REPORTS BY THE INSPECTOR OF SURVEYS. (In continuation of Reports presented 17th August, 1869.)

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1870 Session I, D-11

D.—No. 11.

REPORTS BY THE INSPECTOR OF SURVEYS. (In continuation of Reports presented 17th August, 1869.)

PRESENTED TO BOTH HOUSES OE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, BY COMMAND OP HIS EXCELLENCY. WELLINGTON. 1870.

D.—No. 11

The Inspector of Surveys to the Hon. the Native Minister. Inspector of Surveys' Office, Sir, Auckland, October, 1869. As I apprehend I may have failed, during the hurried interview I had with you, to make quite clear what I conceive to be the position and requirements of the Department at the head of which I have been placed, I do myself the honor to submit to you in writing a brief note of the particulars in which it appears to me that the duties imposed upon me by the Legislature have failed to be carried out, and the remedies it seems necessary to apply. The Act of 1867, which directed the appointment of an Inspector of Surveys, laid down as his duties " the examination of all surveys and plans made under the Native Lands Act," " testing their correctness," and " collating them in general maps and registers," &c. ; and to enable these duties to be carried out, sums of money were put upon the Estimates in 1867-8, and now again in 1869, as " Advances to Native Lands Court. Survey Department." Now, since these moneys could only be legally expended in forwarding the inspection of surveys under the Native Lands Act, and since an Inspector of Surveys was appointed to attend to these duties, I apprehend that all vouchers for their expenditure ought to have been certified by that officer. This, however, has not been done, and the consequence has been that large portions of the money have been paid away for services which do not appear to me to be fairly within the intentions of the Legislature, while the duties which it specially directed to be performed, and which are necessary for the safety of the public, have, in the Provinces of Wellington and Hawke's Bay, been very imperfectly carried out. The uniform and invariable observance of the rule to lay down every Native land claim on a general map with the best obtainable connections with surveys in the vicinity, before issuing a certificate of title, is the sole condition of safety against trespass or overlap. In my letter of December 1867, suggesting terms for employing the Provincial Survey Department in Wellington and Hawke's Bay to carry out the local portion of the duties of the Inspector of Surveys, this was strongly insisted upon as of the first necessity, and it has invariably been done in Auckland, where the difficulties were many fold greater than anywhere else. It has been neglected in Wellington, and the consequence has been, that although the surveys there are under the management of a most capable and efficient officer, still there have been several cases in which the Provincial Surveyor has certified that claims did not trespass on granted land, which it has subsequently been found included land already granted; and instead of the public being provided with compiled maps of constantly greater completeness, the confusion and difficulty are increasing with the accumulation of unconnected maps. I understand that the very vague and unsatisfactory arrangement formerly made with the Government at Wellington has happily come to an end, and that there is now no machinery in existence in that Province for carrying out the Act. It is clear that some means must be adopted to enable the certificates required by law to be put on the maps, or the operation of the Native Lands Court must be suspended. Now if the co-operation of the Provincial Government is to be obtained, I can scarcely add anything to the suggestions in my letter of December 1867, except that some specific arrangement must now be adopted for the compilation of the past surveys, which has been neglected; but if that co-operation is not to be had, then it will be necessary to appoint an officer there, belonging to my department, to perform the necessary duties. "At Napier, also, it is indispensably necessary that a connected map of all surveys should be made. Since the accurate triangulation of that Province is very easy, and since it is the necessary link wanting to connect the excellent triangulation made by Mr. Jackson in Wellington with my triangulation in Taupo, and so will afford the means of forming a connected map from Tauranga to Cook Strait, I strongly urge that that work should be undertaken this season, and that the compilation of the past work should be based on it. However, if the sum placed on the Estimates for surveys in connection with the Native Lands Court is to be expended under my direction, I shall have no difficulty in laying before you a distinct scheme for carrying on the work satisfactorily, and the amount voted will be sufficient for the purpose ; but I cannot be responsible for the Native Lands Court surveys if, as heretofore, large portions of tho sum voted by the Legislature for their inspection are to be paid away without my knowledge for services which do not appear to me to forward the work. I have, &c, Theophs. Heale, The Hon the Native Minister, &c., &c. Inspector of Surveys.

REPORTS BY THE INSPECTOR OF SURVEYS.

