C.-i

40

Proposals and Recommendations. —The arrears of survey shown in following table are very formidable, the sectional portion being mainly a legacy from former years:—

With, only four staff officers, and having no assistance from contract surveyors, it is manifest that even if undisturbed by other demands upon the staff's attention, it would take at least three year's to overtake the work. But the resumption of runs and the proposal to throw open for settlement all available Crown lands throughout this land district will add at least 70,000 acres to the area of country to be surveyed. As these arrears of surveys are of lands which have been disposed of by the Crown, and though provisional leases have been issued in some cases, it is evident that four surveyors cannot cope satisfactorily with the work so as to allay the dissatisfaction which prevails, and enable the department to issue titles and enforce the provisions of the Land Acts with less friction. In regard to surveys under the Land Transfer Act, I am induced to recall your attention to the subject of standard traverses. Since my arrival in Canterbury I have been impressed by the drawbacks which surveyors experience owing to the absence of trig, and traverse stations and to the difficulty of connecting therewith. On the Plains most of the trig, stations have been built or planted in, and in some cases destroyed or buried. The original traverse stations and pegs also have been generally destroyed or buried under walls, banks, or hedges. You will readily conceive the loss of time and labour which even the survey of a small area of, perhaps, inferior land entails, and that the cost may render many surveys quite prohibitive. Notwithstanding the present difficulties to isolated survey, you are aware of and can appreciate the uncommon facilities which the innumerable roads on the Plains present to the rapid and economical extension of standard traverses, commencing with the towns and villages and those parts of the country where the value of the land or obstructions to survey call for immediate attention. If the Government hesitate to incur the expense, the Land Transfer Department might, with great advantage to the working of the Land Transfer Act, provide the money from the Insurance Fund. In any case I trust that I have made out a fair claim for additional assistance in the field. In my opinion at least four extra surveyors are required. Office Bequirements . —It is only necessary to refer you to previous remarks, and my predecessor's report and schedule of arrears, dated the 9th December, 1890, and to my memorandum of the 23rd February, 1892, to prove the unsatisfactory state of the office-work. Here it is but right to state that neither my predecessor nor myself is responsible for the accumulated work. The office staff, which has been reduced from time to time, requires augmentation in order that the field-plots may be thoroughly checked, reduced, and recorded; that block-sheets, district record, and standard maps may be prepared; and that the publication on the mile scale may be resumed of the survey district maps and also of maps of the whole land district. There are twenty-six survey districts of which maps have been published, and thirty-seven remain to be published. It seems unnecessary to trench upon your time by adducing palpable and well-recognised grounds for the granting of my application. I will only remark, further, that the land and territorial revenue of this district amounts to £69,259 3s. 7d. for the year. Safe-accommodation. —I have to refer you to my previous representation regarding the erection ql additional safe-accommodation. The estimated cost is £400, which is insignificant compared

Surveyor. County. ! No. of : I Sections. Area. I Position and Description of Sections. J. S. Welch .. Akaroa .. 28 Acres. 510 Scattered sections on Peninsula; a number will be revision surveys. Small scattered sections and reserves, and a few revision Ashley .. 26 2,298 T. N. Brodrick 2 36,350 surveys. Midland Railway Company's Blocks L. and LIV. Geraldine 56 39,158 Mr. Tripp's run, No. 5. Scattered sections and reserves, and a few large grazing sections, near Albury. Large grazing sections at Station Peaks; survey now complete, but not mapped. A number of small scattered sections and grazing sections at Hunter's Hills. 1 29 24,200 5,577 Waimato 8 32,050 G H. M. McClure .. 41 23,513 79 85,340 Selwyn 57 7,633 Freehold and other sections, principally in the Selwyn and Hurst Districts, around Heslerton Station. Midland Company's Blocks LXII., LXIV., LXVII., LXX., LXI., LXXVII. Large grazing sections near the Silverstream, Three Springs, and Cave. 6 39,471 L. Mathias Mackenzie 29 23,177 Ashburton 92 70,281 90 15,079 Scattered sections on the Plains, Euapuna Village Settlement, naval and military claims sections. Large grazing sections on the Waitohi Hills. Geraldine 23 17,783 113 32,862 227,641 340