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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4161, 22 July 1874, Page 2

Mb. Campbell's resolution in the Council yesterday, that it is expedient a SurveyorGeneral should be appointed in the Colony, to guarantee the accuracy of the surveys made throughout the different Provinces, was cordially agreed to. Nor isit easy to understand how hon. members, many of whom are interested in the sure titles to land, and are therefore conversant with the merits of the question, could have voted other than as they did. It is of the greatest importance to the general public, the Government of the Colony, and the working of the Land Transfer Act itself, that there should be every confidence felt in theunimpeachableness of the titles that are given. The question raised by Mr. Campbell has no relation to the Act itself, nor to the conduct of those who administer it. These may be perfect, and at the same time titles given that may be safely impugned in a court of law, in consequence of inaccuracies of survey. The hon. member did not say, nor do we imply such is the case at the present time, that inaccurate surveys are being made. He rather bore testimony to the ability of the surveyors, and their faithful discharge of the duties entrusted to them, in the Provinces which he was best acquainted with. But no hon. member would undertake to say that all the surveys taking place throughout the Colony would bear strict investigation. The object of the motion was to guard against contingencies, just as a prudent man insures his property against fire. The motion was, in fact, an old friend wfth not a very new face. From what the Colonial Secretary said, it would appear that the Government had been as fully alive to the importance of the subject as any member of the Council could be. That no steps had been taken to remedy the existing state of things, was not the fault of the members of the Cabinet. Mr. Campbell, in his opening speech, pointed out that titles to 2,800,000 acres I had been already granted under the Act, and others would be, covering many millions of additional acres. He thought that a Surveyor-General should be appointed, with a small staff, and these should be able to assure the Government that the various surveys in the Colony were being proceeded with in a satisfactory manner. It is presumed that the Provincial Councils employ the best surveyors offering, but if the General Government lias to guarantee titles, it surely ought to be satisfied respecting these before it issues them. Otherwise it may be the defendant in innumerable law-suits. Mr. Campbell believes that the surveys made in Otago and Wellington are all that can be desired ; but in so important a matter he did not consider simple belief to be all that is essential. In this opinion he was fortified by the report of Mr. Williams—a gentleman qualified to speak with authority—who recommended, that there should be an efficient Surveyor-General appointed. This was, not for the purpose of going over old surveys, and validating or invalidating these, but to insure sufficient caution in the future in giving titles to the public estate of the Colony. There were men, Mr. Campbell thought, in the Colony perfectly competent to undertake this duty, and he did not think the Council would be exceeding its duty if it requested the Government to place a sum of money on the Estimates for the purpose he had alluded to. Colonel Brett's objection that a trigonometrical and geodetical survey of the whole Colony was necessary, before a SurveyorGeneral could accomplish the object sought, has more apparent than real weight. If the boundary of a Province had to be defined, a geodetical survey must be made, by, persons capable of determining both azimuths and latitudes. But it by no means follows that a geodetical survey need be made of the whole of the North Island, which has not yet been in our actual' possession, because we wish to secure the accuracy of sur- ! voys of slight portions of it. Moreover, a geodetical and trigonometrical survey of a country, however desirable it may be in the abstract, is not a work to be commenced in a hurry and finished instanter. It is essentially a work of leisure. Mr. Waterhouse's suggestion, that there might be a conflict raised between the SurveyorGeneral and the Provincial Surveyors, was in reality an argument in favor of the course recommended by Mr. Campbell. Scientific and literary men do not fall out respecting trifles relating to subjects in which they take a common interest. If the Surveyor-General, presumedly a competent man, recommended that titles should not be granted to land surveyed in a certain Province, a strong presumption would be raised that, if the Government did so, some day it would have to abide the result in a law Court. There would be a reason at once for the appointment of the Surveyor - General. Mr. Waterhouse's idea of a Bill being introduced on the subject, or a Select Committee appointed, was met in Mr. Campbell's reply, that ho wished, not to chain the Government to any course of action, but to leave the matter to be dealt with at discretion. This ho might very well afford to do, as the Colonial Secrotary admitted that he had no intention of opposing the motion on behalf of the Government, but fully recognised its importance. Ho reminded the advocates of an entire survey, that it had been estimated this would cost £6,700,000 —a sum which, however appalling when they were not so much accustomed to deal with, millions as at the presont time, would perhaps not bo viewed witli apprehension if its expenditure wore proposed to be distributed over a course of years. A survey, to be thorough, would require to bo astronomical, geographical, and geodetical—necossarily an expensive work—but the Government wished to go on with it at the rate of £SOOO per annum. This practically closed the debato, Mr. Menzie3' inquiry as to what the Inspector of Surveys had boon doing during tho past two or three years not being replied to. The present position being considered unsatisfactory, there was not deemed occasion for going into details which could not alter the deci sion hon. members had evidently arrived at.