REPORT OF THE CHIEF SURVEYOR.

Southland Times, Issue 879, 10 January 1868, Page 2

RE PORT OF THE CHIEF SURVEYOR.

Chief Surveyor's Office, Southland, January 3rd, 1868. Sib, — I have the honor to submit herewith, the annual return of the work completed by the surveyors of this Department, for the year ending the 31st of December, 1867. The principal work undertaken during the past year has been the survey of rural land purchased under the " Southland Waste Lands Act, 1865;" of this 91,066 acres have been completed, and* the greater part of it has been alreadymapped. The purchases have been made in almost every district in the Province, in many cases widely apart, greatly increasing thereby the labor and cost of properly connecting them with the trigonometrical surveys. The New South "Wales, system of survey, which, with your Honor's concurrence, I introduced into this Province, now two years ago, i.c. t of giving each surveyor a separate district, making him. personally responsible for the correctness of his surveys, and for the proper laying out of all roads in connection therewith, and paying for the survey ato a fixed rate per acre, varying with the size of the sections, has, during the past two years, had a fair trial, and I have now much pleasure in drawing your Honor's attention to the satisfactory results of this system. The total amount surveyed during 1866 and 1867 is 165,178 acres. Or this 3865 acres were purchased under previous acts, leaving 161,313 acres that have been surveyed of the land purchased under the late Land Act of 1865. The total cost of the survey which had to be defrayed by the purchaser has been £5446 lls lOd, or on an average, 8.102 d per acre. This, considering the nature of the surveys, which, I am confident, will bear any test as to their correctness, may be considered the cheapest surveys that have ever been executed in this Province, and they will bear the most favorable comparison with those of any of the other Provinces in New Zealand ; for although a few of the purchases have been made in large blocks, the majority have been taken up in small sections, averaging only from two to four hundred acres, many of them being as low as twentyacres. The total cost of the Survey Department for the year 1867 was £981 8s Bd, so the actual cost to the Province has only been a fraction over 2£d per acre on the amount surveyed during the year. (This, of course, does not include the cost of the 450,000 acres of triangulation included in the previous year.) This will doubtless afford your Honor's G-overnment the greatest satisfaction. Through the courtesy of the Ciiief Surveyors of Otago and Canterbury, and the Surveyors-G-eneral of Victoria and New South Wales, I am enabled to lay before your Honor the cost per acre of the surveys executed in their respective provinces and colonies. The Chief Surveyor of Canterbury, in his letter of OQth of May, 1867, says :— purchased land, pre-emptive rights, and public reserves, had been fourteen pence . per acre throughout the Province ; isolated I bush sections in remote positions have cost much more ; in some cases 5s an acre, i perhaps 2s 6d on the average, while the bulk of sections on the plains have cost less than Is per acre. The cosi of laying out and surveying lines of road, where both sides have been marked and defined, 1 has been at the rate of £Q per mile. These results include all sections surveyed, whether by the staff or by contract surveys. The only contract out at present is let to Mr Hewlings, a very old and thoroughly trustworthy , surveyor, and is at the following rates : — Sections within 20 miles of Timaru, Is ; 20 to 30 miles, Is 6d ; beyond 30 miles, 25." The cost of the surveys in Otago has been, for the last two years, Is 2£d and Is lid respectively. The Chief Surveyor of that Province in his annual report for 1867, says:— "The cost of the rural section survey nearly doubles that of any preceding year. Last year it was at the rate of Is 2fd per acre, while in 1857 and 1858 the average was only 6d to 9d per acre. The cause of this is to be entirely ascribed to the present system of land sales, i.e., to free selection before survey. This free selection extends from the Waitaka to the Toetoes, and over this dispersed area the numerous and distant choice of settlers must be followed after by the surveyor, connected for record, and marked on the ground. The now extended privileges of settlers in their land applications cannot, therefore, be expected to be met by this Department at the same cost as previously, when complete blocks were surveyed, the sections marked on the ground, and thus prepared for sale after survey. It is evident, in the present system of selection before survey that the cost to G-overn-ment must depend much on the sizes of the applications and their comparative dispersion— small and distinct • selections costing more than large and close ones." The expense per acre in Victoria for the year 1865 and 1866 has been at the rate of 13.77 d and 12.66 d - for Government surveys, and at the rate of 7.22 d and 7.36 d per acre for contract surveys. The contract surreys have been for subdividing very large areas into smaller allotments which, lying conterminous, can be done far cheaper than ~ detached sections under a free selection system. The rate per acre allowed to the snrveyors in New South Wales, under a similar system of survey to that at present in operation here, ranges from 4s to 3d per acre, and in addition to this £2 per mile is allowed for all lineal measurements which would make the rate higher than that at present paid in this Province. The total area purchased under the "Southland Waste Lands Act, 1865" is 224,857 acres; of this 18,336 have been selected in sections, surveyed in the'

