SURVEYORS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 August 1924, Page 5

SURVEYORS.

DENUDATION* OF FORESTS. .SUBDIVISION OF LAND. (BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.) NELSON, Aug. 21. A paper dealing with the denudation of forests on the higher levels, as affecting river encroachments and other engineering problems, was read at the surveyors’ conference by Mr. J. E. Menzies. He doubted if the revenue derived for the next hundred years from the sale or lease of land at the sources of rivers in Nelson would pay for the protective work already done, and which will have to be done in the next ten years. It was a serious thing if the back country, which in many cases was worth very little per acre, was to be settled at the cost of more valuable low-lying areas. Mr. L. C. Sladden (New ‘Plymouth) said a mistake had been made in the past in felling bush in the high country. All the beds of streams hi Taranaki had risen considerably, in one instance as much as twelve feet.

Mr. Tresider, on behalf of the Dunedin branch, brought up the question of the powers of borough councils under the Municipal Corporations Act regarding the subdivision of land. In the course of discussion Mr. H. Bridge and Mr. Seddon expressed the opinion that the Act needed amending to more clearly define what were the powers of borough councils under the Act. The chairman did not think anything could lie done in the matter, but stated that the Minister had been approached on the subject, and no doubt it would be covered in the Town Planning Bill. It was resolved that it be a recommendation to the Surveyor-General tc simplify the method of closing roads. A resolution approving of the institution of daylight saving in New Zealand was unanimously adopted It was resolved that the council be recommended fittingly to recognise the services to the institute and the profession generally of Mr. Thomas Ward, of Wellington. The following motion was carried at the instance of Mr. Littlejohn : “That it be an instruction to the council to take all possible steps to secure the passing of a Street Alignment Act, whereby street boundaries re-establish-ed bv standard survey shall become the legal street line.