VPRS 14135 Rent Roll Cards, Melbourne Land District, Agricultural and Pastoral Leases

From mid-1907, a card system was introduced within the Occupation Branch of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey. For each new file generated by a successful application to lease or be licensed to occupy Crown land, two cards were created and maintained. One was to record the application and the later management of the file replacing the Registers of Applications created by the Occupation Branch. The other was to record the details of payments of rents and other fees replacing the rent roll volumes. The details for active files recorded in these volumes were progressively transferred to cards.Details given on the rent roll cards are the name of the licensee or lessee, the details of the location and size of the land, details of the payments of fees and of the date and amount of regular periodic payments of rent. Remarks include details of subsequent purchase of the land, of any transfers of leases or licences to other holders and the subsequent payments made by those persons, any cancellations or revocations and any instances of abandonment of the land by the occupier.All licenses for the occupation of Crown lands and leases of Crown lands required the payment of rent in amounts and at intervals as stated by legislation or regulations made under the authority of legislation. Rents could be paid either by post or personally to the Melbourne office of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538) or to local Receivers and Paymasters as designated for each parish and Land District (subsequent to the formation of the Occupation Branch in c 1874). Receivers and Paymasters were often local Clerks of Courts.Notifications of rents due at a particular date were circulated by notice or by lists published in the Government Gazette. The latter allowed local officers to be aware of the rents due in their areas. When the rents were paid to these officers, the payments were recorded in the local records and returns forwarded to the Department. Examples of these records may be seen in VPRS 809 Returns of Pastoral Rents Received. At the Occupation Branch, clerks (the rent rollers) were employed whose sole duties was the updating and maintenance of the rent rolls and preparation of certificates documenting payments where these were to be credited against the purchase price of land. Originally from about 1877, a rent roll clerk was attached to each District Land Office within the Occupation Branch.Sections 44 (Licensing) and 46 (Lease and Grant) of the Land Act 1898 divided lands into three classes for the purpose of the licensing or leasing of agricultural allotments. No more than 200 acres of first-class lands were to be licensed at the rent of one shilling per acre per annum; no more than three hundred and twenty acres of second-class land at the annual rental of ninepence per acre. Both types of land were to be licensed for no more than six years.In the 1898 Act, Sections 58 and 59 provided for the extension of the licensing and leasing provisions for agricultural allotments to grazing allotments. Sections 59 and 61 of the Land Act 1898 allowed for the issue of residential or non-residential licenses for grazing allotments on third class land. A license to occupy could initially be issued for up to six years for 640 acres. If conditions relating to the provision of fencing and the destruction of vermin were met, a lease for 14 years could be obtained at a cost of sixpence per acre. Rent payments could be used to defray the cost of purchase at ten shillings per acre.Under the consolidated Land Act of 1901, agricultural allotments were dealt with under Sections 47 (licensing) and 49 (leasing) and grazing allotments by Sections 54 (licensing) and 56 (leasing).Section 6 of the Land Act 1911 brought these provisions to an end. As an alternative, the option of taking out a selection purchase lease was offered with a period of twenty years being offered to fulfil the payment conditions for either a residential selection purchase lease (Section 8) or a non-residential selection purchase lease (Section 13). Conditions and covenants of these leases were laid down in Section 11.Researchers should note that further research is required into the actual end date of this card recordkeeping system. Some evidence suggests that the card system continued into the 1970s, although some series may have ended previously. For some series of cards it is possible that these were the cards for files for which active life had ceased. It may also have been that all cards are included as details of all files were transferred to a subsequent system.

1907年中期起，王室土地与测量部（Department of Crown Lands and Survey）土地占用科（Occupation Branch）启用了卡片档案系统。针对每一份成功申请租赁或许可占用王室土地（Crown land）所生成的新档案卷宗，系统将创建并维护两张卡片。其中一张用于记录档案的申请及后续管理流程，替代此前土地占用科创建的申请登记簿（Registers of Applications）；另一张则用于记录租金及其他费用的缴纳详情，替代此前的租金台账卷册（rent roll volumes）。此前录入这些卷册中的有效档案详情，正逐步迁移至卡片档案中。
租金台账卡片（rent roll cards）上记录的信息包括：被许可占用人或承租人姓名、土地位置与面积详情、费用缴纳明细，以及定期租金支付的日期与金额。备注栏则涵盖土地后续购置、租赁或许可证向其他持有人的转让及受让人后续缴纳费用、任何租赁或许可的注销或撤销，以及占用人放弃土地的相关情形。
所有王室土地占用许可及王室土地租赁均需按照立法或依法制定的规章所规定的金额与周期缴纳租金。1874年左右土地占用科成立后，各教区与土地区会指定专属的地方收款与支付专员（Receivers and Paymasters），租金可通过邮寄或亲赴王室土地与测量部墨尔本办事处（VA 538）缴纳至上述专员处。这些收款与支付专员通常由当地法院书记员兼任。
特定日期到期的租金缴纳通知，可通过公告或《政府公报》（Government Gazette）刊登的清单发布。后者可让地方官员及时掌握辖区内的到期租金情况。租金缴至专员处后，相关缴纳记录会录入地方档案，并汇总上报至本部。此类档案的示例可参见VPRS 809《已收牧场地租报表》（Returns of Pastoral Rents Received）。
土地占用科内设有专职文员（即"租金台账专员"，rent rollers），其唯一职责为更新与维护租金台账，并开具租金缴纳证明，此类证明可用于抵扣土地购置款。约1877年起，土地占用科下辖的各分区土地办事处均配备一名租金台账文员。
1898年《土地法》（Land Act 1898）第44条（许可）与第46条（租赁与授予）将农业地块的许可或租赁划分为三类土地等级：一类土地的许可租赁面积不得超过200英亩，年租金为每英亩1先令；二类土地的许可租赁面积不得超过320英亩，年租金为每英亩9便士；两类土地的许可期限均不得超过6年。
1898年《土地法》第58、59条将农业地块的许可与租赁条款扩展至牧草地块。第59与61条则允许为三类土地上的牧草地块颁发住宅或非住宅占用许可：单块面积不超过640英亩的牧草地，初始占用许可期限最长为6年；若满足围栏修建与灭杀害兽的条件，则可按每英亩6便士的租金签订为期14年的租赁协议，且已缴租金可按每英亩10先令的标准抵扣土地购置款。
1901年整合版《土地法》中，农业地块的许可与租赁分别对应第47条（许可）与第49条（租赁），牧草地块的许可与租赁则分别对应第54条（许可）与第56条（租赁）。
1911年《土地法》（Land Act 1911）第6条废止了上述条款，并推出了"选地购置租赁"替代方案：申请人可选择签订为期20年的住宅选地购置租赁协议（第8条）或非住宅选地购置租赁协议（第13条），并在期限内完成租金缴纳义务。此类租赁的条款与契约规定详见第11条。
研究人员需注意，该卡片档案系统的实际终止日期仍需进一步考证。现有部分证据显示，该系统可能延续至20世纪70年代，不过部分卡片序列或许在此前就已停用。部分卡片序列对应的档案可能已过有效存续期；也有可能所有卡片均被纳入归档，因为所有档案详情均已迁移至后续系统中。