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appointed District Surveyor on the Ist April, 1888, and stationed at Timaru. When in Canterbury he carried out many mountain surveys, which comprised and included the discovery and mapping of a new route to the west coast from Lake Ohau to Paringa ; the mapping of the Tasnian, Mueller, Hooker, Murchison, Classen, Godley, and Richardson Glaciers, and the surrounding country. This work involved the measurement of the rates of travel of the, glaciers, the formation of roads and tracks, and the building of the Ball and Malte Brun huts, on the Tasman Glacier. In 1904 he was deputed to classify, value, and subdivide the Flaxbourne Estate, of 57,000 acres, in Marlborough. On the Ist July, 1906, he was appointed Land Olficer and Inspector of Surveys in the Gisborne office. While there he was a member of the Tairawhiti District Maori Land Board. In May, .1909, he was promoted to be Commissioner of Crown Lands and Chief Surveyor for Hawke's Bay ; and on tho Ist August, 19.10, was appointed to a similar position in the Canterbury Land District. Two years later he was transferred to the Wellington District, and on the Ist August, 1915, was appointed Under-Secretary of the Department. While filling this latter position he had a very strenuous term of office owing to the. inauguration of the discharged-soldier-scttlement policy, and in recognition of the work he did in connection therewith ho was awarded the Order of the British Empire, and in 1920 he was made a member of the Imperial Service Order. In addition to the duties specified above he was appointed and acted as Surveyor-General from May to October, 1920, and was a member of tho Land Purchase Board from 1909 until his retirement. As Under-Secretary he was ex officio a member of the New Zealand Air Board and of the State Advances Board. When acting as Commissioner of Crown Lands he was also Conservator of State Forests for the district; a member of the Scenery Preservation Board, the Workers' Dwellings Board, Surveyors' Board of Examiners, and when in Canterbury was a member of the Taieri Drainage Commission and Chairman of the Summit Road Scenic Board and Selwyn Plantation Board. It will be seen from the lengthy list of duties entrusted to him that his responsibilities were very heavy and continuous, but his administration of the land policy of the Government, including the settlement of discharged soldiers, merited the whole-hearted confidence that was afforded him and maintained the high standard set by his predecessors. When retired on superannuation at the age of sixty-six he carried with him the universal respect and esteem of the officers of the Department. Other retirements included the following : — William. John Wheeler: Land Officer and Inspector of Surveys, Gisborne, retired on superannuation on the 31st March last, having completed forty-seven years' service. During this term, he served in the Wellington, Hawke's Bay, and Auckland Districts, and executed many important surveys. Being a Maori linguist and holding a Native interpreter's license, he was of great assistance when dealing with the surveys of Native lands, and carried out the duties entrusted to him in a conscientious and zealous manner. Follett (Harrington, Chief Draughtsman, New Plymouth, retired on superannuation on the Ist July, 1921. As a computer in the Wellington office he did good work, and after qualifying as a surveyor he carried out various surveys in the Taranaki District. He. acted as Chief Draughtsman in the Napier office from February to November, 1915, when he was appointed Chief Draughtsman at New Plymouth. He was a good and reliable officer with an all-round knowledge of the office side of survey work, besides possessing original mathematical qualifications, and, being a hard worker with plenty of common-sense, rendered valuable assistance. Herbert Maitland, Chief Draughtsman, Blenheim, retired on superannuation on the 31st March, 1921. As a surveyor he carried out many land-settlement and other surveys in the Wellington, Nelson, and. other districts, and was finally appointed as Chief Draughtsman, Blenheim, in April, 1919. He was an experienced and capable, officer with good knowledge of the survey work of the Department. Joshua George Clare, draughtsman and computer, Gisborne, retired on superannuation on the Ist August, 1921. His early service was in the Invercargill office, from where he, was transferred to Napier at the end of 1899. After a short stay there he was transferred to the Gisborne office, where for many years he was of great assistance, showing himself stea.dy, reliable, and accurate. Herbert Llewelyn Welch, accountant, Blenheim, was retired on superannuation on the 31st December last, after a lengthy service, of forty-three years. He was formerly employed in the Christchurch office of the Public Works Department, and was transferred from there to the Christchurch office of the Lands and Survey Department in 1892, where he acted as Receiver of Land Revenue in April, 1895. He was appointed to a similar position in the. Invercargill office, and in 1911 was transferred to Blenheim. With the recent change of departmental duties he was appointed Accountant and Cashier, and during his long service in the Department proved himself a careful, conscientious, and reliable officer. John Frederick Frith, draughtsman and. computer, Nelson, was retired on superannuation on the 31st December, 1921, after a service of thirty-eight years in the Wellington, New Plymouth, and Nelson Districts. He was a steady, reliable computer, and, in addition, executed many surveys in rough country in the Wellington and Taranaki Districts. Alpha Bennick Harding, Land Transfer draughtsman, New Plymouth,- retired on superannuation on the 30th September last. Most of his term of service was in the Auckland office, and it was not until the beginning of 1918 that he took up the position which he vacated on retirement. He showed himself attentive to his duties, careful and painstaking in the manner in which he carried them out. Charles Barker Turner, surveyor, Auckland, retired on superannuation on the 30th November last. Whilst surveying the Auckland District he performed good work. John Ripon Vaile, draughtsman and. computer, Napier, retired on superannuation on the 31st December last. He. had been on the staff of the Christchurch, New Plymouth, and Napier office, where he attended to his various duties in a painstaking manner.