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Town and Suburban Surveys.—About 232 acres of these are at present in sight for the coming year. Rural Settlement.—Of this, nearly 50,000 acres is in hand, principally in Auckland, Hawke's Bay, and Canterbury Districts. Native Land Surveys.—Five thousand acres are now in hand, but this will be much increased as requisitions come to hand during the year. Office Work. —The routine examination and recording of plans, &c., will occupy a large portion of the time of the office staff during the year. This year will also see the preparation of maps for the forthcoming census. Further draughting work for the Valuation Department is also being undertaken. The year will be a very busy one for the office staff. General. Map Publications.—Details of these will be found in the Chief Draughtsman's report appended hereto. With the exception of a road map, the numbers and cost were much the same as the previous year. Copyright in Maps.—lnvestigations during the year proved that a large of maps were being published using the departmental maps as a base without proper authority. In one case legal action was taken and a conviction secured. In other cases agreements were entered into or publication ceased, and several are still under consideration. These latter will, however, be brought under the present system of license, and in future it will be possible to deal more drastically with map publications which infringe the Crowns copyright. Royalty fees for the year totalled £358. ' Town Schemes. —As indicated in the report for last year, the numbers of these show a large increase of practically 100 per cent. Warrants of Title.—One hundred and forty-seven warrants for the issue of certificates of title were examined and certified to under the provisions of section 13 of the Land Transfer Act, 1915. Sixteen proclamations of Native road-lines were dealt with, and three under the provisions of section 106 of the Land for Settlements Act, 1925. Increase during Year.—There has been a very definite increase in the work for the year in practically all branches, and there are indications that this increase will be maintained during the present year. Standard of Length.—During the year Standard Band (Imperial) No. 1 was forwarded to the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, for comparison with the Imperial standards. Its length at 62° F. was determined as 99 9990, as against 99-9981 in 1915 and 100 0000 in 1903. Two new steel bands bearing finely engraved marks suitable for observation with the micrometer microscopes now employed on the testing bench were also obtained from Messrs. Chesterman and Co. and were compared at the National Physical Laboratory. Each of these bands is correct at 15° C. These bands have been numbered 13 and 14, following the present series of Imperial bands now used at the various district offices as standards. These latter were all called in and a series of comparisons made with the results tabulated in the Chief Draughtsman's special report attached. Staff. The increased work coming forward during the year has kept the staff very busy. The chief losses to the technical branch were Mr. W. Stewart (appointed Valuer-General), Mr. E. C. O'Brien (retired on account of ill-health), and Messrs. Rickard, C. E. Pfeifer, J. Storey, R. Dyer, and J. Healy. Appreciation. The staff has given most efficient service and carried out its duties in a worthy manner, and I wish to add my appreciation of its work to that of the Chief Surveyors as expressed in their reports. . jj -g. Surveyor-General. APPENDIX, HEAD OFFICE, DRAUGHTING BRANCH. (A. J. Wicks, Chief Draughtsman.) Map Publications.—The number of editions of maps published during the year was 58, and the total cost of printing £1,049. The maps comprised survey districts (4 mile to 1 in.), 19; survey districts (1 mile to lin.), 20; counties (1 mile to lin.), 9; territorial (4 miles to lin.), 2; towns, 3; miscellaneous, 10. The number of maps printed being 13,942. In addition to the above, a special edition of 6,300 road-maps of the North Island in two sheets was published for the Wellington Automobile Association, making the total number printed under all headings 26,542. Cash sales of lithos from all districts amounted_ to £1,440, purchases by other Departments £214, and the value of maps issued free or used in the office amounted to £1,300. Royalties obtained from, maps based wholly or partly on the Department's records and published by private firms or companies amounted to £358.

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