C.—s

10

has been ascertained that a good line can be found by leaving the Wairoa-Mahia Eoad near the Native village of Nuhaka, passing through the .Crown lands referred to above, and emerging upon the present track in a valley some 5 miles south of Muriwai. An additional inducement for regarding this 'as a main road will be found in the fact of several thermal mineral springs, containing valuable medicinal properties, having been discovered in the Crown lands close to this line, for there seems to be no reason why this place should not become a small sanatorium, very Conveniently situated for all residents on the east coast of this land district. Land Purchase Surveys.- —The only transaction to record under this class is the cutting-out of a CroAvn interest in the Tauwharetoi Block, the area being 5,057 acres, and the cost £150. Native Land Court Surveys at Cost of Owners. —Forty-one blocks, aggregating 56,382 acres, have been surveyed, and plans of twenty-seven of these blocks have been approved. Field Inspection.- —The duties connected with land-administration continue to be so onerous as to leave little time for this Avork, but the field-parties are visited as often as possible, and the Inspector at Gisborne has sent in eight diagrams of surveys, aggregating 6,926 acres. Other Work. —Of the miscellaneous services included under this heading the principal items are: Erecting and repairing trig, stations, by the District Surveyor, Gisborne ; grading roads for construction, and inspecting formation, checking and redefining old boundaries, and general office-work during the wet Aveather, by Mr. Armstrong ; superintending removal of standard blocks at Napier, revising old surveys at Norsewood, inspecting and reporting upon selectors' improvements, and general office duties, by Mr. W. T. Neill; making observations for the purpose of ascertaining the variation of the compass at Napier, by Mr. J. Hay; redefining old boundaries, by Mr. G. A. Beere; restoration of trig, and standard points iu Heretaunga district, by Messrs. Hallett and Laing, &c. Land Transfer Surveys. —Mr. Dennan, Chief Draughtsman, has examined and submitted for approval fifty-five plans, containing 356 lots and 30,388 acres ; and Mr. Buscke, of the Gisborne office, has dealt in the same manner with fourteen plans, of 82 lots and 9,154 acres; the cost being £86 2s. Bd. and £41 2s. respectively. Boad Plans examined for Local Bodies. —Mr. Dennan has examined and submitted for approval plans of 17-75 miles of roads closed and deviated by Eoad Boards and County Councils. Crown Grants and Titles. —Plans have been placed upon 1,547 grants, leases, and the various other instruments of title, at a cost of £109 19s. The greater part of this Avork was executed by the ordinary office staff. Lithographs, &c. —Six photo-lithographic plans were prepared for the purpose of providing saleplans of lands opened for selection during the year. Eight maps of survey districts have been compiled, and five of these have been copied and forAvarded to the head office for publication. Topographical maps of Poverty Bay and HaAvke's Bay, on the four-mile scale, corrected to date, and containing much information useful to the general public, have been compiled and forwarded to the head office. Supplementary information for the land-tenure map has also been furnished, and further instalments of the lin. map of Cook County are in progress. Miscellaneous. —The usual services have been rendered to other departments and to the local bodies. Chief among the former may be named the Native Land Court, the Land Transfer Department, and the Education Department, including the School Commissioners. All these offices are debited with the actual cost of the services rendered, but this is not the case as regards the Crown Lands Department, where the line which divides the duties is not always clear; but it may be stated that the officers of the Survey Department habitually render those of the Lands very considerable assistance—as, for instance, in the matter of selection of unsurveyed land, issue of titles, returns, &c, and on more than one occasion draughtsmen here have been required to undertake the duties of Eeceiver of Land Eevenue. Standard Survey of Napier. — l_ correspondence Avhich has been going on between the SurveyDepartment and the Napier Borough Council has resulted in an agreement being come to to resume the standard survey commenced some years ago, and to carry it to completion as soon as circumstances will permit, in order that certain vexed questions connected Avith titles may be finally settled, and that property-owners may be able to avail themselves of the provisions of the Land Transfer Acts. The basis of the arrangement is, that the department w 7ill supply the professional skill and the borough the labour and material. Financial. —The total cost of this branch of the department for the year Avas £8,399 2s. lid., but, as £1,722 18s. 2d. has been received as survey-fees, and credit is taken for services rendered to other departments, &c, to the extent of £313 175., the net cost is reduced to £6,362 7s. 9d., so that these credits are sufficient to cover the cost of the two extra parties placed in the field at the beginning of last summer, as well as two large amounts paid on contracts. Future Operations. —Unless some of the Native land in the Seventy-mile Bush is speedily acquired, settlement must very shortly come to a standstill in the southern part of the district, and the surveyors will have to be transferred to Poverty Bay, Avhere it is proposed to prepare the Crown lands at Motu and other localities for settlement. As regards roads, these have been so energetically proceeded Avith, in order to avoid lapse of rights by effluxion of time, that the urgency may be said to be over, although a considerable mileage has yet to be done. Changes in the Staff. —Mr. Tone's retirement early in the year, through his salary being reduced under the retrenchment scheme, leaves me to regret the loss of a most able and industrious officer, whom it Avould not be easy to replace. Pie has since been appointed to entire charge of lands and surveys in British North Borneo, where I understand he is initiating the New Zealand system of surveys. Mr. F. A. Eich retired at the end of last December. Mr. J. G. Wilson has been transferred from Gisborne to Napier, and Mr. W. T. Neill vice versa. Mr. James Hay was transferred from Canterbury to this district early in June last. G. W. Williams, Chief Surveyor.