FARM AND STATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2323, 8 September 1898, Page 4

FARM AND STATION.

THE SURVEY DEPARTMENT. The transactions of tlie Survey department, as detailed in the annual report of the Department of Lauds and Survoy for Hie year ended March 31, 189S, coyer a wide area., and the report coatains the record of a vast amount of 1 valuable work overtaken during tlia year. The Auckland mining boom caused a considerable amount of extra work m triangulation alone. Major triangulition covering an area of over half a million acres on the Cape Colville Peninsula was executed. In the centre of th 3 North Island the work of the previous year in the direction of completing a connection with the Auckland work wis further extended, but as the maps, etc , were not complete, a record of this work does not appear in the report. " The coming season will see an extension of the Marlborotigh triangulation over the Seaward JKaikouras, and in Taranaki the north-west part of the district will be taken in hand as soon as possible. The demand for lands for settlement- has been the means of throwing a considerable amount of work upon the department. It is worthy of note that the Southland returns include an area of 9245 acres surveyed at Stewart Island for the landless Natives of the South Island, and other surveys in the same connection have been in progress in the Waiau district. This is a work that will 1 commend itself to those who desire to ; see some scant measure of tardy justice I done to the descendants of the original S possessors of the land of the South Island, who were in some instances induced to part with practically the whole of their estate by methods which at tlia present time would be considered questionable. Native Land Court work necessitated the survey of no less than 266, 524 acres. The mining surveys were considerably less than those of the previous year, wluph is due to the fact that thei-e was a great falling off in the number of claims applied for in the Thames district. The record of road surveys however, shows that a good deal mor-> of this work, indispensable in the interests of settlement, was undertaken by tKe department, and included in this branch of surveyiug was the laying off of over 100 miles of water race in Ca.iterbury. A large amount of road construction was supervised by the department, the appropriations representing a larger number of separate works ill all ■ parts of the colony than in any previous, year. The total expenditure on roads and bridges was £280,999, of which £23,656 was expended in Otago. The great bulk of the work conducted by tho deparbment has been carried out on th-3

co-operative contract system, giving employment to 1519 men ; while the aver- , age wage earned was 6s 4d per day. ; The cost of these works throughout the colony was £125,106, in which is included the cost of tools, explosives, otc. Th's is in excess of the amount expended during the previous year by £31,706. The minimum wage earned by inexperienced men was Is lOcl per day, while the maximum wage was 13s l|d. Again ;t this latter item, in the " Remarks " column it is explained that the men employed were thoroughly experienced, hard-working men. A considerable number of the men employed earncl wages varying from 2s 3d to 4s lOd per day. In one case, where the wages earned were 9s lOd, the men worked from 10 to 12 hours per day — not bod for a Government that desires to pin other employers of labour down to eight hours per day. In another ease, where the wages earned were 3s lid a day, no less than £712 i-3 debited for management of day labour. Since the money divisible amongst the total number r <{ men employed is nearly 9s per day, it will be seen that nearly a third was absorbed in the cost of management, etc. Tho true facts of the case arc that there are too many inspectors and other hangers-on to the department in proportion to the number of men employed. The heavy cost of management renders the system nugatory in the attempt to jjrovide remunerative employnwjnt, at a reasonable cost to the colony, for those wJio might otherwise be unemployed. It is a great pity that the usefulness of a system which ought to work satisfactorily has been destroyed by bad administration. Some of the comments of chief siu'veyors upon co-operative works are worth noticing. The district surveyor, reporting upon the works in tho Marlborough district, says: — "As usual the old difficulty of getting men to work together harmoniously for any length of time was experienced on this work. . . . Generally at the end of cadi contract there was a splitting up of the parties with fresh combinations, resulting in all tho good men get-ling into one party, and the poor workers into another." This shows one of the weak aspects of the administration of the system. The communistic idea that the strong would help the weak and share alike with them, under tho protecting cegis of the State, has proved a delusion. Human nature will have to be cast in a different mould before the dream of the altruist will be reached, even in such commonplace concerns as Government co-operative contracts. In spite of all attempts, therefore, to equalise wages, here, as in every other department of the business of life, the race is to the strong, and the weak have to go down to a lower grade. The report of the road surveyor in the Wellington West district elucidates another point. After pointing out that most cf the co-operative work is given to settlers, he says : " Without the assistance thus derived from the co-operative contracts on the Government works it is difficult to understand how many of these settlers could remain on their sections." The Wellington West district is not peculiar in this respect, for the same thing applies on some of the settlements, especially in bush districts in the South Island. While the settlers can divide their time between working on the cooperative road contracts and improving .their sections, they can live after a fashion ; but., if the Government dole gives out before they have got fairly started in their new life, nothing but a hopeless struggle against poverty lies before many of them. The appendices to the report deal fully with the improved farm and village homestead settlements. The portion dealing with thermal springs and sanatoria is beautifully illustrated, and details are given of the various works and improvements at Rotorua, To Aroha, Hanmer, etc. Appendix No. 14 givas details of the roads and bridges damaged by the Hawke's Bay Easter floods of , 1897, and views of some of the bridges j before and after the flood are reproduced from photographs. A new nia}3 ' of the colony, " constructed according to j tho rectangular tangential system of pro- j jection designed by Colonel Sir Henry j Ja3£es 3 R.E., is being proceeded with j uninterruptedly," and a map specially i designed for use in schools will be com- i menced as soon as the former map is com- j pleted. The output of the, litho. machines and presses is said to have been | greater than that of any previous year, ] the impressions credited to the machines \ being 1,306,581, and to the presses : 69,060. The quantity of work from the j photographic gallery has also been ! greater than during the previous year, i There is a vast amount of departmental infoi'mation collected within the covers j of the report, but we have touched upon ! the principal features of general public interest. '