occupy under it for five years of the six, and make certain improvements, they are entitled at the expiry of the six years to grants of the fee-simple at fourteen shillings an acre, or to leases for fourteen years at one shilling an acre, with the right of preemption at any time during the term upon payment of the difference between the amount of rent already paid and the statutory minimum of £1 an acre.1 Very stringent provisions exist 2 to prevent these agricultural allotments being obtained by any but bona fide intending settlers, not already entitled to the maximum of 320 acres. "Non-residence licences" for improvement purposes, at double rents, may however be issued,3 and any licensee or lessee of an agricultural allotment may obtain a grant of an area not exceeding twenty acres for an orchard or vineyard at a price which, with the rent paid, will make up the statutory minimum.4

For purposes of this class of lands a person of the age of eighteen years is deemed to be legally of full age.

5

c. Auriferous lands, which, like the pastoral and grazing areas, may not be alienated in fee-simple, but of which annual grazing licences, renewable for five years, may be granted." But no licensee is to occupy more than 1000 acres of auriferous lands, and his occupation is not to interfere with mining pursuits. The rent at which he holds is to be fixed by valuers appointed by the Board of Land and Works.8

7

d. Lands which may be sold by auction.

Certain other out and out by

areas are defined as those which may be sold public auction at a minimum upset price of £1 an acre.9 Not more than 100,000 acres may be thus sold in any one year, and no "" "10 country lands may be sold until a schedule of them has been laid before both houses of Parliament.11 Streets, roads, and townships may be proclaimed, and the land in the townships sold by auction.12 The produce of all auction sales is paid into "The Railway Construction Account," to make provision for the construction of Government railways. 18

e. Swamp lands, situated in five localities. These may be reclaimed by the Government with prison or other labour, under the supervision of the Board of Land and Works, and, when reclaimed, may be leased in allotments not exceeding 1 Land Act 1890, § 44. 2 § 43. 3 § 49. 4 § 55. 6 §§ 65-67. 7 §§ 67, 68. 8 § 67. 10 66 Country" lands are those which are not comprised within the 11 § 69. 12 § 73.

city, town, or borough (§ 4).

5 § 36. 9 § 69. limits of a

13 § 78.

CHAP. XXXI

LAND ACT OF 1884

293

160 acres, for terms not exceeding twenty-one years.1 the fee-simple may not be sold.2

But

f. State forests. These may not be disposed of in any way except under grazing licences or licences to cut timber.3

g. Timber reserves. These may not be alienated in feesimple, but, as they become denuded of timber under licensed cutting, they may be added to the pastoral or agricultural and grazing lands, and dealt with in such capacities.* State forests and timber reserves may be placed under the control of Local Forest Boards.5

h. Water reserves, i.e. the catchment areas, from which are fed the streams which supply water for public domestic purposes, are absolutely prohibited from alienation in any manner whatsoever, except for certain public purposes."

8

The Act also enables the Governor in Council to grant leases or licences of small areas for industrial purposes, for periods not exceeding twenty-one years in any case; but where the lands in question are within the limits of a city, town, or borough, the leases must be put up to auction. Moreover, commons may be proclaimed and placed under the control of an existing local authority, and managers may be appointed to enforce the destruction of vermin and the eradication of weeds." Every lease of a pastoral allotment or grazing area is subject to the entry for gold-mining purposes of the holder of a miner's right or mining lease, without compensation for surface damage, and every grant, and every lease or licence made with right of pre-emption, is subject to a similar entry on payment of compensation.10 Moreover, any traveller is entitled to depasture his cattle and sheep upon any unsold Crown lands within a quarter of a mile of any road or track, except in certain counties named, where the right is restricted to cattle, and to similar lands within a quarter of a mile of a surveyed road." But twenty-four hours' notice of such intention must be given to the occupiers, and a reasonable rate of progress must be made each day.12 Finally,

i. Mallee lands, or lands comprised within the Mallee Country in the north-western district of the colony, amounting

to about 10,000,000 acres, are subject to special rules. The peculiarity of these lands appears to be that they are covered with a scrub having a fibrous root of great tenacity, which scrub harbours large quantities of "vermin.”

