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sheets, in four printings, showing post-offices and telegraph-lines, 650 copies: for Marine Department, Wreck Chart, 1,475 copies in three printings; Lighthouse Chart, 3,875 copies in five printings; sight-testing diagram, 700 copies in seventeen printings; map showing trawling operations, 1,675 copies in four printings; four " process " illustrations of lighthouses, 2,650 copies of each; and certificates and examination charts : for Agriculture and Stock Department, 6,000 copies of fortytwo pages of agricultural statistics : for Public Works Department, 1,400 copies of sixteen " process " illustrations ; and 1,920 copies of diagram, showing railways opened, in two printings : for Railway Department, 33,000 Railway Time-table maps in three printings, and 1,400 copies of each of twelve " process " illustrations : for Native Department, map showing districts under the Maori Lands Administration Act, 750 copies in three printings; map showing districts under the Maori Councils Act, 100 copies in two printings : for Agent-General, map of New Zealand for Colonial Office list, 10,000 copies in three printings : for Colonial Secretary's Department, map of New Zealand for Emigrants' Information Bureau, London, 12,000 copies in three printings: for Mines Department, maps of Coromandel, Puponga, and Pakawau Goldfields, 2,200 copies of each in three printings; geological map of Coromandel Goldfield, 3,300 copies in three printings ; and 2,000 copies of each of thirteen " process " illustrations for Mines Record : for Government Insurance Department, 6,780 policy forms: for Government Printer, fourteen "process" illustrations for "Notes on Native Meetings " ; three maps showing Midland Railway blocks, 1,950 copies of each in three printings ; two diagrams to illustrate Commissioner Poynton's report on " Sparks from Locomotives," 2,800 in three printings : for Sir James Hector, 4,000 barometric forms: for Defence Department, two diagrams, 2,300 copies; plan showing shelter-trenches, 900 copies in three printings : for Samoan Government, two maps of the Municipal District of Apia, 500 copies of each in two printings ; and maps of Upolu and Savaii, 500 copies of each : for Education Department, drawing of New Zealand flag, 2,050 copies in four printings. For the encouragement of the tourist traffic there has been a large distribution of the illustrated guide-books mentioned in last year's report. The officers of the Union Steamship Company in Sydney and Melbourne aided largely in circulating these " Guides " throughout Australia. There are now sixteen publications describing the tourist routes of the colony issued from the department. Advantage "was taken of the Christchurch Exhibition to further advertise the Hanmer Sanatorium and Mount Cook Hermitage by means of specially prepared illustrated pamphlets and leaflets, of which 9,000 copies were distributed. " Notes on New Zealand," compiled by Mr. R. A. Loughnan under authority of the Minister of Lands, has been completed. The principal feature of this publication is the useful information in an abridged form which it contains respecting the geography, statistics, land system, scenery, of the colony, and the Maori race. Another work — " The Settlers' Handbook " —is in course of preparation and well advanced. For Proclamations under the Land Act eighty-six schedules and seventy plans have been examined. For the purposes of the Land for Settlements Act five schedules and five plans have been prepared. For Proclamations under the Public Works Acts eighty-three schedules and 109 plans have been examined. For Proclamations under the Loans to Local Bodies Act twentyone schedules and twenty-one plans have been prepared. For the purposes of the Native Land Court Act four schedules and five plans have been examined. Thirty-four schedules for eighteen local Bills have been examined and certified for the Local Bills Committee of the House of Representatives. Plans of twenty-four townships have been examined for approval of His Excellency the Governor. The descriptions of boundaries of road districts, ridings, mining districts, registration districts, boroughs, estates, districts under the Maori Lands Administration Act, and the Maori Councils Act, which have been written, reached the total of 128. These boundaries have been recorded on maps and entered in the record-books of the office. Ninety-one special tracings for departmental reports have been made. Plans and specifications have been made of the following bridges : viz., Tuakau, Aberfeldie, Nuhaka, Mangatoro, Pahaoa, and Shag River. The out-turn of the lithographic machines, as compared with the number of copies printed last year, shows a falling-off owing to the adoption of the zinc-etching process method of making half-tone illustrations from wash drawings and photographs. By this method the subject is etched on zinc, mounted on a wood block, and printed in a type-printing press or machine, thus relieving the lithographic printing-machines. The substitution of zinc for stone has not been dictated by belief in the superiority of the former as a means whereby the most artistic picture is produced, but because the departmental work of the photo-lithographic office has frequently been delayed in order to print illustrations for other departments. The total number of complete copies printed was 1,023,842, the hand-presses contributing 98,881 of that number. 1,632 lithographic stones have been used. The subjects dealt with amounted to 960. Eighty platetransfers have been pulled. The lithographic draughtsmen have used for sets-off, additions, corrections, improving, hill-drawing, tinting by means of air-brush, and etching, 724 lithographic stones. For process reproduction 143 photographs have been prepared, sixteen negatives have been retouched, and two wash drawings have been made. Number of maps, tracings, diagrams, and photographs mounted, 938. The demands on the photographic staff continue to increase, and a further addition of a darkroom is urgently needed. The work in hand includes a very large amount of silver-printing. The number and dimensions of line negatives taken are as follows : viz., Forty-seven of 8 in. by 10 in., sixty-eight of 18in. by 24 in., sixty-two of 16 in. by 16in., fifty-two of 30in. by 30 in., twenty of 24 in. by 24 in., thirty-nine of 12 in. by 10 in., two of s_-in. by 4|in., two of 6| in. by B_-iu. Eighty-two " process " negatives have been taken. The number of silver prints prepared amounted to 470, and the number of bromides printed amounted to 144. During the year the zinc-etching process was introduced, and is now successfully manipulated. For this, and for the general excellence of the photo-lithographic work, credit is due to Mr. Ross, his assistants, and the printing staff. The abstract of work done during the year in the photo-lithographic office and the photographic gallery is given in the tabular statement following : — iii—C. 1.

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