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pleted the field-work of 5,359 acres of the Chamberlain Settlement, and 8,174 acres in the Oxford district, but the mapping- not being finished in either case they do not appear in this year's returns. Mr. Mathias, who was transferred to the Southland District in October last, completed 5,918 acres of the Lyndon No. 2 Settlement; and the work of Mr. Hunt, authorised surveyor, who was engaged for a few months to assist in the survey of the Chamberlain Settlement, comprised 9,584 acres, being part of the small-grazing-run portion of that settlement. The total area of rural and suburban survey returned is 27,353 acres, at the moderate cost of 7fd. an acre. The cost of the survey of the seventeen town allotments at Hanmer Springs was at the rate of £2 Is. a section, this high rate being mainly due to the heavy travelling-expenses attendant on so small a job a long distance away. The " other work," the cost of which is represented by £712 19s. 4d. in the table, is of a very varied character, and such as cannot be classified under the usual headings. The principal items are : Standard traverse, Timaru suburbs, £170 ; reporting on runs for the information of the Classification Commissioners, £102 9s. 4d.; reports on roads and damage in settlements, £26 9s. 2d. ; inspection, £26 6s. Id. ; selection of suitable points for a scheme of major triangulation, and collecting information for my report to you on the condition of the twenty-five different series of minor triangulation in the district, and standard surveys, £115 25.; reports on Native forests, £17 7s. 6d.; and incomplete surveys of coal leases abandoned by applicants, £57 ss. lid. Inspection of Surveys. —l had hoped to have been able to report that the surveys of every private surveyor doing Land Transfer work in the district had been inspected, but the great press of work, with a limited staff, has, to my regret, prevented the carrying-out of my intentions. However, six surveys by authorised surveyors have been checked, and with one exception the surveys have proved to be of the highest order, reflecting great credit on the members of the profession affected, and it gives me much pleasure thus to place it on record. For my own part, I have visited surveyors at their camps on eight different occasions, consulting with them, and arranging details of the work they had in hand. Work in Hand. —Mr. Brodrick has four miles and a quarter of standard traverse survey of the Timaru suburbs and one mile and an eighth road survey, the mapping of which has yet to be done ; and Mr. McClure has 13,533 acres of sectional survey, and some standard survey of the Christchurch suburbs complete in the field, in the same condition. Land Transfer Work. —Mr. J. W. Davis, Land Transfer Draughtsman, reports that 311 plans have been examined and passed, 1,573 deeds and other documents passed, and 3,681 diagrams drawn on certificates of title, besides 203 tracings made for the Land-tax Department. There has been a very considerable increase of work over previous years—for example, 14 per cent, increase in the number of plans checked and passed, 47 per cent, increase in number of instruments dealt with, and 19 per cent, in the number of plans drawn on parchment certificates of title by Mr. Davis and assistant, and with no extra assistance except that of a cadet for eight months of the year. In addition to the Land Transfer work, Mr. Davis and his two assistants have the checking of surveyors' plans of roads to be taken and closed under the Public Works and Land Acts. Office-work. —Mr. C. B. Shanks, Chief Draughtsman, reports as follows : During the year there were thirty-eight plans received —seventeen from private surveyors, and twenty-one from the staff surveyors ; the former delineating road-deviations and parcels of land required for gravel and other purposes, and lands taken by Proclamation for railway purposes ; the latter, plans of settlements, standard traverse, town, and miscellaneous surveys ; which have all been checked and passed. The most important and urgent mapping-work done was the compilation and drawing of plans for reproduction by photo-lithography of the Chamberlain and Mead Settlements. Other plans prepared for publication were those of Reserves 100 and 1,486, at the mouth of the Rangitata River; the Hanmer Springs Township, showing the recent and former surveys; small allotments in the Waikakahi Settlement, being the subdivisions of the original Sections 1 and 2, Block 111., Waitaki district; and plan of Rural Sections Nos. 36611 and 36645. Thirty tracings were prepared on the 40-chain scale, illustrating the topography and boundaries of pastoral runs, for the use of the surveyors whilst inspecting, and to locate the position of the improvements thereon, which enabled us to amend and correct the original photo-lithographic tracings of the runs prior to republication. Other draughting-work was the completion of the tourist map of the Mount Cook country and the preparation of tracings of parts of the Levels, Geraldine, and Waimate Counties ; to undertake this work, the Otaio district map, partly completed, and the Waitaki district, well advanced, were put aside. Miscellaneous mapping comprised additions to trig, index plan, and the construction of the Amuri index trig, map; amending, correcting, and bringing up to date the county, selection, and other compiled maps ; and the making of a large number of working-tracings for the surveyors, besides illustrative tracings and lithos required for land inspections, returns, and correspondence. Plans were placed on 1,118 lease-deeds, 555 of which were done in the office, and the balance by contract, which was found necessary owing to the difficulty of keeping the current and urgent work well in hand with the limited staff of draughtsmen. The deeds comprised 180 leases in perpetuity, three occupation with right of purchase, eight small grazing-runs, five mining and timber-splitting licenses, and 166 miscellaneous leases and licenses, done in duplicate, triplicate, or quadruplicate as required, making a total of 357 leases prepared and issued, and thirty-six single copies of back leases for the Head Office. The arrears are fifty-nine, of which number twenty are written, and the balance are all very recently granted leases, the majority being of the Chamberlain Settlement balloted for on the 14th March last. Plans were also placed on the original copies of eighty-six certificates of title, and on two Crown grants (one original done in triplicate, and the other in duplicate), being an indorsed grant amending the area in accordance with a revised survey, all copies having engrossed descrip-