The Mallee Country is to be divided into "blocks," each of which is to be subdivided into two parts designated respectively A and B on the Government maps. The right to a lease of a mallee block, for a term of years fixed by the Governor in Council, but not exceeding 20 years from the 1st December 1883, is put up for sale by auction, and the successful bidder is entitled to take such lease of either part, according to his option, and must "occupy" the other part for a period of five years from the date of the lease.2 The southern and eastern border lands of the Mallee Country, known as the "Mallee Border," are to be divided into "mallee allotments," varying in size, but not exceeding in gross area 20,000 acres each. And such allotments may be leased to any applicant for a term similarly limited as in the case of mallee blocks, provided that no person shall hold more than 20,000 acres of mallee allotments. Moreover, any mallee block may be subdivided into allotments, if applicants are forthcoming sufficient to take them all up.*

3

The rent reserved on the leased part of a mallee block is to be twopence a head on sheep and a shilling on cattle for the first five years, twice these amounts for the next five years, and thrice for the third five years, each calculated upon the average number of head actually depasturing on the land. For the "occupied " portion of the block, the rent is to be at the lowest rate. The lessee is not to cultivate, assign, or sublet his land without the permission of the Board of Land and Works, he must destroy within three years and afterwards keep out the vermin from both portions, and must keep all improvements in repair. The Crown may re-enter, upon three years' notice and payment of compensation. Similar conditions, except as to "occupied" portions, apply to the leases of mallee allotments.s No alienation in fee-simple of mallee lands is allowed, and lands alienated prior to 1883 in the Mallee

CHAP. XXXI

THE MALLEE COUNTRY

295

Country may be compulsorily repurchased by the Crown.1 The Board of Land and Works is to be deemed the "occupier" of any unleased or otherwise unoccupied mallee lands.2 The Governor may from time to time proclaim any "vermin districts" within the Mallee Country or Mallee Border, and thereupon the owners, lessees, and occupiers of all lands within the district must annually elect five duly qualified persons as a local committee for the destruction of vermin within the district.3 Votes can be claimed according to a scale varying with the claimant's possessions in cattle and sheep. The business of the local committee is to ensure the destruction of vermin within its district, and for that purpose it must recommend to the Governor an annual rate upon each square mile of land within its district as well as upon the sheep and cattle kept thereon. This rate, when proclaimed by the Governor, becomes payable by the owners, lessees, and occupiers at the times appointed for payment of the rents of the latter, to the Minister, by whom it is handed over to the local committee, to be by them expended, along with the Government grant, in measures for the destruction of vermin. In like manner, the local committee may recommend a "fencing rate" to defray the interest of the money expended by the Board of Land and Works in the erection of vermin-proof fences in the district. If any owner, lessee, or occupier within the district fails to destroy the vermin on his land, the local committee or, in the event of their failure, the local committees of adjoining districts, may enter and do so, charging him with the cost of the proceedings.8

5

Within a period of three years from the 25th November 1889, the lessee or assignee of a mallee allotment is entitled to select such part of it as, with his previous selections, will not exceed in the whole 320 acres, and the part selected thereupon becomes an "agricultural allotment." But in the event of his exercising his right the selector is liable to have his other holding in a "mallee allotment" reduced to 1000

policy, brought up to the close of the year 1889, may be stated in bare outline. Of the fifty-six million acres of land in Victoria, which all were, originally, vested in the Crown, there remain more than half still undisposed of. Of this area, about eighteen million acres (including eleven millions and a half of "mallee lands") are occupied for pastoral purposes, seven million acres form reserves for public purposes, and eight millions are still available for settlement. The average price realised for lands sold absolutely by auction during the year 1889 was £5:7: 8 an acre, the total area thus disposed of being 13,681 acres. The total amount of money which the Crown has received for the sale of lands since the founding of the colony is £23,811,586, not allowing for interest on deferred payments. For the last ten years the amount of Crown land sold by auction has generally been from 20,000 to 30,000 acres per annum, but the amount acquired by selection has substantially fallen off since the coming into operation of the Act of 1884. The number of leases of pastoral lands existing in 1889 was only 94, but a large number of "grazing areas" were temporarily occupied under lease or licence. Substantial progress has been made in the settlement of the "Mallee Country."

Amongst the agricultural purposes to which the land is devoted, the growing of wheat is by far the most important, occupying five times as many acres as any other crop. The average produce of wheat in the last eighteen years has been 11.65 bushels to the acre, but, with the exception of one or two very good years, there has been a notable falling off in the crop since 1878.1

Besides his duties in connection with this elaborate scheme of land alienation, the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey controls the administration of the public parks, pleasure gardens, and reserves, the management of which, in so far as it is not in the hands of specially appointed trustees or municipal bodies, is by statute vested in the Board of Land and Works.2 He also works the machinery of the Land Tax Act, by which, speaking broadly, every owner of land amounting to 640 acres in area, and being above the value of £2500, pays an annual

1 Cf. statistics in Hayter's Year Book of Victoria, 1890, §§ 375-391.

2 Land Act 1890, § 136.