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tions oFthe lands granted. Further information was placed on several of the record-maps, and seventy-one Crown grants and 116 certificates of title recorded thereon. Tracings of four depositplans and 149 tracings delineating 172 transfer dealings were made for the Valuation Department prior to September, when the duty of preparing such was again handed over to the Transfer branch of the Department, owing to pressure of work in this office. Proposals for the Ensuing Season.- -The subdivision of 32,726 acres of the Highfield Estate lately purchased is just commenced; and it is anticipated that early in the spring the survey of the Levels Estate, arrangements for the purchase of which have just been concluded, will be taken in hand: for this survey at least two additional surveyors will be required. There are other surveys needed, such as resurveys of sections in the Horndon, Chertsey, and other townships lately sold; and some 20,000 acres of rural work, which, however, is not particularly urgent ; besides the standard surveys in the suburbs of Christchurch and Timaru, which, in the interests of the Land Transfer Department, the private surveyors, and the landowners, should be undertaken with as little delay as possible, but which it is impossible to do with our limited field staff and the amount of pressing work there is in hand and in view. Staff Changes. —On the Ist October last Mr. Mathias, District Surveyor, was transferred to the Southland District; and on the same date Mr. Freeman, who, on the 20th August preceding, was temporarily transferred to the magnetic observatory to assist Dr. Farr, resigned to join a private surveyor with a view to qualifying for field duties. Mr. Cullen, Commissioner's clerk, was temporarily transferred to the Taranaki District on the 21st July, 1902, to fulfil the duties of Eeceiver of Land Eevenue ; he resumed duty here on the 12th September. Mr. F. M. J3. Fisher, temporary clerk, resigned and left the service on the 31st January last. Thos. Humphbies, Chief Surveyor.

OTAGO. Triangulation. —Mr. Neill reports that during the past year " practically no progress was made with the revision of the triangulation around Dunedin. A few of the trig, stations were rebuilt and repaired, and on Mihiwaka and Harbour Cone permanent trig, signals were erected." The cost of survey to date is £118 7s. 7d. Rural and Suburban. —The return under this heading for the past year amounts to 22,000 acres, surveyed into 123 sections, at an average cost of L2ss. per acre. Mr. District Surveyor Calder returns the largest proportion of this, his main item being the subdivision of the Highfield Run into ten small grazing-runs, the balance being survey of Duncan Settlement and some small isolated sections in different districts. Mr. District Surveyor Wilmot's return of 3,079 acres includes subdivision of part of Windsor Park Settlement, the balance being made up of " spotting " surveys scattered from Queenstown to Waipori. Mr. Neill's area* consisted of the subdivision of Windsor Park No. 2, and part of the first portion purchased of the same estate. Town Section Survey. —Only four sections in the Town of Naseby were surveyed during the year for different applicants, at a cost of £2 10s. per section. The work was done by Mr. Calder. Gold-mining Surveys. —Fifty-six sections, having an area of 2,056 acres, were surveyed during the year. Of this, three sections, totalling 215 acres, were surveyed by District Surveyor Wilmot at a cost of 4-41s. per acre. The rest of the work—namely, fifty-three sections, having an area of 1,841 acres —was all done by private surveyors at an average cost of 4-795. per acre. Roads and Run Boundary. —Mr. Calder returns two small road surveys in Gimmerburn and St. Bathan's districts, and also defined the boundary between Runs 51 and 51b in Tuapeka East district. The work was done at a cost of £7 19s. per mile. Native Land Court Survey. —The work returned under this head was the revision of the Papanui Reserve, which was commenced by Mr. Langmuir and continuea by Mr. Neill. The area surveyed and mapped is 2,009 acres, at a cost of 3-09s. per acre. The field-work is complete of about 4,840 acres of the Otakou Native Reserve, but the plans are in an unfinished state. The whole of this work was more or less in bush country. Other Work. —The total expenditure under this head amounts to £907 16s. 10d., of which the greater proportion is the cost of uncompleted surveys. Of Mr. Wilmot's return of £244 ss. 6d., £176 is the cost of field-work completed but not sent in, the balance being for various services, such as making inspections and reports for the Warden, reproducing boundaries, refixing and repairing trigs., valuing improvements, laying off Queenstown Hill track, and office-work. Mr. Calder returns £213 lis. 7d., of which £143 14s. is charged to the unfinished survey of Run 226, St. Bathan's district, the balance being for inspections and reports for the Land Board, attending on solicitors and general public, work for the Mines Department, and making duplicate plans for the Naseby office and keeping the office records. Mr. Neill returns £449 19s. 9d., of which £5 14s. 9d. was the cost of visiting the ground and reporting on road through rifle-range reserve in the Town of Oamaru; the balance, £444 55., is the cost of unfinished surveys, the field-work of Otakou Native Reserve, and the subdivision of Patearoa Run. Land Transfer.— The work done under the Land Transfer Act for the past year shows an increase on that done for the previous year. Seventy-eight plans were received for deposit, and checked, recorded, and approved. Besides these, the undermentioned applications, transfers, mortgages, certificates, &c, were dealt with: Seventy applications to bring land under the Land Transfer Act, 1,738 transfers, 1,104 mortgages, 182 leases, eighty-two caveats, 270 transmissions, and 609 new certificates (in duplicate). Office-ivork. —In addition to the ordinary routine duties of recording new surveys, keeping run, road, Land Office, and county maps up to date, preparing new road-closing plans, supplying land valuation and head offices with tracings, computations of areas, &c, the following items seem