3

C.-~ Ia

Taking these prices in the aggregate, the cost is much the same as in previous years. In most of the classes (except rural, where the price of l'B2s. per acre last year reaches 2s. per acre this year) the cost per acre is rather lower than previously, and the rate per acre by staff surveyors compares favourably with that of contract surveyors. Accurate deductions, however; cannot always be reached with safety by a mere comparison of prices such as these. Often our most energetic surveyors at the end of a year of toil are so hampered with circumstances and conditions quite beyond their control that they find the cost of their work in the end comes out at a higher rate than other surveyors who have been fortunate in being on a block where the "going" was very much easier. With the exception, however, of a few individual cases which I have noted as being higher than usual, 1 am satisfied that the State has received good value for the work clone by its surveyors. Triangulation. With the exception of the new secondary triangulation hereafter referred to, the work under this heading has been chiefly the extension of our triangulation to check settlement surveys in progress during the year. The work on the new secondary triangulation has been pushed on actively, and many observations have been made by Mr. H. E. Girdlestone so as to allow a connection to be made between the Wairarapa and Okaiawa bases. A good many stations have still to be observed, however. A preliminary calculation by least squares has been made, and a provisional close of 2723 links obtained in an approximate distance of 154 miles. This will probably be much improved when some eight of the triangles are reobserved. The area on hand between the bases is between two and three million acres. Full particulars are given in the appendix of the provisional results of the calculation of the triangulation, and an example of the actual method of calculation adopted is given in detail. Observations both for azimuth and latitude are now required at a number of points, so distributed as to eliminate as much as possible the errors due to the deflection of the plumb-line. Mr. John Langmuir, Inspector of Surveys, has continued his work on the new base-line measurements during the year in his usual able, methodical, and scientific manner. The last base selected is situated on the Kaingaroa Plains. In regard to the accuracy of our base-line measurements I may say that, although the final results have not been worked out yet, as far as they are completed, however, I feel sure that the New Zealand work will stand comparison with that carried out in any part of the world. From particulars in Appendix 111 it will be seen that the probable errors vary from about 1 in 3,000,000 to 1 in 5,000,000, but this does not include final comparison with the standard bar only recently obtained from England by the Department. Mr. Langmuir has also had a party out selecting and erecting new signal-stations for extension purposes in the Auckland District after they had been examined and approved by himself. (For further particulars of this see Appendix III.) Standard Surveys. The necessity for this class of work arises primarily from the fact that very often the original surveys were not carried out with the accuracy that is necessary to ensure the definition of present-day titles. This, of course, is largely accentuated by the high value now placed on town and suburban holdings. Land that could probably have been purchased sixty or seventy years ago for a mere trifle has now reached as high as £1,200 per foot. It will thus be readily understood that surveys irf connection with such land require to have values of length standardized to a scientific fineness in order to check and keep under proper control the different Land Transfer operations which come under the supervision of the Chief Surveyors in the district survey offices throughout the Dominion. The difficulties are increased by the fact that in our larger cities and towns where the money value of property is the highest most of the original survey marks are gone, and the surveyor has often greatly to depend on other evidences on which to reproduce the alignments of the city, originally surveyed perhaps three-quarters of a century ago. A standard survey is therefore really a great mathematical problem laid down in our streets with the greatest accuracy obtainable with scientific instruments, and is of such a character as to provide a thorough crucial test to every survey that connects with it. In the City of Auckland at the present time standard lines are being measured to the two-hundredth part of a link, whilst the same character of work is being carried out in the cities of Wellington, Nelson, and Dunedin. The local bodies in each centre are contributing to the cost of such work, they being chiefly interested in the delimitation of the streets, ifcc. The larger amount of this class of work has been carried out in the City of Auckland and suburbs under the supervision of Mr. John Langmuir, Inspector of Surveys, who