'^Hundreds, 161,313 acres have been surveyed by the District Surveyors, leaving a balance of 48,718 to be surveyed during the present summer. 14,000 acres of this were only purchased last month, and I apprehend no difficulty in keeping the arrears worked up with the present staff of District Surveyors. The rate of survey fees fixed by the Waste Lands Board will require to be slightly revised, the rate of the larger sections can be reduced alittle, but that of the smaller ones must be increased, as they will not pay the surveyor a fair remuneration for his work at the present price, when they have to be surveyed in detached sections. This, I stated in a former report, would be advisable, and I do not think that such an alteration would increase the average rate. The purchases in the Takatimo district, adjoining the northern boundary line of the Province, necessitated the laying out of that line, so I arranged with the Chief Surveyor of Otago, the method by which it should be done and with his concurrence, employed Mr Jas. Dundas to perform the work for the sum of £100 — the Otago Government undertaking to pay one half of that sum. Mr Dundas has completed the survey to my entire ■satisfaction. 'One hundred and fifty-one miles of imam and district roads have been laid <out during the past year; part of these 'road lines I have already inspected, and Ifind as a rule, that the surveyors have been careful in selecting the best and ; most available lines of road to be obtained in the district. In a few instances I have found it necessary to instruct the .-District Surveyors to re-survey small iportions of these lines, which, under the present system, must be done at their own cost. No survey is finally passed until I have been over the lines laid out, and I trust that very few cases will ever -arise hereafter where the line of road will have to be altered from that at present reserved. I must beg your Honor to cause a sum to be placed on the estimates for the repair of the Trigonometrical" Stations erected many years ago in this Province. The Trigonometrical Stations which are the undisputed points of reference in all matters connected with surveys were originally in many cases erected on mounds to enable the surveyors to see over the rank vegetation which then covered most of the plains. The mounds have been destroyed by the cattle, and the actual post has been in many cases removed and destroyed ; these of course, cannot now be replaced in position without considerable expense, but by renewing the principal ones of those which still remain in the ground, with good strong totara posts; or iron standards, I hope to be enabled to keep them for future reference. This work is so absolutely necessary, and of so much importance, that I must most strongly recommend its being done, and also urge upon the Government the necessity of prosecuting any person or persons destroying these Trigonometrical Stations in future. I must also ask -for a further sum to be placed on the estimates for the survey of the gravel, stone, Tjush, and other similar reserves made under the present Act, including the survey of a few sections that were purchased prior to the passing of this Act, for the survey of which no provision has been made, and for a few miscellaneous surveys, the cost of which must now be met by the Provincial Government. The cost of the survey of the native reserves at Stewart's Island, I approximately estimate at £200. lam not sure whether this sum will have to be provided for by the Provincial or General Government. The survey of these reserves will be necessarily very expensive, they are nine in number (exclusive of the Island granted to the Maories, ■which I apprehend will not be required to be surveyed), and contain about 1155 acres, all situated in different parts of the Island, many of them having to be subdivided amongst various claimants. Mr M'Kay, Commissioner of Native Beserves, is, I believe, shortly to visit Stewart's Island to settle these reserves, and. the Survey of them must necessarily take place prior to the land in Stewart's Island being thrown open for selection. I have also to request your Honor to cause a sum to be placed on the estimates for rebuilding the fire proof safe of the Survey Department, the dampness and unsuitable position of which I reported in my communication dated the 19th of June last. I cannot conclude my report without expressing my satisfaction at the excellent manner in which the District Surveyors (especially Mr Eichardson), have completed the surveys with which they have been entrusted. I have the honor to be, Sir, Tour most obedient servant, John H. Baxeh, Chief Surveyor.