O.—la.

duties, which have been performed with zeal and with a great sacrifice of his own time beyond that which office-hours demand. I also desire to place on record the untiring energy displayed by Mr. Kensington, Chief Draughtsman, upon whom, through force of unusual circumstances, so much has devolved^during the year. Work for the ensuing Season. —The demand for settlement-survey is very great, and apparently unsatisfied. All the staff have their hands quite full of instructions, and in addition to this I have on my books applications for 400 sections, of an area of 34,250 acres, the instructions for which are not yet in the hands of the surveyors; and, unless I have additional help allowed me, Ido not see how the work is to be overtaken without such delay as will cause great discontent amongst the numerous applicants anxious to get on their land, whilst many probably will recede from their intention of selecting through disappointment, which necessarily retards the settlement of the country. Two more surveyors, at least, are required to fill up the gaps made by the removal of Mr. District Surveyor Goldsmith to Gisborne, and the perforced temporary cessation from work of Mr. District Surveyor Edgecumbe, whose regretted ill-health, undoubtedly intensified if not altogether brought, about through his hard work in the service, has necessitated the granting to him of leave of absence. Of surveys under the Native Land Court Act, we have in progress or about to be undertaken, in the King country and other places blocks containing an area of 1,161,712 acres, the cost of which is in the first place being advanced by the Government; and of other surveys, to be paid for by Native owners, about 5,000 acres in various parts of the district. And, lastly, I would suggest the layingoff of some of the main roads through the King-country blocks, more especially when subdivision on subdivision is being made, —as, for instance, from Kihikihi southwards past Otorohanga. The Land Court would find it of great convenience, and many of the boundaries of the small partitions would be made to conform to the roads, instead of otherwise in the future being riddled by them. Thomas Humpheies, Chief Surveyor.

HAWKB'S BAY. Settlement Surveys. —During the year 52,696 acres of rural surveys for settlement purposes, divided into sixty-five sections, were completed. Out of this area the 34,262 acres returned by Mr. Armstrong, and which are held under the small grazing-run system, were divided into nine sections only; but it is fair to the surveyor to state that the cost includes the survey of nineteen miles and a half of roads. The section-marking of 8,997 acres in Wakarara District, which had been skeletonsurveyed by Mr. Tone during the previous year, was completed by Mr. Price, at a cost of 7'9d. per acre; the total cost being £504 15s. 6d., or at the rate of Is. l'4d. per acre. Mr. Tone completed the section-marking of 7,722 acres in the Norsewood and Weber Districts, the skeleton-surveys of which area were made by himself and Mr. Wilson during the previous year, the total cost being £786 75., or at the rate of 2s. per acre ; but in justice to Mr. Tone it must be stated that his own work, if taken by itself, does not come to more than half that rate per acre. Mr. Eich made a skeleton-sur-vey of about 12,000 acres in Weber District, including trigonometrical and topographical work, at a cost of £1,000, or l-665. per acre. Mr. Price has prepared a similar survey of 7,200 acres of forest reserve iv Wakarara District, which it is proposed to resume for settlement purposes under statutory sanction, as provided for in the State Forest Amendment Act of 1888. Unsurveyed Land opened for Selection. —l wish to remark here that the opening for selection of so-called " unsurveyed land," as provided for in the Land Act of 1887, although it has its drawbacks, has greatly facilitated settlement in this district; and, had it not been adopted to a considerable extent, it would have been impossible for the small staff here to have anything like satisfied the large demand for land which has been experienced during the last twelve months; in fact, as it is, the requirements of settlement are in advance of surveys. Settlement-surveys on Hand. — The remaining Crown land in Weber District, comprising 14,000 acres, is under survey by Mr. Eich, and it is expected that this will be ready for selection within the next three months. In the same district Mr. Tone is finishing the section-marking of some 10,000 acres which was skeleton-surveyed by Mr. Eich and himself last year, and most of which has already been selected. In Tahoraiti District Mr. Price is preparing for settlement some 9,000 acres of forest reserve, which it is proposed to resume under the State Forests Act referred to above. This will probably be ready for selection in about nine months' time. Mood-surveys. —Road-surveys continue to occupy a prominent place in the duties of the staff at Poverty Bay. Mr. Armstrong completed six miles at a cost of £110 18s., or at the rate of £18 ss. per mile; he also surveyed nineteen miles and a half through and leading to the Arikihi and other runs; and Mr. Wilson completed in the field fifteen miles of roads taken through Native land under warrant; making a total mileage of forty miles and a half. Of road-survey per se there is nothing to return for Hawke's Bay, although the local bodies continue to take roads either under the authority of the Survey Department or by agreement with owners. Land Purchase Surveys. —Crown interests in Native blocks situated in Waiapuand Mangaporo Districts, aggregating 4,377 acres, were surveyed by Mr. Barnard at a cost of £144 12s. 3d. Native Land Court Surveys. —A very much larger area of Native land surveys at cost of applicants has been completed this than last year, forty-eight blocks, containing 173,497 acres, having been treated at Poverty Bay, and fourteen blocks, containing 188,482 acres, at Hawke's Bay, the total being sixty-two divisions of 361,979 acres. Owing to this increase of business, and to the numerous Court sessions within the last twelve months, the services rendered to that department have been considerable, and survey officers have spent a good deal of time in attending Courts at Tologa Bay, Wairoa, Waipawa, Hastings, &c. Standard Survey. —Mr. Tone returns 94-17 chains of standard survey at the Spit, Napier, for the purpose of checking and fixing position of building lots laid off at that place last year, Mr,

6