35

C.—l

The following summary will give but an approximate idea of the work done in the office. The letters, &c, received numbering over 4,600; letters, notices, &c, and posters despatched, 16,580; applications received, 354; titles scheduled, 130; vouchers passed, 749; cheques drawn, 500: making a gross total of 22,913 dealt with. The work entailed in dealing with the numerous small holders in this district being out of all proportion to the revenue received. The Land Board work also is considerable : twenty-nine meetings of the Board having been held, and over a thousand subjects dealt with. I attach a summary of Crown lands surveyed, under survey, open for application before survey, or as pastoral runs : — Southland County— Acres. Surveyed rural lands, mostly second-class open country, in areas from 20 to 1,500 acres ... ... ... ... ... 50,700 Village-homestead sections, mostly first-class land, in areas from 1 to 20 acres ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,882 Town lands ... ... ... ... ... ... 390 Small grazing-runs, four, mostly hilly, and carrying fairly good tussock and other grasses ... ... ... ... 12,235 Unsurveyed land now being prepared for settlement, mostly forest country, but with good soil ... .. ... ... 49,800 Wallace County— Surveyed rural lands, mostly second-class and partly open country, in areas from 50 to 1,900 acres ... ... ... ... 21,000 Merrivale Estate ... ... ... ... ... ... 2,375 Village-homestead sections, mostly first-class bush lands, in areas from 1 to 20 acres ... ... ... ... ... 476 Pastoral runs, nine, in high, rugged poor country ... ... 153,640 Small grazing-runs, seven, mostly hilly open country, carrying tussock and other grasses ... ... ... ... 15,420 Town lands ... ... ... ... . ... ... 130 Lake County— Surveyed rural lands, second class, in areas from 80 to 100 acres 1,500 Unsurveyed open lands now being prepared for settlement, mostly second-class land ... ... ... ... ... 3,900 Town lands ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 Fiord County— Pastoral runs, seventeen, high rugged country, chiefly on West Coast ... ... ... ... .. ... 1,029,000 Stewart Island County— Surveyed rural lands, second-class forest country, in areas varying from 30 to 300 acres ... ... ... ... ... 2,157 Unsurveyed land, but open for application, mostly second-class forest-country ' .. ... ... ... ... 143,800 Pastoral run, one, rugged poor country ... ... ... 27,700 Total ... ... ... ... 1,516,115 G. W. Williams, Commissioner of Crown Lands.

APPENDIX No. 2.—SURVEYS.

EXTEACTS FROM REPORTS OF CHIEF SURVEYORS ON THE SURVEY OPERATIONS FOR 1895-96.

AUCKLAND. I have the honour to report upon the survey operations for the year 1895-96, and you will see by the return of work executed that it has been a very arduous one. No less a number than sixteen staff and sixty-one contract surveyors have returned work; and the table of field-work for the year is the largest that has ever left this office. Triangulation and Topographicat. —The return under this iieading comprises the large area of 1,717 square miles, and gives the finishing closures of the large stretches of country, hitherto untriangulated, existing north of Auckland, from Rangaunu Bay to the North Cape, and Cape Maria Van Diemen; and south of Auckland, from Galatea and Matata across to Waikaremoana, taking in the whole of the district known as the Urewera Country. The first-named work has been completed in a very efficient manner by Mr. T. K. Thomson, assistant surveyor; and a copy of his excellent topographical map has been forwarded for attachment to this report. The Urewera work has been likewise most efficiently carried out by Messrs. J. I. Phillips and A. L. Foster, under the supervision of Mr. L. Cussen. The area covered by this work is 1,127 square miles, over a country both extremely broken and difficult of access, and carried on with the disadvantage of being done chiefly in winter time, and amidst a Native population comparatively hostile. The triangles mostly had sides of from ten to fifteen miles, and the topography was sketched in as accurately as