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Settlement Surveys. The settlement surveys comprise Crown lands, land for settlement, and land for discharged soldiers. The bulk appears in Table A under the head of " Rural," the acreage there shown being 329,258 acres, while the remainder includes village and suburban and town lands totalling 988 acres. Native-land Surveys. An area of 19,234 acres was completed by the staff surveyors during the year under report, while an area of 238,832 acres was surveyed by contract surveyors. The area surveyed in each land district is shown in Table B. Gold- and Coal-mining Surveys. An.area of 768 aores is shown under this head. The surveys were made by private surveyors, and the fees paid by the applicants. Geodetic Triangulation. This work was resumed by Mr. H. M. Kensington, District Surveyor, who examined on the ground the scheme of triangles prepared in .1911 by the late Mr. ,J. Langmuir, Inspecting Surveyor, of the portion of the triangulation covering the Urewera country. The examination of the scheme has been completed, and the signals on the trig, stations are being erected. Standard Surveys. Mr. C. A. Mountfort, District Surveyor, has been engaged in extending the standard survey of Palmcrston North, and reports that the survey of forty-nine miles of streets is well advanced. He has also seventy miles of rural standard road traverse the field-work of which is completed. Mr. A. C. Haase, surveyor, has assisted in these surveys in order to receive training and gain experience in this class of work. On account of the absence of Mr. H. M. Kensington from Gisborne on the geodetic triangulation for several months the standard survey of Gisborne was held in abeyance during that period. Mr. Kensington returns fourteen miles, of streets, the plans of which have been completed during the year, in the City of Auckland, and reports that four-fifths of the Gisborne survey is completed. Topographical Survey. This survey is held in abeyance. Inspections. A certain amount of inspection has been carried on by the Chief Draughtsmen and staff surveyors, but on account of the pressure of work in connection with settlement surveys in some land districts and the limited field staff in others the number of inspections made during the year is far below the' desideratum. It is essential that more inspections should be made to keep an adequate check on the work of the staff and surveyors in private practice. Tidal Survey. The work for the year under report comprised the preparation of the data to enable a tide-table for the year 1923 to be completed by means of the tide-predicting machine at the National Physical Laboratory, Tcddington, England, of the ports of Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, Dunedin, Bluff, and Wcstport. AH the. computations pertaining to the work required to evaluate the harmonic constants have been completed by Mr. E. J. Williams, Tide-computer, with a small amount of temporary assistance. Tidal records and other meteorological data, including the surface temperature of the sea, have been received from New Plymouth to the end of August, 1921, when the observations were discontinued, sufficient information having been obtained for present requirements. The results arc given in Table E below. Analyses of two standard ports for which predictions are required were completed and checked during the year. No further tidal work could be undertaken on account of Mr. Williams's services being required in connection with his duties as secretary to the Representation Commission, which occupied six months of his time, and an assistant computer has not yet been appointed to the computing division. The details of the tidal work are more fully dealt with in the report by Mr. E. J. Williams, Tidecomputer, appended hereto. Magnetic Observatory. During the year the work of the Magnetic Observatory at Christchurch and the substation at Amberley has been efficiently carried on by the Director, Mr. H. F. Skey, B.Sc. His full report, with diagrams, tables, and seismic records, is published as an appendix hereto. A feature of this year's report is a further discussion of the observations, the results arrived at indicating a connection between the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism and the motions of the planets. The arrears of work are being steadily overtaken, as in addition to the current work of the year the records for the year 1907 were measured for declination, and the results published in the Appendix. A list of the earthquakes recorded at Christchurch during the year by Milne seismograph No. 16 is also published.