C—l

Government Loans to Local Bodies Act : Proclamations bringing blocks of land under the Act, and arranging with Treasury as to loans on same for roads and other works, 35. Crown Grants Act, Land Transfer and kindred Acts: Crown grants (for 45,089 acres), 85; warrants (for 551,425 acres), 260; Land Transfer certificates, 2,162; leases from the Crown, 74; Crown grants corrected, 16; duplicate Crown grants issued, 6 : total, 2,603. Naval and Military Settlers' and Volunteers' Land Act, 1892: Total number of remission certificates issued since 31st March, 1893, under section 6 of the Act, was 292 :— £ s. d. Bepresenting a money value of ... ... ... ... 12,850 0 0 Certificates issued under the Act of 1891 ... ... ... 23,106 10 0 Certificates issued under the Act of 1892, as per schedule to the Act... ... ... ... ... ... ... 8,140 0 0 Total value of certificates issued to 31st March, 1894 ...£44,096 10 0 Of the 292 certificates issued during the past financial year, 154 have been exchanged for debentures, and seven have been exercised in payments for land. The total number of remission certificates exercised during the year is 312, of which number 254 have been exchanged for debentures and fifty-eight have been used in the purchase of land. The total number of certificates converted into debentures to 31st March, 1894, was 388 ; value, £14,311 10s. The total number exercised for the purchase of land was 181: value, £6,965. In addition to the above, a schedule of all rejected claims under the Acts of 1889, 1891, and 1892 was prepared, giving a precis of each case, and the reasons for rejecting the claim in each case. This schedule totals 1,579 claims, and is now under consideration of Government. A further return was likewise prepared of cases not yet finally decided : these claims are fiftyone in number, and amount to £2,630 in value. The above summary gives but a faint idea of the work involved, for long and tedious processes had in many cases to be gone through before a Proclamation or Order in Council could be issued. The work was well kept up during the year ; and I desire to bear testimony to the hearty co-opera-tion shown by all the officers to that end. Accounts. Mr. H. J. Knowles, the Chief Accountant, reports : — The number of vouchers authorised for payment or credit was: — 5,991 charged to Consolidated Fund, covering gross expendi- £ s. d. tureof... ... ... ... ' ... ... 136,531 7 8 5,847 charged to Public Works Fund, covering gross expenditure 0f... ... ... ... ... ... 157,776 9 1 1,233 charged to special Acts, covering gross expenditure of ... 59,465 011 Total 13,071 Total £353,772 17 8 Details of the expenditure will be found in the various tables on other pages. In addition, 228 credit-vouchers and 606 applications for imprest advances have been dealt with; and 1,340 letters, memoranda, returns, and other matter have been prepared, copied, and despatched. One hundred and eighty-one agreements prepared in triplicate have been issued, representing grants to local bodies of £42,847 2s. lid.; and the payments under grants amounted to £22,704 7s. lOd. A statement of expenditure, liabilities, and balances available, in respect of each of the 440 individual appropriations, has been prepared monthly for circulation within the department; and the various expenditure and authority registers have been carefully and systematically checked each month, and the totals and balances arrived at. As compared with the previous year, the work in this branch is shown to have increased by one-third, and it has only been overtaken by constant work at high pressure and a very considerable amount of overtime.

Table No. 1.—Showing Surveyors employed and Work on Hand on 1st April, 1894.

XVI

Surveyors omployed. Work on Hand. Chief Surveyors. Staff. Temporary. District. I Trig. Settle- Native Bonds, „,„,„„ I ¥^ ns , mont. Blocks, &o. &c. Tmvu - and Mineral J. Mueller \ Humphries '. Strauchon . H. Baker . S. Browning .. >. Weetman ). Barron . W. A. Marchant !. W. Adams I. \V. Williams .. 13 4 5 8 5 20 5 6 14 4 Auckland Hawke's Bay Taranaki Wellington .. Nelson Maryborough Westland Canterbury .. Otago Southland .. Sq. Mis. 250 71 91 250 272 Acres. 132,202 79,800 106,000 351,838 77,843 2<J,213 18,408 295,858 22,950 07,878 Acres. 296,179 70,060 130,610 3,105 640 Miles. 249 16 85 95 Acres. 100 1,000 Acres. 200 2 4 4 3 7 1 5 226 47 100 302 150 220 l^000 22 150 Totals 48 62 1,310 1,181,990 501,054 740 1,250 G02