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fact that the bulk of the land dealt with was rough bush country, and in remote districts. The cost shown above is that of the completed work as it leaves the hands of the surveyors, already mapped and ready for examination and compilation. Teigonometeical and Topographical Sueveys. A noticeable feature in the transactions of the past year is the greatly increased area that has been completed under this heading. It will be seen that 2,535,708 acres have been surveyed this year as against 451,821 acres the previous year. The bulk of this work lies in the districts of Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, and Southland. In Auckland, Mr. T. K. Thompson completed the triangulation of that long stretch of country lying between Eangaunu Bay and the North Cape, into which the true meridian had never been extended before. By the completion of this work, we now have a chain of triangles from the North Cape to Stewart Island. The largest continuous area surveyed was that known as the Urewera Country, where about a million acres was triangulated, and the topographical features roughly put in. The survey was one of a very onerous character, and reflects great credit on the officers concerned, Messrs. L. Cussen, J. T. Philips, A. L. Foster, J. Mouatt, and C. Clayton, who suffered considerable hardships, owing to the very rough nature of the forest-clad country in which the work is situated, combined with the very bad weather prevailing during the last winter. The rough Native tracks through this country made transport a matter of great difficulty, to which must be added the hostile attitude of the Maoris during the earlier stages of the work. The survey has resulted, however, in supplying a fairly good topographical map of a portion of the colony of which very little had hitherto been delineated beyond the rough sketches made by travellers or military forces passing through it. A map will be found appended which gives the main features of the country. It is exceedingly rough, with few exceptions covered with forest, and generally unsuited for settlement, excepting, perhaps, a few square miles on the upper branches of the Waiau Eiver. The scenery, however, is very fine in parts, and the road now in course of construction through the heart of the country will allow of this being seen to advantage. The Urewera or Tuhoe Tribe, that occupies the country, at first offered opposition to the survey, and gave a good deal of trouble; but, on the Government showing its determination to have the work carried through, they finally ceased their opposition and allowed the work to proceed to its completion. Thus the last area of any size in the North Island has become subject to the ruling process of triangulation. InTaranaki a considerable area has been triangulated in connection with surveys in progress, and the work is being extended by Mr. Skeet to cover the remaining part of that district as yet not triangulated. A large area has also been covered in Wellington by Mr. Lowe, but, as the work is not yet mapped, it doss not appear in this year's returns. In the South Island, the falling-in of many run leases in 1896 had rendered necessary a trigonometrical and topographical survey of the greater part of the Marlborough District south of Blenheim, a work which has been in progress by Messrs. Smith, Carkeek, Gillies, Buckridge, and Hughes for some time; the work completed during the season comprising 404,000 acres, in addition to about 250,000 acres complete in the field but not yet mapped. In connection with the above work, a great deal of detail surveying of boundaries had to be done, in order that an adjustment of run boundaries may be made when the time comes for rearranging the leases. The country is extremely rough and mountainous, and a great deal of it covered with snow in winter. In Southland an extension of the triangulation westward of the Waiau Eiver has been carried on to cover the surveys which will be necessary to give effect to proposals for supplying land to the landless Maoris of the South Island ; with the same object, the Stewart Island triangulation has been pushed forward in the south-east part of that island. It is a matter of regret that more of the topographical information accumulated in the department is not published for the use of the public, as is done in other countries; but the staff of draughtsmen at the head office have their whole time occupied in other work, and, moreover, the ill-adapted building now occupied by the photo-lithographic branch would render it at present impracticable. Exploeations. Mr. T. Mackenzie, M.H.E., has added something to the geography of the colony during the past season, as he did in the preceeding one, but he was extremely unfortunate as to weather, and therefore was unable to carry out fully his intentions. Starting from the head of Dusky Sound, he made his way with three companions for several miles up the Mackenzie Eiver, the outlet of which into the sound had been reported by Mr. Henry, the caretaker at Eesolution Island, the previous year. The river appears to be a fine stream, navigable for boats for some miles by making portages at some of the cataracts. A lake—Lake Ida—was discovered, and a fine stream coming into the Mackenzie from the east, one of which may turn out to be that followed in the previous years' explorations, but Mr. Mackenzie does not commit himself to a positive statement on the subject. Had the weather not been so bad, and a boat available at Lake Manapouri, the party would probably have made their way through. Mr. Mackenzie has been good enough to supply an account of his journey, which, together with a map, will be found in the appendix. A couple of years ago, the Alpine Club, of London, through the Secretary of State for the Colonies, drew attention to the advisability of making periodical observations on the glaciers in different parts of the world. In this country, the approval of the Government was obtained to allow the officers of the Survey Department, as opportunity occurred, to make exact observations of the phenomena connected with our glaciers. From time to time such observations have been published in the annual report of this department, and again this year there will be found in the appendix some measurements of the Fox Glacier, on the west coast of the South Island, made by Mr. Assistant Surveyor Wilson, which show the alterations going on, and the (comparatively) rapid descent of the glacier towards its terminal face. Mr. Wilson has given his points of observation with mathematic precision, so as to render comparison in the future a matter of certainty. It will be interesting to again compare observations made of the same points in a few years hence.

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