, VA 774）批准，或租赁协议、王室授予地经枢密院总督（Governor-In-Council）批准后，相关细节将被移交至该部内的契约分支部门，用于文件的编制与执行。其中多数乃至全部事项均涉及墨尔本以外地区。
契约需随附附函，并在《政府公报》（Government Gazette）刊登公告后，转交至当地税收接收员与出纳员，由其传递给被许可人、承租人或受授予人。契约交付完成后，税收接收员需将附函返还至相关部门，告知交付情况。意向收件人将收到标准信函或卡片，通知其可前往指定地点的指定官员处领取契约。
在最初的土地区与教区名录中，每个土地区下的教区均指定了一名税收接收员。部分地点可同时为多个土地区下的教区服务，例如卡斯特顿即为汉密尔顿土地区的收款与办公处。
契约登记簿中记载的信息包括：契约编号、土地的地块与分区、城镇或教区名称、土地面积、契约持有人姓名、契约签署日期、契约接收与发放日期，以及所有者签收契约的签名。登记簿中还可能留存有收件人的相关函件，包括请求并授权将契约转送至律师事务所、银行，或交由契约载明主体以外的其他人代收的相关文件。
该登记簿同时处理的其他文件包括入籍证书（Certificates of Naturalization）、闲置道路与滨水区占用许可（Licenses for the occupation of Unused Roads and Water Frontages，由公共工程部（Department of Public Works, VA 669）管理）以及桉树采伐许可（Eucalyptus Licenses）。关于闲置道路与滨水区的更多细节，可查阅VPRS 10542《闲置道路与滨水区租金名册》、VPRS 4683《区域闲置道路与滨水区租金名册》等档案系列。
VPRS 13807/P此前被登记为VPRS 406/P契约登记簿的第51单元。该登记簿的早期卷册推测已于1908年1月卡斯特顿税收接收员与出纳员办公室发生的火灾中，与其他档案一同被毁。