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APPENDICES.

APPENDIX I.—SURVEYS. AUCKLAND. Minor Tn)/o no metrical and Topographical Survey. —ln this branch of the work 77,000 acres returned, at a cosi of o'33d. per acre. 'Phis includes unfinished areas of previous year* in Tauranga, Maketu, iVo., survey by Mr. Wheeler, but the maps liave only boon finished during t ii<past financial year. No actual trigonometrical survey has been done in the field during the pa,at year. Rural and Suburban. —The total area of rurYil and suburban surveys for this year amounts to 81,036 acres. This includes 8,478 acres subdivision of Crown leaseholds, Ac. paid for by applicants, the balance of 73,168.acres being executed by the staff and contract surveyors at a coet of 2 - 335. per acre, subdivided into 442 sections. Although the output is smaller than last year with 117,503 acres, subdivided into 415 sections, at a cost of S'OSti. per acre, still the result is quite as satisfactory SO t';ir as cost is concerned, as in the ordinary course of events every year our survey work is further beck and more difficult of access. A great deal of the work done this year has been in forest and broken country, and the weather conditions, particularly in the earlier part of the year, were detrimental to outside work. The principal areas surveyed were in Opotiki, Tauranga, Waitomo, Pinko, Etotorua, Hokianga, and llobson Counties. In addition to the above, provisional surveys to the extent of 25,688 acres wen , executed as an aid to settlement. This includes the subdivisional lands-fof-settlemeni surveys of Waimana and Rewi Settlements. The mapping of sections in the Selwyn Estate, left unfinished in previous years, was also carried out. On the whole, the surveys this year hive been of a Scattered nature, but few blocks returned being of a very large area, and this, of course, increases the cost materially. 'I'mrii Section Surveys. —This year an area of 104 acres was subdivided into 260 allotments, at a cost of lT9s. per allotment. These were chiefly in the Waikato and in the neighbourhood of Auckland. Satire Land Court and Maori /.and Board Siirrei/s. —In this class of survey the total area is 168,242 acres, subdivided into 280 sections or subdivisions. The staff surveyors employed were chiefly Messrs. Sherratt, Mitchell, and Mount fort. Mr. District Surveyor Wheeler has a very large area in hand in the Bay of Islands County, which will not be finished before July next, and Messrs. Edgecumbe and Byrne are also surveying the Tβ Karae Block, in the Hokianga County. The bulk of the Native Land Court surveys lias Keen done by private and contract surveyors. The cost of the work done by staff surveyors has been 7 - 17 d. per acre'on an area of 17,498 acres in .'io subdivisions. The portion of the work undertaken by private and contract surveyors amounted to 87,786 acres in 79 subdivisions, at an average cost of 11'52d. per acre; also an area of 92,979 acres in 171 subdivisions, of which the cost is not available, being either paid for privately, or the certificates of costs are not }'et issued. Road Surreys. —This year 102\ r >4 miles of road surveys have been executed by staff and contract surveyors, at a cost of £27"59 per mile. I notice that year by year the cost of this class of survey is increasing. One reason is that the work is often isolated, and the cost of travelling is sometimes double the cost of the actual survey when the party gets on the ground. Again, the country is rougher as we get further back, and, in addition to this, I have no doubt that greater care and precision is exercised in the locating ami grading than has been the practice in former \ears. These surveys were principally of roads taken by virtue of rights held by the Crown under " The Land Act, 1892," or the Native Land Act, as well as deviations of roads surveyed in previous years, and access to numbers of sections taken up in former years which have no practicable access. The County Councils and other local bodies were assisted in the way of surveys, principally in the gold-mining districts. Gold-mining Surveys. —As usual, surveys under this heading have been carried out by contract surveyors, and consisted of 1)253 acres, subdivided into 20 sections, at an average cost of 6755. per acre. Other Work. —The cost of other work amounted to £3,119 11s. 6d. Under this heading is included inspections, and various kinds of miscellaneous duties undertaken by staff surveyors which could not be brought into the columns of work returned. Besides inspections, this includes examinations of and reports on timber and drainage matters, valuations of lands being purchased from the Natives, underground surveys of coal-mines, supervising the clearing of willows from rivers, redefinition of boundaries at the request of settlers and others of work done in previous rears or in connection with our newer surveys, attending Native Land Court sittings, as also that of Maori Land Boards, assistance to Land Purchase officers, inspections in connection with kauri bleeding, fire reports, and repairs to trig, stations, Arc. All these matters are extremely necessary and unavoidable, but it is needless to say that they interfere with the work of our outside officers

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