The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1877. '

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 98, 27 April 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1877. '

A contemptible piece of meanness ha s marked the inauguration of the new regime iv the land department. What it is may b e gathered from the following extract from a circular, signed by the Surveyor-General, which is posted up in the Survey Office:— "As, in order to prevent the time of officers | of the Survey department bei-ig unnecessarily taken up by the public, it is considered desirable that certain fees should be charged for the inspection of the records of the department for private purposes, I have the ho.ior to request that from and after the receipt of this circular you -wit! adopt the following scale of charges, viz..*— For each search, one shilling; for information as to measurements supplied by an officer of the department, one shilling; for leave to take copies of plans (each copy), one shilling. Persons makingapplication forland to be exempt." It is not too much to say that this determination to extort the uttermost farthing from the pockets of those who require information from the department has created a very strong feeling of discontent and disgust The surveys in the old days were in many instances carried out in a rough and ready style which did not prevent the possibility of errors occurring, and it frequently happens that in consequence of mistakes that were then made a dispute arises between neighbors with regard to a boundary, and what is more natural chan that they should wish to refer lo the plans in the office? Hitherto they have been in the habit of doing so, and the information always willingly accorded to them has been the means of settling many little differences which might otherwise have assumed serious proportions, while the public has been in no way inconvenienced by the small amount of time that the officers have been called upon to devote to the purpose Any popularity, however, that the department may have gained by the readiness shown to afford information on all occasions will be lost . by means of this miserable circular. Shillings - are none too plentiful ia the country districts, but it is not so much the loss of the money as the wretched spirit evinced ia demanding it that has given rise to the widespread dissatisfaction that has been created. The Surveyor-General, however,— be it said to his credit— appears to be not altogether dead to a sense of shame, for to this we are disposed to attribute the closing proviso that persons making application for lands are to be exempt from the shilling imposition. But it must be remembered that a man desirous of purchasing a piece of land may require to examine the plaus several times before actually making application, and on each occasion he is to be subjected to the irritating request that ho will forfeit a shilling for the benefit of the colonial treasury, which must, indeed, be at a low ebb when such despicable means of replenishing it are resorted to. The object of this department should be to promote settlement, and every facility should be afforded to those desirous of acquiriug land, instead of which we find unnecessary obstacles and vexatious restrictions placed in the way. The shillings that Mr SurveyorGeneral Thompson may sweep into the Treasury chest by this new fanglcd device for raising the wind will be dearly purchased at the cost of the disrepute and disfavor into which the office will be brought by carrying out his instructions.