VPRS 13848 Rent Roll, Melbourne, Sections 42 and 44 Land Act 1884

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.Previous to the passage of the Land Act of 1869, the payment of rents had been recorded in Registers of Licensees and Lessees. These continued for Section 33 of the Land Act 1869 and at the offices of local Receivers and Paymasters. Within the Department of Crown Lands itself and the Occupation Branch these Registers were superseded by the Rent Rolls.Details given in the rent rolls are the name of the licensee or lessee, the details of the location and size of the land, details of the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 licenses to other holders and the subsequent payments made by those persons and any cancellation or revocation or instances of abandonment of the land by the occupier.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 were 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.Rent rolls, like registers of applications, were arranged according to sections of a specific Land Act. For major provisions such as Sections 19 and 20, Land Act 1869 or Section 29, Land Act 1898 and Section 35, Land Act 1901, the rent roll recorded only payments relating to that section. Payments for obligations under other sections of the Land Acts could be included together in one roll. Separate rolls were kept for payments made in each Land District.Section 42 of the Land Act 1884 (as confirmed in the consolidated Land Act 1890) provided for the issue to grazing area lessees (under Section 32 of the same Act) of licences to occupy for agricultural allotments not exceeding 320 acres in extent. Persons who had selected that amount of land under previous Land Acts were not eligible for this provision. Those who had selected less than the 320 acres could select the amount of land necessary to make it up to 320 acres.Rent was set at one shilling per acre per annum with the licensee to reside on the allotment and make improvements to it. During the period of this license the land could be resumed by the Crown for a number of specified purposes with the repayment of any rentals or if the terms of the license were not complied with. If these conditions and conditions relating to the control of vermin and fencing were complied with at the end of this time, a lease for up to 14 years was able to be applied for at the rental of one shilling per acre per annum or a Crown grant could be obtained by the payment of the full purchase price of fourteen shillings per acre. Lessees could obtain a Crown grant at any time during this fourteen year period by the payment of the difference between the rent already paid under the lease and the set price of fourteen shillings per acre.From late 1907 the Department of Crown Lands and Survey began changing to cards for its recordkeeping systems with the rent roll being reported as mainly on cards by 1917.VPRS 13848 / P1 was previously registered as Units 156, 157 and 162 of VPRS 631 / P Rent Rolls.

所有占用王室土地（Crown lands）的许可及王室土地租赁均需按照立法或依据立法授权制定的规章所规定的金额与周期缴纳租金。租金可通过邮寄或亲自缴至土地测量署（Department of Crown Lands and Survey，档案编号VA 538）墨尔本办事处，亦可缴至为各教区及土地区指定的当地收支主管——该设置始于1874年左右职业事务部（Occupation Branch）成立之后。收支主管通常由当地法院书记员兼任。
在1869年《土地法》（Land Act 1869）通过前，租金缴纳情况均记录于持照人与承租人登记簿（Registers of Licensees and Lessees）。该登记簿在1869年《土地法》第33条相关事务中仍被沿用，并存放于当地收支主管的办事处。而在土地署本部及职业事务部内，此类登记簿已被租金台账（Rent Rolls）取代。
租金台账所记录的详情包括持照人或承租人姓名、土地位置与面积详情、费用缴纳详情，以及定期租金支付的日期与金额。备注信息则涵盖土地后续收购情况、租赁或许可转让至其他持有人的相关细节、受让人后续的缴纳记录，以及土地被占用人放弃、撤销或废止的相关案例。
特定日期到期的租金缴纳通知会通过公告或刊登于政府公报（Government Gazette）的名单进行公示。后者可让当地官员知晓其辖区内的应缴租金情况。当租金缴至当地官员处时，缴纳情况会被记录于当地档案，并将报表报送至土地署。此类记录的示例可参见VPRS 809《牧地租金收缴报表（Returns of Pastoral Rents Received）》。在职业事务部内，受雇的办事员（即租金台账员）的唯一职责为更新并维护租金台账，以及为可抵扣土地购置款的租金缴纳情况开具证明文件。自1877年左右起，职业事务部下属各地区土地办事处（District Land Office）均配备一名租金台账员。
与申请登记簿一样，租金台账按照特定《土地法》的条款进行编排。针对1869年《土地法》第19、20条，1898年《土地法》（Land Act 1898）第29条及1901年《土地法》（Land Act 1901）第35条等主要条款，租金台账仅记录与该条款相关的缴纳记录；而依据《土地法》其他条款产生的缴费义务，则可合并记录于同一台账。各土地区的缴费记录均单独设立台账。
1884年《土地法》（Land Act 1884）第42条（经1890年合并版《土地法》确认）规定，向放牧区承租人（grazing area lessees，依据同一法案第32条）发放许可，允许其占用面积不超过320英亩的农业地块（agricultural allotments）。依据此前《土地法》已选定该面积土地的人员，不得享受该条款优惠；已选定面积不足320英亩的人员，则可补足差额以达到320英亩。
租金标准为每英亩每年1先令，持照人需在地块上居住并进行土地改良。在此许可有效期内，若出现规定的多种情形或未遵守许可条款，王室可收回土地并退还已缴租金。若在许可期结束时遵守了相关条款及虫害防治、围栏管理规定，承租人可申请最长14年的租赁，租金仍为每英亩每年1先令；亦可通过缴纳每英亩14先令的全额购置款，获得王室授地（Crown grant）。在这14年租赁期内，承租人可随时通过补缴已缴租金与每英亩14先令的标准购置款之间的差额，申请获得王室授地。
1907年末起，土地测量署开始将档案记录系统改为卡片式，至1917年，租金台账已基本转为卡片形式。VPRS 13848 / P1此前登记为VPRS 631 / P《租金台账》的第156、157及162单元。