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1890. NEW ZEALAND.

SURVEYS OF NEW ZEALAND. REPORT FOR 1889-90.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Sir, — General Survey Office, Wellington, 2nd August, 1890. I have the honour to furnish the following report on the work of the Survey Department for the twelve months ending the 30th June, 1890, at Avhich date the survey year ends. Extracts from the reports of the Chief Surveyors in charge of the ten land districts into which the colony is divided will be found in the Appendices, together with detail progress-reports on each of the road-Avorks carried out by the department, and tabular statements of surveys completed, &c, Avith maps illustrative of the same. To facilitate reference to the results of the year's work, the following figures have been compiled, which shoAV at a glance the totals, and the average cost of the work under the various headings : — Area. Rate per Acre. Cost. £ s. d. £ s. d. Minor triaiigtilation (Avithout topography) ... 1,334,671 acres 0 0 0-89 4,952 13 1 Topographical surveys... ... ... ... 248,712 „ 0 0 0-46 482 19 9 Trigonometrical and topographical surveys ... 62,960 „ 0 0 0-84 221 19 9 Selection surveys under "The Land Act Amendment Act, 1887'"' ... ... ... ... 261,484 „ 0 0 3-33 3,633 16 1 Sural and suburban section surveys ... ... 431,695 „ 0 1 3-7 28,249 1 1 Town-section survev (138 acres, 339 sections), per section ... ... ... ... ... ... 0 15 0-5 255 2 6 Native Land Court surveys ... ... ... 805,364 acres 0 0 2-6 8,924 18 6 Mining surveys ... ... ... ... 21,467 „ 0 5 9-1. 6,252 0 4 Eoads, 408-16 miles, per mile ... ... ... ... 9 .4 0 3,755 16 10 Miscellaneous Avork ... ... ... ... ... . . 6,356 15 11 Total cost of field-work finished during the year ... ... £63,085 3 10 The total cost of field-work for the year was £49,816 Bs. 9d., and the difference between that sum and £63,085 3s. lOd. represents field-work shown in the above totals that Avas commenced in the previous year, and also includes work done in the field, but not yet mapped. The total cost of supervision, office-work, and publication, was £36,614 15s. 10d., so that the gross cost for the twelve months was £86,431 4s. 7d.; or deducting refunds for services performed for other departments, &c, the net cost of the department for the twelve months was £73,765 Os. Id. Triangulation and Topographical Survey. Summarising the three first items above, it will be found that 2,572 square miles of country have been partly minor triangulated, and partly topographically sketched, at a cost of about fd. per acre. The largest area accomplished this year in one continuous survey has been in the Auckland District, by District Surveyor Cussen, where the work was necessary in order to cover the large area of surveys undertaken for Native Land Court purposes. Mr. T. N. Broderick, in Canterbury, and Messrs. Bullard, Smith, and Greenfield, in Nelson, also carried triangles over extensive areas in order to control the sectional and other surveys within those districts. Extracts from Mr. Broderick's report on the discovery of another pass over the Southern Alps, explored during the course of his survey, will be found in the Appendix. The only other item of any consequence under this heading Avas a triangulation of 113,034 acres in the rough wooded country between Gisborne and Opotiki, performed by Mr. Teesdale, to facilitate the subdivision of some blo3ks for settlement along the Motu Eoad. The triangulation of the colony—either as major or minor work—is now well advanced, and its continuance "in the future will be in somewhat small and detached portions where necessary to cover the settlement surveys as they advance; the cost, therefore, of this class of departmental work will be a gradually-decreasing one. I—C. 5.