SURVEY OPERATIONS IN TARANAKI.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 4450, 19 September 1883, Page 2

SURVEY OPERATIONS IN TARANAKI.

The following is the report of the Chief Surveyor (Mr. T. Humphries) on the survey operations in the Provincial District of Taranaki for the year 1882-3 :—

The following is a summary of what is to be found in detail in- the -accompanying tabular statement. Trigonometrical and topographical survey, 149,500 acres, at l-2d., £770 16s. 9d.; rural and suburban (settlement), 40,706 acres, at 25., £4,077 10s. 7d.; town, 40 acres, £44; Native Land Court, 54,250 acres, 5-5 d., £550 12s. Gd.; West Coast Commission, 73,700 acres, at 10-6 d., £3,252 9s. 7d.; Native Reserves Trustee, 21,731 acres, at Is. 7-ld., £1,734 103. Id.; railways and roads, 18£ miles, at £50 135., £1,112 15s. 5d.; other work, including work in progress, £2,771 195. sd. The work performed this year has -far exceeded that of any previous ,tfne. This is mainly due to 'our having, in October,, last, taken over the conducting of ihe'survVy's in connection with tho West' Coast Native Commission, and in the' following -De'cem ber undertaking those required by the Native Reserves Trustee' in subdividing for leasing the, large reserves on fthe^olpt. total area of t the various classes of work executed daring the year amounts to 1 340,000' acres, 93, per cent v ofj whichis. jn iforest. iW " '/t/ t ' «-••'• Triangulation.— The' 149,500 acres just finished completes"£ne whole circuit around Mount Egmont, a distance "61 126" miles. It commences at Waitara and follows the coast to the Patea District, which, ifl all open land, and completes the circuit through the forest, thirty miles east of Mount Egmont, to the initial "a't-.Waitara. We have covered with triangulation nearly if not all the country that will be affected by settlement work for some time to come, but shall be obliged to extend it further not th ward, near the Wanganui River, and also towards the Mokau, as a basis for the Native Land Court surveys. Settlement.— Of the 40,706 acreß returned, 6,507 acres are near Cape Egmont, in what is commonly known as the Parihaka District, about half of which is open country. The remainder lies in the forest at the back of the Waimate Plains, and abuts on the Stratford and Eltham Roads. The average cost of the whole of the sectional work is 2s. per acre— considerably lower than that of last year ; but the rate will necessarily alter from year to year, the conditio is being variable. The survey of a further 6,000 acres is in progress, and drawing near completion. . ■ ' Native Land Court Survey. — Under this head are 54,250 acresj costing, 5.5 d. per acre, 12;390 acres of -which have been for natives who have refunded; the.. expenses, amounting^ to £449. The 34,680 acres which appears on the' fetfurn withdiit a surveyor's name is part of the Mangaotuku Block, a Government purchase, and has been compiled from the "late triangulation surveys oft adjoining blocks done this year, and work done on the block in 1878, the oost of the latter appearing as £550 12s. 8d. ■ The Tutaiariari Block, of 5,894.a0re5, was surveyed by a surveyor, epployed by the natives, ahd who was paid direct from them. This was an old work, taken in hand previous to the Act of 1880. The work has been inspected and the maps approved, but it does not appear in the statement of work. Messrs. Palmerston and Scott have a contract for another block, estimated at 30,000 acres. They have been some months at work on it, but have as yet received no advances.

West Coast Covimission. — In October last, in consequence of illness of the late Captain Skeet, it was ' arranged that the department should Undertake the conduct of these snrveys, and since that period nearly 74,000 acres have been completed, besides other work which cannot be enumerated in the schedule. The naturei of this work is in a great measure, unlike any other. A great portion of it, is subdividing into hapu divisions, varymg i from 1,000 to 15,000 acres. Another part is rural-section work of the severest type,' in the locating of compensation awards to the precise acre, and of which, there are 13,500 acres. These sections vary from twelve to 500 acres, the smaller predominating, as instance a case at Onairo, where 760 acres are cut into thirty-eight sections averaging twenty acres each. Since I have taken charge 103,400 acres of this work have come into the office to be- dealt with, but the return only shows what has actually been done since that time, now nine* months. Having in view the ultimate subdivision of the hapn divisions for leasing, road'linea have been run and made the boundaries wherever practicable, instead of arbitrary lines, which would of necessity have created great confusion in. , the cutting-.up..- This course has made the work more expensive, but will be a saying in the end, and is preferable in every-respect. The bulk of the work is now done; everything is completed south of New Plymouth, and, with I 'one or two exceptiens, the Crown grants are either executed or now in preparation. To the north of New Plymouth 12,200 acres- ate surveyed, but there still remain about 24,000 acres to be done, 1,800 of which is in hand. What is before us is in a very broken forest country, and the greater part compensation awards, so that the survey will be necessarily slower and more expensive than what has already been done! Notwithstanding this, I anticipate seeing the end of this particular work r a-, few months hence. During the year there have gene out from the office 101 draft Crown grants to Natives, representing 103,440 acres, and seventeen more are in preparation, comprising a further 49,270 acres ; these will be cleared off in July. Native Reserves Trust. — This is the "subdivision for leasing of the lands that have been Bet apart for the Natives by the West Coast Commission. Notwithstanding that the exterior boundaries of the several grants have been surveyed, a considerable amount of work is entailed in laying-ofl; roads through the larger blocks, and in scheming the sections, which latter are 1 often altered as the work progresses to suit the requirements of the Natives. In some cases work has had to be abandoned for this reason. Theße surveys were commenced in the latter part of November, and since that time there has been an average of three surveyors upon' them, resulting in the subdivision for leasing o£ 21,731 acres. A further 3,000 acres is in hand on the Continuous Reserve^ and the balance of that portion of the Opunake Block at present proposed te be leased.

