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1907. NEW ZEALAND.

DEPARTMENT OF LANDS: SURVEYS (ANNUAL REPORT ON).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Surveyor-General to the Hon. the Minister of Lands. Sin, — Department of Lands, Wellington, Ist June, 1907. I have the honour to submit herewith the annual report on the survey operations of the Department for the twelve months ended the 31st March, 1907. I have, &c, Thos. Humphries, The Hon. R. McNab, Minister of Lands. Surveyor-General. Work done during the Year. The past year has been a busy one both for field and office staffs, though the output of completed work by the former is a little less than that of the previous year. This is partly due to several of the officers having been taken from purely settlement work to render professional assistance, by surveys and reports, to the several Native Land Boards. Besides, at the close of the year a very large amount of survey was in progress, and a considerable portion of it on the eve of completion. As will be seen in what follows, settlement survey was notwithstanding vigorously carried on, for considerably over 400,000 acres was sectionally surveyed and mapped, besides 200,000 acres prepared for offering for selection under the " unsurveyed " clauses of the Land Act. The number of surveyors employed during the year was 33 on the permanent staff and 40 on the temporary staff. In addition to these, there were 54 contract surveyors on Native Land Court and mining surveys, and the work of 139 licensed surveyors in private practice under the Land Transfer and Public Works Acts had to he examined, approved, and recorded by the district offices before the plans could be made use of, besides the actual surve\-s being subjected to occasional rigid field checks by our Inspectors. Consequently, during the year the surveys of no less than 266 surveyors, official and private, came under the supervision and control of the Department, which necessitated a strong office staff of computers and others. The following is a summary of the surveys completed during the year, exclusive of those under the Land Transfer Act executed by non-official licensed surveyors referred to above: —

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Class of Work. Area. Class of Work. Cost per Acre. Cost per Acre. Total Cost. * Aores. Minor triangulation ... ... ... 130,423 Topographical ... ... ... ... 335,938 Topographical provisional settlement... ... 200,515 Eural and suburban ... ... ... 407,724 Town ... ... ... ... ... 494 Native Land Court ... ... ... 237,380 Gold-mining ... ... ... ... 2,240 Eoads and railways ... ... ... i 288'8 miles Miscellaneous work and other duties ... ...I l-56d. l-05d. 4-37d. 174s. 18-718. per section 543d. 4'70s. j £18-58 per mile ... £ s. 848 16 1,466 16 3,652 6 35,556 1 902 19 d. 0 1 6 0 0 3,580 9 531 15 5,367 3 9,589 16 0 0 0 9 Total cost of field-work completed during the year ... £61,496 2 4