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definitely settled in connection with the sources, &c, of rivers in the reserve. They will also be useful for illustrating " Tourist Guide," &c. Rural and Suburban.- —Under this heading will appear as completed 50,858 acres, in 105 sections, at a cost of £3,505 55., making the average price per acre Is. 4-5 d.; and, when we consider the country, &c, and difficulties of transit, the cost is an extremely low one. However, I trust in the ensuing year, with the work steadier, and an additional surveyor in place of Mr. Holt, to have more land in the market. Native Land Court Surveys. —There have only been two isolated surveys under this heading,, each necessitating a special journey, and, as their combined area amounts to 189 acres, we may consider that, at a cost of 4s. 3'3d. per acre, the work has been cheaply done. Both these sections have liens over them due to the department. Roads, Railways, and Water-races. —District Surveyor G. B. Bullard and Assistant Surveyor J. F. Frith have principally been engaged upon roads, Mr. Bullard, in addition to the four miles returned, having some thirty miles of engineering work inland from Hawera surveyed in the field, but the plans are not yet in. These roads directly serve and open up some 30,000 acres of Crown lands, a large part of which I hope to see in the market before next March. Assistant Surveyor J. F. Frith has completed the last twenty-five miles of the through road from Eltham to Pipiriki, and a further twelve miles alternative route at Wanganui end is now in hand, and should be completed soon. Other Work includes the usual miscellany incidental to survey operations. The soundings usually made by the department for the New Plymouth Harbour Board are discontinued from this year. Numerous field-checks and inspections were made of work done by our own officers, and also by Land Transfer surveyors. A survey of the reserves on Marsland Hill, Town of New Plymouth, was also made, and standard marks fixed along one or two of the roads in the old "built survey area." Measurements were taken of bush felled and of grassed areas in improvedfarm settlements. Part of the boundary-line between the Whitianga and Maraekowhai Blocks was cut. Under this head is also included the cost of some exploration and track-cutting work done by Mr. Finnerty in the early part of the year. Field-work in Progress and proposed for Next Year. —From the causes already referred to, there is a large quantity of work on hand to be completed early next year, and but for which such should have swelled the present returns. The standard survey of the Town of Waitara, and also the remainder of the sectional survey therein, has been, completed in the field. A standard survey of Opunake Town is also practically completed. A great improvement in the weather since February has allowed the Mount Egmont work to be quickly and continuously prosecuted, but previous to that month —from end of June last—the season was the worst experienced for many years. A short time longer would have enabled Messrs. Bullard, Frith, Laing, and Oldfield to have completed and mapped from 14,000 to 16,000 acres of section work. These officers, in conjunction with Messrs. Morpeth, Murcott, and Sladden, have a total of 75,000 acres in hand of that class of work. Mr. Murcott at present has in progress survey of roads along the Upper Waitara Valley, for access and opening up his block. Mr. Sladden has done his exploration of the portion of Maraekowhai Block to be subdivided, and is breaking down triangulation for connections. Office-work. —This work is on the increase, and the congestion in connection with Land Transfer record-plans, county maps, &c, still continues. Good progress in the Crown-grant recordmaps has, however, been made during the year, but not as much as I could have desired with the block maps, in consequence of diversion of officers to less valuable but absolutely necessary work. The monthly instalments of dealings to be supplied to the Land Valuation Department add another item to routine work. The preparation of forty-chain maps for reproduction by photolithography is also being gone on with. In conclusion, I beg to express the sorrow of this office at the demise of Mr. Finnerty. As with so many of our colonial staff officers, his services have been many and varied. He was originally in the Imperial Service in India and China, latterly serving there under General Gordon; in New Zealand he served in the troublous times against the Natives, later on in the service of the Armed Constabulary, and then in the Public Works and Survey Departments, and he practically died in harness. John Steauchon, Chief Surveyor.

WELLINGTON. Major and Minor Triangulation. —As indicated in last year's report, Mr. District Surveyor H. J. Lowe returned 853,000 acres triangulated, including extensive overlaps upon the Auckland and Owhaoku series, necessitated by the removal or destruction of the original station-marks. Of this area, Mr. Lowe seems entitled to claim 809,000 acres, including 200,000 acres over which he reports having sketched the topography. Being still unmapped, the latter is reserved for next season's returns. The 609,000 acres scheduled include thirty-nine subsidiary trig, stations, fixed to check ninety miles of road traverses. As the plans and elements have not yet reached this office I have not been able to have the computations and results verified. Mr. Lowe meantime reports that the closures on the Mount Eden triangulation agree to within 8 seconds in bearing, and 1 link per mile on the closing sides ; whilst the discrepancy on the Bay of Plenty series amounted to 39 seconds and 1-3 links per mile respectively. The differences on the Hawke's Bay extension amounted to 18 seconds in bearing, and ranged from 3-3 links to 1-3 links in the mile, upon five sides. The final closures between the Wanganui and Pohangina triangulations are reported to disclose a difference of 1 link per mile. For reasons already given, these comparisons can only be accepted provisionally. After verification of the observations and calculations, and analysis of the various trigonometrical