EARLY HISTORY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 6, 23 August 1911, Page 5

EARLY HISTORY.

SURVEYING IN THE OLD DAYS. In tho course of his reply on the occasion of tho presentation to him of a purse of sovereigns by officers of tho Lands Department at New Plymouth, Mr W. H. Skinner said ho entered tho office .as a boy 39 years ago. Ho well remembered his first morning. The then Chief Surveyor (Mr Thos. Humphries, late Surveyor-General) was also captain of the local lire brigade, and when Mr Skinner arrived to take up his duties the lire brigade were holdinp; a wot practice. On July 1, 1872 (his first day’s work on tho staff) ho went, with the Chief Surveyor to ’Huirangi. Everything beyond 801 l Block was ,at that time a wilderness. It rained very hard that day and they got a thorough soaking, and he always called that his baptism into official life. The staff tlien consisted of himself and the Chief Surveyor. Contrast that with tho present time. Now they had a staff of 36, including field officers. Tho area of surveyed land in 1872 was approximately 120,000 acres, of which barely one-third was in occupation, and very little of that improved. Wo had to-day something like over a million acres held under different tenures, and about one quarter of a million acres set aside as reserves—education reserves, endowments, etc.—and practically all settled on. Thirty-nino years ago tho limit of cultivation to tho north was Bell Block, and to the south it went as far as Stony River, but between Omata and Stony River was another wilderness—fern and tutu. One had to bo constantly battling for his province, as Taranaki was in those days called the “Little Benjamin” of the colony, and was taunted with having caused the native troubles. Always he had unbounded faith in this district ,and one could see what advancement it had made, .and ho felt assured still hotter things were in store. Coming back to tho staff, lie congratulated Mr Armstrong on the efficient staff he had under him, and to whom ho could always look for loyal support, for the New Plymouth office had earned a good name for itself throughout the service.