NEW ZEALAND SURVEYORS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1973, 8 January 1907, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND SURVEYORS.

REALISED SCALE OF CHARGES,

I AA ith a view to making the profession I remunerative under present conditions and requirements, a new scale of charges has been drawn up by the council of the I Zealand Institute of Surveyors, which it is intended will take effect from j February 1 of the current year. The revised schedule was prepared only after the institute as a whole was consulted, and suggestions received from members and other licensed surveyors had been fuhy considered, and, with slight amendI was P as: 'ed at a special meeting heia at Dunedin in October last, and will come forward for confirmation at a I meeting to be held in the same city on the 23rd of tho present month. The surveyors are at the present time workling under a scale of charges issued by the Surveyor-General in 1896, but under [ the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors mo - Board of Examiners Act, passed in 1900, the power of fixing the minimum charges is delegated to the council of the institute without reference to the Department. Members of the profession have been moved to take the present step for an advance in charges, because they consider the scale in force is madequate, it having been brought forward slight alterations from past times, when most surveys were of prairie lands. Now the conditions and requirements have , materially changed. The surveyor’s examination is more rigorous, the cost of labor, of living, of rent, etc., has increased. The obstructions to survey, caused by closer occupation of land, have multiplied, and tho value of land, having more thau doubled during the last ten years, entails greater responsibility, and necessitates more exact work. As instances of these contentions, it may be pointed out that outside labor is not only difficult to secure, men being averse to leaving town comforts for hard trudging over rough and hilly couutry, and enduring privations, hut where formerly a man was content with 6s a day and found, he now requires Bs, and frequently 10s is offered as an ins dueement to join a party. The cost of hiring pack horses, too, has almost doubled, and the 3s and 3s 6d a day, which was sufficient in earlier times, has advanced to 7s 6d a day. Then the inside professional work has now to be of a finer standard in all branches, The Department in passing measurements is severely critical, with the result that additional labor and time has to bo devoted to the preparation and completion of plans submitted by surveyors. The town and city surveys particularly have to bo worked] out to a nicety, and and this, in the absence of standard survcys, such as is the case with Auckland, is an arduous and responsible task. The recast of fees is consequently based on these considerations, the increase on borough and town surveys being correspondingly larger than on bush jobs. The important differences between the old and the new schedules are that in the latter (1) the charges for town and borough surveys are on value, not area; (2) bush lands are charged at open rates, with busheutting added; (3) tho daily rate is £3 3s net; and (4) country acreage rates are chargeable, as scheduled, with out alteration by increase or decrease. The minimum charge for small jobs has been increased from £3 33 to £5 ss, the daily rate for professional services from fji 2s to «£3 3s, and bush land 'suvyeys by about la per cent., which it is considered will covey the extra cost of labor and material.