15

C.—la,

97 square miles completed and mapped, while another 88 square miles is completed in the field but not completely mapped. Returns at 31st March, 1927, show a grand total of 247 square miles completed in the field, of which 159 square miles have been mapped. For the year under review the completed cost runs out at £3 18s. per square mile. This work includes 12 square miles of the contour survey of Egmont National Park. In addition 73 miles of levels were run in connection with the above survey. Rural. —An area of 21,478 acres is returned under this heading. This area includes a 17,800-acre Crown Land block and scenic reserve, surveyed in the Heao Valley by Staff Surveyor Mclntyre at a cost of £884. Village and Suburban. —16 sections, comprising 124J acres, were surveyed at a cost of £103 4s. Native Land Court Surveys.—The total area of Native Land Court surveys completed during the year amounted to 1,527 acres, the whole of which was done by private surveyors under authority. An area of 3,966 acres is now under survey by contract surveyors. Roads.—Only two surveys, totalling 0-94 mile, were carried out during the year. Other work. —This expenditure amounted to £265 os. lid., in which is included two timber appraisements, and boundary redefinitions by Mr. Mclntyre ; also the survey of grave-plots, Tongaporutu, and redefinitions of boundaries of National Park by Mr. Adams. Inspections.—lnspections of surveys in Opunake Survey District and Town of New Plymouth were carried out by Mr. McCabe, and in Paritutu Survey District by Mr. Ellis. Office-work. —Land Transfer Branch : In this branch 150 plans were examined and approved, comprising 541 lots and 6,730 acres, a slight increase on last year ; 1,518 diagrams were examined and placed on instruments of title ; and 551 Land Transfer leases, Native Court orders, Crown leases, &c., were examined and passed. The diagrams drawn included 558 certificates under the Compulsory Registration Act, being largely compilations of rural areas. 150 tracings of Land Transfer plans were prepared for the Valuation Department. In addition to current recording, a complete set of 75 index maps of the Borough of New Plymouth were compiled on a scale of 1 chain to an inch, and 4 index maps on a 20-chain scale of districts, were drawn for the Lands and Deeds Department. All index maps are of 30 in.-by-30 in. size. Native Land Branch.—Sixteen authorities for 37 partitions, representing an area of 4,980 acres, at an estimated cost of £570, were issued during the year to private surveyors ; 12 plans and duplicate tracings for 31 partitions of an area of 1,527 acres were received and approved for the year ; also 6 compilations with duplicate tracings of 15 partitions, of an area of 1,380 acres, were drawn in the office for Native Land Court use. The survey costs (including cost of checking plans and interestdue) collected amounted to £718 17s. Id. 112 diagrams were endorsed for attachment to partition orders ; 25 applications for charging orders and 25 certificates of cost were forwarded to the Native Land Court; 49 liens, amounting to £503 16s. Id., were released; 10 vouchers for survey costs amounting to £252 14s. 7d., covering 23 subdivisions and totalling 1,296 acres, have been prepared in this branch and forwarded for payment to contract surveyors ; 264 plans were forwarded for use at Native Land Courts, and, when necessary, the Native Land draughtsman has attended the various Courts in the district. Owing to the sittings of the Native Lands Confiscation Commission a large amount of work devolved upon this branch. In connection with the various petitions, 27 plans and 14 reports were prepared and presented before the Commission by the Native Land draughtsman who attended the commission at its sittings at New Plymouth and Waitara. Draughting Division : For photo-lithography, maps of Boroughs of Hawera and Stratford were prepared and forwarded for reproduction, and those of the Boroughs of Eltham and Waitara were commenced. 20 sale plans were prepared ; 10 compiled plans were prepared for Native Land Court and for road-closure procedure ; in addition, 6 index maps of various villages and I map of part Waitara Survey District were prepared. Miscellaneous : The usual tracing-work has required constant attention during the year, and the colouring of lithographs and maps for the Native Lands Confiscation Commission and supply of maps for the Deteriorated Lands Revaluation Committees may also be included under this heading. The supply of information to the general public, selectors' tracings, surveyors' data, diagrams and tracings to illustrate letters, and general Proclamation tracings and tracings other than Land Transfer for the Valuation Department required a total of 663 tracings. In addition, 640 tracings were prepared for the Deteriorated Lands Committees. The standard of draughting has shown improvement during the year, and at the last Draughtsmen's and Computers' Examination Mr. H. W. Rickard obtained a partial first-class pass, and Mr. A. E. Christian obtained a second-class certificate. Mr. W. Conway obtained a partial pass in computing. From this return it will be noted that the general work of the office shows a substantial increase, and with the staff at its present strength it has been fairly difficult to cope with the current work and at the same time keep the necessary lithographic and index work up to date. Computing Branch : The total number of plans checked under all headings in the Computing Branch amount to 89, comprising 143 sections and totalling 6,591 acres. In addition 54 Proclamation duplicate plan-tracings were examined. Of the above, Crown settlement represented 20 plans of 30 subdivisions, covering 3,359 acres. The greater portion of this area was made up of alterations to existing leases. Native Land Court surveys were represented by 18 plans, of which 6 were compiled. The area of surveyed blocks was 1,527 acres, and of the compilations 1,380 acres. The balance of the plans were mostly road and other takings under the Public Works, totalling 32 plans. The remaining plans were office compilations and boundary-redefinition plans, &c. Proposed Operations in Field for 1927-28.—Mr. Mclntyre will carry out suburban subdivisions at Matiere, a foreshore survey along coast near Patea, complete the mapping of the Egmont National Park roads, and carry out surveys as required. Mr. Adams will continue the topographical survey of portion of the Taranaki District, including Egmont National Park. He will also undertake any small surveys as required.