C—lα.

Rural and Suburban. —The total area returned under this heading is 17,213 acres, consisting of 89 sections, at a cost of l - 675. per acre. The whole of this area was surveyed by staff officers. Of the above area 13,444 acres was the subdivisional survey of the Lindsay Settlement by Messrs. Brook, Farnie. and Wilson ; the balance, 3,743 acres, represent isolated sections and reserves in widely separated districts, and 26 acres a proposed scenic reserve in the Tahoraite Survey District, surveyed by Mr. H. Martin Smith. Only the work of which the plans are completed is returned, but the field-work of 64,546 acres is in a forward condition, and most of it will be plotted during the coming winter, the particulars being as follows : 2,423 acres, being lands exchanged, for portion of Ruangarehu Block, surveyed by Mr. Wilson, the plans of which are in hand ; 38,000 acres, settlement survey in the Ngatapa, Moanui, and Motu Survey Districts by Mr. Roddick, who has the field-work well advanced; 2,500 acres, the survey of which is completed, in the Hikurangi District, being the unselected portion of the Waitahaia Block ; and an area of 11,623 acres of the Waipaoa Blocks Iα and 3a, in the Tuahu Survey District, which is being roaded and subdivided for settlement by Mr. Farnie ; but there being a considerable length of road to be surveyed over a rough country, it will probably be well into next summer before this block is open for selection. The cost of this field-work above enumerated is all carried on to next year. Town Sectional Surveys.-— Under this heading 25 acres have been cut up into forty-five acre and quarter-acre allotments, at a total cost of £128 9s. Id., by Messrs. Brook and Roddick, in the Village of Frasertown and Motu. Native Land Court Surveys. —No surveys under this heading have been made by the staff, but 37 surveys, of a total area of 45,362 acres, have been executed by licensed surveyors at the cost of the Native owners ; applications for and authority to survey have been recorded and issued, and the plans checked and recorded. Road Surveys. —Road surveys executed by the staff of which the plans are completed are 3T25 miles, at a total cost of £758 Bs. 5d., or £2427 a mile. Of this Mr. Dalziell surveyed 18"4 miles through Native lands to give access to an education reserve and Crown lands, Mr. Brook 8 - l miles to give'access to Crown lands, and Mr. Farnie 3 miles, being a deviation of the Inland Waiapu Road. There are also 18 miles, the field-work of which is completed but not mapped, and cost carried to next year; 7 miles of which was surveyed by Mr. Wilson in the Hikurangi and Waiapu Survey Districts, and 11 miles by Mr. Farnie, the latter being 3 miles through S.G. Run 41, and 8 miles of the Arai Valley - Parikanapa deviation. Other Work. —This item, £714 4s. 7c1., includes miscellaneous work which cannot be included under other headings, such as field inspections, reports on blocks, information for Land Purchase Inspector re blocks, information for Tourist Department, reporting on Native blocks and estates, repairing trig, stations, &c. Inspections. —Twelve field check surveys have been made. District Surveyor F. S. Smith has made 10 field checks of surveys varying from small town lots to the Tahora Block of 60,000 acres. Only four diagrams have been sent in. In the others the calculations are nearly completed, but the diagrams are not plotted. Mr. Brook made a field check of a Native survey at Wairoa, and Mr. Dalziell of town sections in Dannevirke, diagrams of which have been sent in. I have visited the surveyors' camps in Hawke's Bay, and supervised the location of roads and general subdivision of estates for settlement. lam glad to be able to report that generally the inspections show that the work carried out by the licensed surveyors is satisfactory. Proposed, Operations for 1906-7. —About 64,000 acres of settlement surveys are on hand, and about 40 miles of road survey. Mr. Roddick will be engaged completing the survey of about 39,000 acres for settlement in the Motu, Moanui, Koranga, and Ngatapa Districts ; Mr. Farnie, 12,000 acres in the Waipaoa Blocks for settlement and road to give access to same, and marking old boundaries of runs recently leased in that neighbourhood ; Mr. Wilson, surveying roads in the Waiapu District to give access to Crown tenants, and settlement surveys ; and Mr. Brook on settlement surveys in Hawke's Bay. Office-work. —During the year 297 plans have been examined, approved, and recorded, of a total area of 185,074 acres ; and 1,172 diagrams have been placed on certificates of title, leases, and other instruments. Of the above plans, -37 were departmental, with an area of 15,704 acres; 37 Native Land Court, area 45,362; 32 Public Works, area 176 acres; and 173 Land Transfer, area 123,832 acres. Tracings of Cook and Wairoa Counties have been made and forwarded for photo-lithography ; lithographs coloured, showing topography adjoining schools, for the Education Department; and census maps and schedules prepared. 310 maps and lithographs have been mounted. Miscellaneous. —Nothing requiring special mention has occurred. Field and office staff have both been fully employed in keeping pace with the increasing work of the Department. The standard survey of the Town of Gisborne should be completed, it being a most important work, which at present is stopped as instructed, but without doubt should be completed to govern Land Transfer surveys in that fastgrowing town. Changes in the staff have been : District Surveyor Dalziell has been transferred to another district, and Mr. L. Hay, temporary draughtsman, resigned. Ebtc C. Gold Smith, Chief Surveyor.

TARANAKI. The operations under the various headings during the year represent a gross area of 195,391 acres. The details are as follows :— Minor Triangulation. —lll,soo 'acres were observed and plans completed of same during past season by Messrs. Bullard, Laing, and Kensington, in the Totoro, Aria, Waro, and Mahoe Districts. Topographical or Provisional Settlement Surveys. —The operations under this class amount to 12,680 acres only, in 24 sections situated in the Mahoe District,

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