Roadi and Railways. — The rates on some of those items appear high, but when the circumstances are considered thoy are not unreasonable. The road over the White Cliffs Range has been a very difficult and tedious work. Trial lines have been cut through the forest and graded for miles in different places ; but finally a line for the main road to Mokau has been determined upon, the steepest grale being 1 in 15. It will be an expensive road, but is the only practicable one through this piece of rugged wooded country. Again, the railway bu ryey b have been costly in consequence of two miles out of the five running through town and suburban lands; in fact,' right into the centre of New Plymouth, and this amid surveys of forty years ago Other Work.— This item of £2,771 l'9s. sd. includes the cost of surveys in progress (amounting to 23,000 acreß), inspection, exploring, and a number of, other works which could not be classed under any of the headings in the return. The latter is especially the oubo with the peculiar and intricate work of the West Coast Commission. Inspection. — Having had as many as twenty-two parties in the field, II 11I 1 have been compelled occasionally to avail myself of the services of Mr. Bird, the senior Staff Surveyor. During the year I have made thirty-seven inspections, and Mr.

Bird eight. Constant attention has been needed with the surveys for the Reserves Trustee, as so many questions arise beyond the power of the surveyor to decide. In the work that lias been returned this year, 213 miles of road have been run, mainly in the forest. Inspection in this particular is very necessary, but, while a great deal lias been done in this way, it has been impossible to go over all the lines. With regard to the character of the surveyors' work I have pleasure in reporting it to be thoroughly good. The closes, both instrumental and measurement, are quite equal to those of preceding years. While the work as a whole is excellent, I do not venture to say that there may not be a slip in such a mass of work, such as in laying-ofE a section-line. [ Office Work—After what has preceded, it is almost needless to say that the office work has been very heavy, and were it not for the additions lately made to our small office staff we should have been o verwhel tned with the great inrush of pressing work during ,the last six months. There has been pressure on all sides : From the Crown jLands to prepare land for the market ; 'from the West Coast Commission to issue as speedily as. possible the Crown grants to ■the Natives of the lands awarded to them ; 'and from the Reserves Trustee to get the land ready to be leased with the greatest expedition. In justice to tke officers,, I ■must say' that they have done well, and to their utmost have endeavoured to meet the [demands. Both Commission and Reserves (Trustee's surveys entail a great amount of jofflce work; it all having to be arranged i here, and complete schemes of the subidivisions made and given to the surveyors to work from. Of Crown grants plans and {descriptions in quadruple, 146 have been ■ prepared, comprising 103,824 acres ; cer- , tilicates of title, in lieu of Crown grants, 1436, representing 1854 plans; 1020 plans ' placed on ordinary certificates of title ; 46 land transfer surveyor's plans passed, and (22( 22 drawings for photo-lithographing have been made.

Future Operatidns.— The triangulation, which has now reached Pukearuhe, I would recommend to be continued through to Mokau, and, as topography is always combined, it will give a good insight into and valuable information respecting a part of the country of which at present so little is known. The Native difficulty, which has for so many years been the obstacle to our operations in this direction, I have reason to believe is now removed. In the settle-ment-work we have to complete the forest land at tho back of the Wairaate, and I would propose that some should be done during the coming season in the Waitara Valley, near Kawau and Taramokou, where there is good land, both agricultural and pastoral, and' will be but about twelve miles from the railway-line. We have as stated before, 24,000 acres to complete for Sir William Fox,; and the Reserves Trustee will be requiring, beyond the 10,000 acres we have in hand, a considerable amount more at Stony River and north of Waitara. Thomas Humphries, Chief Surveyor.