D.—No. 11

4

REPORTS BY THE INSPECTOR OE SURVEYS.

The Inspector of Surveys to the Hon. the Native Minister. Sir,— Wellington, 21th June, 1870. In continuation of my report of June last, I have the honor to furnish a Return which shows the amount of the work done from the first and during the year in my department, in connection with the Native Lands Courts, and its apportionment to the different Provinces. A slight consideration of this Return will show the extensive character of the change in the tenure of land which is silently going on, notwithstanding the checks it has received from Native alarms and from the diversion of capital into expanded speculation in other directions. It will he seen that the Native land claims maps deposited in my office during the year amount to 4.25, and that these comprise 567,557 acres of land. Looking at the scattered positions of these claims all over the Islands, it is easy to conceive the confusion which must hereafter arise if the system of survey, and of recording the boundaries of estates granted by the Crown, should not be adequate to define and substantiate their true positions on the map of the country. It is so obvious that this can only be done by systematic geodetic survey of the whole country, and I have so often dwelt on the urgent necessity of pushing on such surveys, that I need not enlarge upon this subject now, especially as the work is now going on actively and efficiently, though on a very small scale considering what there is to be done. The triangulation at present in hand, as a winter occupation, is being carried through the Kaipara, with a view to connect Auckland with the triangulation formerly executed by me in the Bay of Islands district, and to determine points in that extensive line of country with which all surveys of Native land claims may be connected. Hitherto the only means by which maps of claims scattered along that congeries of rivers could be collated together, has been by referring them to the marine survey formerly executed by the officers of the Navy; but a marine survey of inland waters must in its nature depend on terrestrial survey of the shores, and, as nothing of the kind existed, the very rapid and perfunctory delineation of the river banks which the Marine Surveyors had to make for themselves, was, in fact, little more than a sketch, and thus all attempts to collate together the topographical maps by such imperfect elements has only resulted in distortion and overlap. I trust that the field work of this triangulation will be so far advanced by November next as to admit of the removal of the excellent officer who is conducting it, to a larger and more important work, which, having its base in Hawke's Bay, will extend across the Ruahine Mountains, over the Patea country, and, uniting with and verifying the triangulation of Taupo, will take in the Upper Wanganui country, and, connecting the southern boundary of the Hawke's Bay Province with the large triangulations in the Province of Wellington, will thus furnish a connected trigonometrical survey from Tauranga to Cook Strait, and over the greater portion of the North Island, ready to be advanced into the remaining parts whenever their political condition may admit of it. This work is extensive in plan, and, if faithfully carried out, will, I am convinced, be adequate to the growing requirements of the country, and to keep pace with the operations of the Native Lands Court, however extensive they may become. For its execution no large expenditure is required,—the sum which has for the last two years been voted for surveys in connection with the Native Lands Court will be adequate for carrying it out efficiently, provided it is done continuously and systematically. A good deal of survey work is required for the administration of the confiscated land along the northern shore of Cook Strait, and round to Taranaki. Two years ago I prepared detailed instructions for a triangulation suitable to the local features of that belt of country, and such as any topographical surveys there ought to be based upon. I understand that arrangements are now in progress by which this work will at length be carried out. I hope, and cannot doubt, that it will be conducted in connection with the other triangulations, and so that it also will form an integral part of the extended system which I have sketched out. Up to a recent period, discussions have been going on with the Government of the Provinces of Wellington and Hawke's Bay in relation to sums of money claimed by them for services in connection with surveys for the Native Lands Court. These disputes chiefly arose out of imperfect arrangements made in 1868 with those Governments, in the terms of which, the conditions of maintaining for my department complete and uniform district maps, showing all Native land claims adjudicated on, was not clearly set out. As I have always held that this is the first and indispensable condition required, difficulties arose as to making the payments claimed while that service remained unperformed. As regards Hawke's Bay, I have, with your sanction, now made arrangements for collating together, in the Survey Office at Napier, all the Native land claim maps, with the surveys in the possession of the Provincial authorities, and I may safely say that in a short time the Hawke's Bay maps will be complete, and that all future Native Lands Court work there will be carried out without delay and at a very inconsiderable cost. In the Province of Wellington, besides the preparation of collated district maps, there remains to be settled the question of contribution claimed towards the cost of the triangulations now in progress. It forms no part of my duty to enter into the question whether the funds out of which services are paid are provincially or colonially charged, but I apprehend that the position of the question is in this wise, —that these services (triangulation and district maps) being necessary for

REPORTS BY THE INSPECTOR OE SURVEYS.

