WELLINGTON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 216, 10 September 1881, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(From our own correspondent.) [By Telegraph.] Friday, 1125 p.m. Very good progress has beea made to-day in the general business, but it is feared that by retaining in the Railway Construction Bill clausa 11, which it was proposed to omit, namely, that requiring a company to give security, has practically killed the Bill as a practicable and workable measure* although a dijftererice of opinion exists on this point, I understand an attempt will be inada to re-commit tie Bill in order to get this clause struck out, as it is thought it will deter any cotnpany from entering into a contract. A good. de«l of oomtnVrifc bsi been evoked by the returns or the amounts paid to members of the various Royal Coiumissiona. For instance, on tha Railway Commission five-sixths of the total (£747) i8 put down for "joint expenses" no items being given, and of the remaining sixth nearly twothirds (£9l Is fid) go for the " travelling expenses" of Mr Wright, M.H.R., who does not draw honorarium, as do the other members of the Commission. Mr B. Pharazyn received £338 out of £619, or more than ona-half, including £224 put down as "special allowance." lam informed that Messrs Saunders and Kelly repudiate all conn«ction with this larga payment to Mr Phartsyn, and declare it was not made with their sanction) but must havo been received af t«r th»y imagined the whole affair to have been settled. It Is also noteworthy that the totals do not include reporting or clerical assistance. In tha Civil Service Commission the reporting alone aost £700, and clerical assitance £13 par week. I shall not be at all surprised if the New Plymouth Commission falls through from what I can learn as to the feeling of members. The Surveyor-General's report on the sarveysof New Zealand was prasantea to Parliament tonight. The following is a summary of tha work done. Natnre of work : Major triangulation, area 1,087,086 acres; minor triangulatiou without topography 822,906, seres ; minor triangulation j with topography 2,789,109 acres ; Rural and suburban section surveys 454, 99 1 acres; Town Bectioii surveys 2,858 allotments. Native Lands Court surveys 94,441 acres ; Native Land Purchases 710,737 acres ; Gold Mining surveys 1505 acrei» ; Road surveys 607£ miles. The rest of the report is mainly of a technical nature, but the following interesting notes are appended as to the correct height of Mount Cook being at last ascertained :— "The Weatland trianguiation has extended down the coast past Mount Cook, and observations to the summit of the peak were taken by Mr Roberts from twenty-four trigonometrical stations at distances varying from 20 to 70 miles. The observations from eighteen of these stations . bave been computed by Mr Mueller, and the height of Mount Cook above tha mean sea level ie found to be 12,349 feat. This is the mean of all the computations, and no single observation differs mere than 5 feet from the.kcight given. The other observations have yet to be computed, bat they are not likely to affect the result more than a foot, if so much. The height of Mount Cook, hitherto accepted, has been 13,200 feet as gives by the Admiralty surveyors, or 851 feet higher than the determination of the trifnoMetrica! surrey. There can be no doubt that the Admiralty determination gives toa great a height to the monarch peak of New Zealand mountains. Tor the future the height will have to be taken as nearly 1000 feet loss than what all the published maps now givt it." In reference to settlement; surveys Mr McKwrow saya :— "Under this head are classed rural, suburban, and town surveys. Duriog the year 4932 sections of rural and suburban land, comprising 474,991 acres, have been surveyed, and 1400 acres of town lands into 2658 sections. Of rural and suburban, 184,000 acres were arrear surveys of Crown lands which had been bought in years previous. The department has been laboring under the disadvantage of having to dispose of a, large accumulation of back work. There still remained for disposal 254,000 acres on the Ist July last : Regarding 'the future operations the Survayor General saya :— " The season begins with 600,000 acrss of settlement survey, of which 281,000 acres of arrear surveys and 819,000 acres preparatory to being offered for selection and «»le. The requisitions for survey from the Native Land Court and Native land purchase aggregate a total area of 1,000,000 acres ot trigonometrical and topographical survey. There is on hand, or about to be an aggregate area of 2,042,450 acres "