VPRS 13063 Register of Licensees, Hamilton, Section 42 Amending Land Act 1865 and Section 49 Land Act 1869

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.Similarly, under Section 49 Land Act 1869, applications were able to be made for a license to reside upon or cultivate auriferous (gold-bearing) land. Licenses were to be granted for no more than 20 acres and for no more than one year. One license only was to be issued to each personAs 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 of the Department. 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 1861 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.The volume in this series records details of some of the last licenses issued under Section 42 Amending Land Act 1865 and then licenses issued under Section 49 Land Act 1869.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 in Melbourne. 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.VPRS 13063 / P1 was previously registered as Unit 17 of VPRS 1309 / P .

1865年《土地修正法案（Amending Land Act 1865）》第42条旨在允许为惠及普通民众而使用淘金场（goldfields）范围内或毗邻淘金场的土地，同时不干预矿工的作业。该类土地的占用需以适度租金支付，且为临时性质，仅可用于居住与耕作。每份可续期许可证的最大覆盖面积为20英亩，有效期不超过1年，个人可申请多份许可证。租金需上缴至税收管理员（Receivers of Revenue）或薪酬支付员（Paymasters），收费标准为：占地不足10英亩者，每年缴纳2英镑10先令；占地10至20英亩者，每年缴纳4英镑。许可证持有人需进行可识别的改良作业——圈定其分配地块，并耕作规定比例的土地，以证明其用地诚意。
同理，根据1869年《土地法案（Land Act 1869）》第49条，个人可申请许可证，以在含金（auriferous/gold-bearing）土地上居住或耕作。许可证覆盖面积不得超过20英亩，有效期不超过1年，且每人仅可获得一份许可证。由于此类土地已为采矿目的完成测量，并已明确含金（或产金）土地范围，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，可送至墨尔本王室土地与测量部（Department of Crown Lands and Survey），或该部门的地方代表办公室/代理机构。该殖民地共设立约36个土地办事处，负责处理依据该法案提交的申请。申请将被登记至《申请登记簿》，并按接收顺序分配编号。随后由地方委员会对申请进行调查并出具报告。墨尔本收到的所有地区的申请，将按申请人姓名及分配编号进行索引。
该委员会的职能包括：对每份申请进行调查并出具报告，保护公众与地方利益，推动土地的有益利用。委员会成员包含测量总监、土地与测量助理专员、矿业秘书、矿业董事会及郡议会（Shire Council）的主席与成员，并由区测量员（District Surveyors）、部门其他职员及已完成申请地块测量的矿业测量员（Mining Surveyors）提供协助。此类委员会或问询会在淘金场范围内及周边的区中心与其他主要人口中心举办。委员会就申请作出的决定将被记入《申请登记簿》。对于区登记簿，实践中会将与特定日期、特定地点举行的委员会会议直接相关的申请进行登记与整理。
申请获批后，需依照法案规定向总督会同行政会议（Governor-in-Council）提交申请，为成功申请人颁发占用许可证。同理，许可证的注销/撤销与转让也需经总督会同行政会议批准。部分此类记录可于VPRS 863《1865与1869年土地法案相关的许可证颁发与注销枢密院令》中查阅。
总督会同行政会议批准后，将颁发许可证，并在《许可证登记簿》中进行登记。登记簿中记录的信息包括：许可证编号与颁发日期、许可证持有人姓名、土地所在的郡与教区、地块所在的区段与分配编号，以及土地面积。登记簿的对页设有若干栏位，用于登记年度费用的缴纳情况。备注栏用于详细记录许可证的历史，包括依据1861年《土地法案（Land Act 1861）》第31条与第19条规定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，登记簿还记录了通过行政手续或继承方式向其他持有人的许可证转让、土地后续收购、许可证的撤销或注销，以及相关通信的编号。
本系列档案记录了部分依据1865年《土地修正法案》第42条颁发的最后一批许可证，以及依据1869年《土地法案》第49条颁发的许可证详情。
在申请获批后的某个时间点，会创建一份档案，存放原始申请及后续相关的所有通信。此类档案也被分配了连续编号（详见VPRS 624《1865年土地法案土地选择档案（Land Selection Files, Land Act 1865）》）。档案编号与申请或许可流程中，在区或中央层级分配的任何其他编号均不对应。据推测，曾存在一份对应此类档案及其编号的登记簿，但截至2002年7月，该登记簿并未被妥善保管。
1868年8月，依据1865年《土地修正法案》第42条制定了补充条例。该条例将可选择地块的距离限制从淘金场周边扩展至30英里，并授权每人可颁发8份许可证，使每位选地者可获得160英亩土地。申请仍可在地方及墨尔本提交。相关土地已完成测量准备工作，条例生效后立即设立委员会对申请进行审批。现存记录显示，此类申请被单独登记于《申请登记簿》中，但许可证获批后，相关信息将被录入现有的《许可证登记簿》。
从《许可证登记簿》来看，依据1865年《土地修正法案》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条完成收购，要么依据1869年《土地法案》第19条转为租赁。其他选地可通过公开拍卖方式收购，另有部分地块由许可证持有人长期占用，许可证可进行转让或遗赠。
VPRS 13063 / P1原登记为VPRS 1309 / P的第17单元。