H.—22

1876. NEW ZEALAND.

PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHIC BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING DEPARTMENT, (PAPERS RELATING TO THE SAVING EFFECTED BY THE).

Presented to tJie Souse of Representatives, Session 1876, and ordered to oe printed.

No. 1. Memoeandum for the Hon. the Mintstee for Public Woeks It is very difficult to estimate the gain there has been to the department by using the photo-lithographic process in preparing plans, although j.b has been very great. The cost of the whole department is about £GOO a year, of which about £300 is fairly chargeable against the Public Works. This is equal to the salary of one good draftsman, or two junior draftsmen. It would have been impossible to get the absolutely Decessary tracings made which are required for preparing contracts with less than twelve or fifteen draftsmen more than have been employed had we not had the PhotoLithographic Department to help us. With photo-lithography a cheap paper can be vised, instead of the expensive tracing cloth which would otherwise be required, and the saving from this cause alone would nearly cover the cost of the Photo-Lithographic Department, which is chargeable against the Public Works. I believe the saving on the whole is under-stated at £2,000 per year, besides which a great saving of time has been effected, and much useful work done which would not and could not otherwise have been done at all. Wellington, 17th July, 1876. John Caeettthebs.

No. 2. • The GoTEENiiENT Peid-teb to the Hon. the Ministee for Public Woeks. Sic, — Government Printing Office, Wellington, 18th July, 1876. I have the honor to enclose a report by the Photo-Lithographer on his branch of the Printing Department, together with a statement showing its cost since the date of its establishment, and a return of work done during the same period. I may add that it is a difficult if not an impossible undertaking to calculate the actual saving effected by the use of the photo-lithographic process, for the reason that there is no common basis afforded for making a comparison. To compare the multiplication of copies of drawings by draftsmen with those produced by means of photo-lithography would, as Mr. Deveril has pointed out, produce results which would appear absurdly great in favour of the latter. This much can, however, safely be said:— 1. It affords the means of producing in numbers, as required, maps, plans, and drawings, however elaborate, in a remarkably short space of time. 2. It affords the means of reducing those plans to any scale that may be desired. 3. It saves draftsmen's labour, by enabling maps and plans to be cut up and mounted for photographing. 4. It affords the means of procuring facsimiles of original documents, such for instance as the Treaty of Waitangi. 5. And, lastly, it is a great convenience when silver printing and other matters of a purely photographic nature are required. I have, &c, Geo. Didsbfbt, The Hon. the Minister for Public "Works. Government Printer.

Enclosure in No. 2. The Govebnmeist Photo-Lithogeaphee to the Govebnment Peinteb. Sic, — • Government Photo-Lithographic Department, 17th July, 1876. In accordance with instructions, I have the honor to forward statement showing amount of work done in this office for the various departments ; also the cost of the establishment from its commencement to the 30th June, 1876, a period of three years and three months. I—H. 22.