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subject during the year, and issued circulars to all the local bodies and settlers interested, indicating the manner in which the " thirds " could best be dealt with. Land Transfer Office. —There has been a steady increase of work in this branch; no less than 379 working-plans have been received, which is an increase of 162 over the average of the previous five years. The staff has been barely able to cope with the great pressure of work, and it is with great regret I have to state that it has been impossible to bring up these surveys upon compiled plans, or to reduce the arrears of mapping on the 10 and 20 chains to an inch scales, which is necessary to a proper control and utilisation of all new surveys. J. W. A. Mabchant, Chief Surveyor.

NELSON. % Minor Triangulation and Topography.—The extent of country covered by the work completed and returned this year is considerable, totalling 676,965 acres, or about 1,058 square miles. It is all rough forest country, and generally high and mountainous, a number of stations being from 3,000 ft. to 5,000 ft. above sea-level. Mr. District Surveyor Sadd returns 328,965 acres, which covers a strip of country inland of the settled district from Kahurangi Point, north of the Heaphy Eiver, on the West Coast, eastward to the dividing-range between the Motueka and Takaka Eivers. Mr. Assistant Surveyor Thomson's triangulation returned this year amounts to 191,000 acres. The country covered by the latter lies to the westward of the Motueka and Wangapeka watersheds, and includes the Mount Arthur and other mountain-ranges in the vicinity. Mr. District Surveyor Snodgrass has also triangulated 42,000 acres of the country between Mokihinui and Karamea Eivers, a distance of twenty miles, and in so doing has connected the initial station at Karamea with that of the Buller circuit, thus enabling the geodetical position of Karamea to be established, of which there had previously been only a rough approximation. Mr. W. P. Eobinson, authorised surveyor, completed under contract 115,000 acres at the back of Eeefton, over the Victoria Eange to the Maruia Valley, by which not only has a more intimate knowledge of the topography of that section of gold-bearing country been obtained, but fixed positions have been established throughout it on which to connect surveys of scattered mining claims. The average cost per acre for the whole is slightly over fd. Settlement Surveys.—Sixty-four sections, comprising 17,884 acres, have been surveyed, and in the great majority of cases they are of scattered selections before survey, involving considerable travelling, which necessarily increased the expense. With the exception of two sections of 1,340 acres, the whole of the work has been done by staff officers, at an average cost of Is. 3d. per acre. Gold-mining Surveys.— Dredging has been the cause of a considerable amount of this class of work, no less than eighty-nine claims having been surveyed, sixty-five of the number being by private surveyors, nominated by the applicants, who also paid the cost. Boad Surveys.—There has been surveyed 72f miles of road by staff officers, at a cost of £ll lis. sd. per mile. Other Work.—The sum of £1,259 ss. 9d., appearing in the return as the cost of " Other Work," represents miscellaneous duties of a varied character, such as explorations, inspection of private surveyors' work, laying off and inspection of roadwork, and office duties at the District Land and Survey Offices at Eeefton and Westport; besides, owing to there being no permanent Crown Lands Eanger in the district, the surveyors have inspected a large number of settlers' holdings, and submitted reports on various matters, at the request of the Land Board. Office-work. —A recomputation has been made, by the polygonal method, of the whole of the triangulation in the Nelson circuit, and maps of it prepared for publication. Drawings have also been made for photo-lithographing of eight survey districts, some of which will be published shortly ; the others are awaiting the completion of certain surveys within their limits, and it is deemed desirable to withhold their publication for a time on that account. 146 surveyors' maps have been received during the year, and 163, including thirty-nine deposited maps under the Land Transfer Act, have during the same period been examined, passed, and entered on blocksheets. Work for the Ensuing Year.—As a consequence of the probable early release of the land that has for so many years been locked up by the Midland Eailway difficulty, there is likely to be a great increase of work during the coming year, in both field and office, which will necessitate an augmentation of the staff. Many hundreds of applications have been made during the past few years for some of these lands, and it is more than likely that they will all be renewed as soon as the land becomes available. In anticipation of the release of these lands, it is intended to at once get parties on to open up the lands and renew the surveys made of some 11,000 or 12,000 acres of sectional work in the Tadmor district, which was executed about sixteen years ago, just prior to these lands being included in the Midland Eailway area. Besides this, a considerable number of sections in various localities will need treating in a similar manner, in addition to the survey of numerous selections of unsurveyed land that are certain to be made. In view of so much sectional work being required, the intended vigorous prosecution of the triangulation of the untriangulated parts of the district will have to stand over, and" we will have to be content this year to allow Messrs. Sadd and Thomson to complete the junction of their two series, and to finish the few outside triangles that were but partially observed when the breaking-up of the weather forced them to discontinue for the past season. A trig, and topographical survey is asked for by the Mines Department of the stretch of practically unknown country lying along the West Coast from the Buller Eiver southwards to about opposite Eeefton, which will be done this year if arrangements can possibly be made. There are 3,440 acres of mining claims at the present time in the

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