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a difficult and somewhat costly work, owing to the irregularity of the streets and the unsatisfactory nature of the old surveys, which involved a large amount of searching and other office-work. The Otahuhu standard survey has also been completed, at a total cost of ,£304 18s. 2d. Mr. C. A. Mountfort has been occupied on standard surveys of Gonville, Nelson, and Wanganui. Mr. Neill has completed the field-work of the first contract for the standard survey of Dunedin, and in January started the field-work of North-east Valley under the second contract with the City Corporation. The plans are being steadily prepared by Mr. Saunders. Settlement Surveys . Under the heading of rural surveys 552,604 acres have been surveyed, at an average cost of Is. 7fd. per acre. Of this, 101,288 acres are credited to Auckland, 98,371 acres to Marlborough, 82,767 acres to Nelson, 82,208 acres to Canterbury, 48,535 acres to Taranaki, 42,373 acres to Hawke's Bay, 30,785 acres to Southland, 26,163 acres to Wellington, 20,385 acres to Westland, and 4,067 acres to Otago. To arrive at the area made available for settlement there should be added to the above 1,775 acres of village and suburban lands and 13,213 acres of Maori Land Board surveys, the total area thus being 567,592 acres. Included in this are the areas of estates purchased by the Crown under the Land for Settlements Act, amounting to 200,886 acres, and distributed as follows: Marlborough, 85,647 acres; Canterbury, 66,523 acres; Southland, 25,710 acres; Nelson, 13,171 acres; Hawke's Bay, 6,236 acres; Otago, 1,425 acres; Auckland, 1,421 acres; and Taranaki, 753 acres. The area thus prepared for settlement during the past year exceeds that of the previous year by 137,273 acres, and constitutes a record result for any one year since 1906. At the close of the year there were in the hands of the surveyors 778,059 acres of rural land (including land for settlements, village and suburban), 585 acres of town sections, and 359 miles of road. A good deal of the field-work of this has been done, and it is intended that the mapping shall be brought up to date during the months of July and August ensuing, so that a large area will be available for opening in September next. Native Surveys. The area of Native Land Court surveys completed during the past year by staff surveyor* was 29,258 acres, and by licensed surveyers 528,141 acres; and, as mentioned in connection with settlement surveys, 13,213 acres .'of Maori Land Board surveys —in all, 570,612 acres. There is at present on hand for survey during the ensuing year 817,716 acres of this class of land, in the field-work of which considerable progress has already been made. Gold-mining Surveys. Twenty-seven applications were surveyed, totalling 1,573 acres, of which staff surveyors, mostly in Auckland, surveyed 825 acres at a total cost of ss. per acre, the remainder being laid off by private surveyors nominated by the applicants. Inspection of Surveys. Inspection of surveys have from time to time been made by the Inspecting Surveyors, by Chief Surveyors, or by District Surveyors under their direction. Those inspections show that while nearly all of the staff and licensed surveyors are turning out first-class work, there are a few whose work cannot be depended on, hence the necessity for field-checking. I am of opinion that all such inspection-work should be done by officers immediately under the control of the Surveyor-General, and that, if possible, every surveyor's work should be checked once a year. Operations, 1914-15. There is not likely to be any cessation in survey-work during next year. In addition to the secondary-triangulation work which will still be carried on, there are, as already stated, now on hand 180 square miles of minor triangulation, 778,059 acres of settlement land, 585 acres of town land, 817,716 acres of Native lands, and 359 miles of roads. There is a probability of the purchase of a number of estates under the Land for Settlements Act, and, in Otago especially, where work has been somewhat slack, there, are several large pastoral runs suitable for subdivision the leases of which will expire next year or the year after, and which will require survey. The matter of providing small fruit-farms in Central Otago will also involve extra surveying-work. Taking it altogether the coming year will tax the strength of the present field staff to the utmost, and it may be necessary to resort more freely than in the past to the contract system. Standard-survey work will also have to be kept going. The value of such work is getting to be more and more appreciated, and provision will have to be made for the survey of many of the smaller towns as soon as that of the cities has been completed. The standard survey of rural districts, where, on account of the flatness of the ground, the erection of buildings or growth of plantations has, by obstructing the lines of sight between the trig, stations, rendered the triangulation useless for initial and check bearings, is a work the urgency of which becomes more apparent every year. Surveyors Board. The work of this Board during the past year was principally of a routine character. Acting in conjunction with the six Australian Boards it conducted examinations of candidates for surveyors' licenses in September, 1913, and March, 1914. At the September examination twentyone candidates sat. Of these, five passed the whole examination, and nine completed the examina-