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has associated With him Mr. H. M. Kensington, District Surveyor. The latter officer-is now carrying on the major part of the field-work, as Mr. Langmuir has been giving his special attention to base-line measurements in connection with the new major triangulation of the North Island. All .the standard survey work of the City of Auckland has been completed, according to the boundaries as they existed at the commencement of the work. Since then, however, four new streets have been formed, and a standard and alignment survey made of these. The field-work of the standard survey of the Borough of Parnell has been completed, and the plans, which are well forward, only wait the final determination of the alignments. In connection with this work fifty-three large scale offset plans of seventy streets have been drawn. This borough has now become merged in the City of Auckland. Two valuable index plans of the Auckland standard survey have been drawn by Mr. Jarman, whose neat and careful draughtsmanship at the age of nearly fourscore years reflects the greatest credit to him. These have been photo-lithographed. The field-work for the Auckland suburban standard survey has been completed along certain roads, necessitating a total chainage of miles and the insertion of 259 standard blocks. Otahuhu standard survey : All preliminary offsets and ranging are now complete upon this ' work, in addition to which 92 chains of permanent offsets have been taken. Mr. J. D. CTimie, Inspector of Surveys, reports that the plans of the Hutt-Emerald Hill standard traverse were plotted and finished, and will be found of great use in checking future surveys. Mr. W. T. Xeill, District Surveyor, continues to make good progress with the standard survey of the City of Dunedin, 28 miles of streets having been traversed and marked during the year, but reports that the weather throughout has been very unfavourable for the work. Mr. Neill is carrying out this important duty with the care and precision that marks everything that passes through his hands. A remarkable feature of this work is the exceptional accuracy of the original survey of the City of Dunedin, executed nearly seventy years ago by the late Mr. Charles Kettle, the first Chief Surveyor of Otago. Mr. C. Adnam Mountfort, District Surveyor, completed the observations necessary for the determination of true meridian at Ikitara and St. John Park, Wanganui, and has also been engaged upon, and brought to completion in the field, the standard survey of the Borough of Wanganui and the Town District of Gonville. A standard survey of the City of Nelson has been urgently needed for a long time, and at the completion of the above-mentioned work Mr. Mountfort was transferred thence in the middle of November, at which time the work began. Up to the 31st March he reports that three-eighths of the field-work has been completed, and in conjunction with his operations he has thrown a revised minor triangulation over his work. Further standard surveys are required all over the Dominion, and quite a dozen surveyors could be profitably employed on this class of work, but the pressure of settlement surveys for the present precludes this most necessary work being attended to. Settlement Surveys. The work coming under this head has during the year been pushed on with special vigour, and reaches a total area of completed surveys of 430,651 acres. These are comprised under the different heads as follow: Rura1,^409,915 acres; village and suburban, 2,678 acres; Maori Land Board subdivisions, 17,726 acres; town allotments, 332 acres. These will be found, if desired, divided up into their respective districts by referring to the tables dealing with same, and also to the reports by the several Chief Surveyors. A further area of 50,657 acres situated in the land districts respectively of Auckland, Nelson, Westland, and Canterbury has been topographically surveyed for the purpose of promptly throwing open for selection before final survey. Apart from this a large area has also been completed in the field, but owing to the plans not? having been sent in this must come into the work of next year. It is needless to add that the great aim of the Department is to meet the keen demand always existing for suitable settlement land, and the areas quoted above show to what extent the Survey Department has endeavoured to satisfy the call for "more land." To further meet this still » unsatisfied want I may state that for the coming year an area of ordinary settlement land reaching a total of 723,621 acres is in hand by staff and contract surveyors, a fair proportion of which has already been completed in the field. This area is spread over the following districts, viz.: Auckland, 220,404 acres; Hawke's Bay, 122,274 acres; Taranaki, 86,843 acres; Wellington,