D.—No. 11,

5

the well-being of the whole country, and for the effective carrying out of the laws enacted in Parliament, the Government has them performed where required, and charges each Province within which the work lies with its share of the cost of them. But the triangulations are so well performed in many parts of the Province of Wellington, that it is quite unnecessary that the General Government should interfere with the conduct of them, provided that they are extended over the portions of the Province which remain in possession of the Natives as well as those held by the Provincial Government, and that all the elements of the work are promptly and fully imparted to the officers of the General Government, and are made available to its use. If lam right in supposing that all payments for such services are to be provincially charged, then any question of contribution is idle, since, if paid, it would be practically out of provincial funds; but if the cost of a general triangulation is to be paid out of general revenue, on the consideration of its being a colonial work, then, undoubtedly, the Province of Wellington would be entitled to a contribution towards that portion of it which has been executed at its expense. Such a question is beyond my province, and I am unwilling to enter upon it without specific instructions; but the collated maps before referred to are of immediate necessity, and if the Survey Office at Wellington cannot furnish them, I trust that I may be authorized toincur the expense of getting them made without delay. In addition to my regular duties in connection with the Native Lands Court, I have, during the past year, been occasionally occupied in superintending other surveys in which the Government of New Zealand has been concerned, as in Waikato and Tauranga; and in clearing up difficulties arising out of surveys not originally under my supervision, as at Poverty Bay, Wairoa, and elsewhere. My experience in these troublesome matters, which have involved a large expenditure, has but added to my conviction of the wastefulness of allowing detached surveys to go on without reference to one general system. Since the Native land claims may be in any part, it follows that the geodetic surveys required to control them must, ultimately at all events, become co-extensive with the North Island, and that all surveys ought to be brought into connection with the geodetic points so established, and to appear on the general maps; but this cannot be done without great difficulty and discrepancy, unless the surveys are originally conducted on the same system, and the maps and field work are referred to one department; far therefore from deprecating any labour being thrown on my department because it may not be connected with the Native Lands Court, I would most earnestly recommend, for the sake of economy as well as accuracy, and the avoidance of future trouble, that all survey work in which the General Government is concerned, should be united into one system under one head. I am satisfied that, irrespective altogether of the individuals employed, the mere uniformity of practice and co-ordination of work which such a system would bring about, would enable the Government to have any work it might from time to time require, done more rapidly and efficiently j and all the work so performed would then form part of a connected whole, and would inure to the benefit of the country as a part of its established topography, instead of being overlooked and lost, as has happened with many expensive surveys, or, as has still oftener been the case, proving so discrepant that the attempt to co-ordinate them has utterly failed. I have, &c, Theophs. Heale, The Hon. the Native Minister, &c. Inspector of Surveys.

RETURN showing the Number and Gross Area of Maps of Native Land Claims received at this office from each Province in the North Island ; also, those from the Middle Island.

Return. No. OE Maps. Aeea. Retuen. No. op Maps. Aeea. :869. Auckland .870. Do. 1,056 336 A. E. P. 1,441,074 0 0 422,349 0 0 1869. Middle Island 1870. Do. 41 15 19,600 0 0 2,115 0 0 .869. Hawke's Bay .870. Do. ... 1,392 1,863,423 0 0 56 21,715 0 0 126 20 358,272 0 0 * 150,861 0 0 Total. Auckland ... Hawke's Bay Wellington ... Middle Island 1,392 146 250 56 1,863,423 0 0 509,133 0 0 161,158 0 0 21,715 0 0 146 509,133 0 0 .869. Wellington ... .870. Do. 195 55 104,603 o o 56,555 0 0 Grand Total 1,844 2,555,429 0 0 250 161,158 0 0 * Natii •e Lands Courts claims, 85,538 acres ; Confiscated Land, 66,3.' !3 acres. Inspector of Survey': Auckland, 9tl 3 Office, E. , i June, 1870. r. Alee: Chief! r, 'raucrhtsman.