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Rural and Suburban Surveys cover an area of 33,444 acres of rural sections, and selections under the regulations in a mining district. Residence areas have caused a deal of trouble, as there was no previous survey to locate them, and it is only when the contiguous land is being divided that the areas then become known. The system of granting the residence areas under the mining conditions is causing overlap and endless complications. No attempt was made to provide road access, and now r , when good houses are being built, the road problem is rather difficult to adjust. Mining Survey. —Seven plans by private surveyors, of an area of 575 acres, have been checked. Town Section Survey. —Three small townships have been laid off, two of which are to provide building-areas for miners engaged in the coal industry. Sections in the Town of Hokitika have been pegged off ready for sale. Other Work includes incomplete surveys, rural selection, and topographical. Proposed Operations for 1909-10.—The field-work for the coming year wall be the survey of the lands up the Grey Valley that hitherto have been locked up by the sawmilling and mining interests, blocks in Kopara, Haupiri, Brunner, Hohonu, Waimea, and Kanieri Survey Districts. In the southern _part of the district, areas in Wataroa, Waiho, and Poerua Survey Districts that have long been waiting to be put in hand will be undertaken. The urgency of the settlement surveys has kept the limited staff so fully engaged that little standard work has been done. Around Greymouth and Cobden so many subdivisions for building purposes have been made that the urgency of a standard survey along many of the new streets is apparent, if only to provide points for the private surveyors to close on to, and in the coming season it is to be hoped this work can be undertaken. Office-work. —One hundred and four plans have been received, 27 of which were Land Transfer, 7 Mining, and 5 Public Works ; checking has been kept well up to date ; 846 plans have been placed on titles, of which Land Transfer have required 153 ; 531 tracings supplied for general returns and information ; 8 block, 12 application, 3 run maps have been niade, with 15 tracings prepared for photolithography ; Crown-grant maps continued. For the ensuing year, the long-standing Land Transferindex and other maps will be put in hand. My cordial thanks are due to the various officers, field and staff, who have so willingly and assiduously carried out their several duties. G. J. Roberts, Chief Surveyor.

CANTERBURY. Rural and Suburban. —The total completed work under this heading is 30,882 acres, subdivided into 64 sections, at a total cost of £849 Is. Id., or 0-555. per acre. District Surveyor McClure subdivided the Culverden Estate, 25,829 acres, at a cost of £563 12s. ; and Reserve 79, Christcurch District, 303 acres, at a cost of £12 12s. : making a total area of 26,132 acres subdivided into 48 sections at a total cost of £576 45., or 0-445. per acre. District Surveyor Allom subdivided 2,725 acres in the Lyndon District into 8 sections ; surveyed 3 sections, containing 1,994 acres, in the Four Peaks and Acland Districts, and 5 small reserves in the Lyndon, Akaroa, and Okain's Districts : making a total of 4,750 acres subdivided into 16 sections at a total cost of £272 17s. Id., or lT5s. per acre. Work completed in the field, but which cannot be returned owing to the plans not being finished, includes reserves on the Pareora River, Reserve 2,166 Akaroa, various small reserves at Hanmer, and workers' dwellings sites in the Walker Settlement at Addington. Town Surveys. —The only survey of this class was the pegging of 41 sections in the Culverden Township by District Surveyor Allom at a cost of £56 19s. 2d., or 27-Bs. per section. Road Surveys. —Under this heading 1-93 miles are returned at a total cost of £40, or £20-72 per mile. This work was done under contract by Mr. L. Webb, and consisted of the grading and surveying of the continuation of King Edward VII Drive along the summit of the Port Hills, eastward from Dyer's Pass through the Cashmere Estate. Mr. Allom graded and surveyed 41 chains through the Kennedy's Bush Reserve, but, as the plans are not completed, this work is carried forward to next year. Field Inspections. —During the year District Surveyor Allom inspected 8 Land Transfer surveys by private surveyors, with satisfactory results. Other Work. —Included under this heading is £656 155., the cost of 18| miles of the standard survey of part of Timaru completed by District Surveyor McClure, and £135 lis. 3d., the cost of the 8 field inspections made by District Surveyor Allom ; also that of the survey of Pastoral Runs Nos. 61a and 62a, comprising 16,350 acres, by Mr. F. W. Freeman, contract surveyor, at a cost of £301, for disposal under " The Canterbury Agricultural College Reserves Act, 1905." Proposed Operations for 1909-10.—Mr. Allom has the plans of various small surveys to complete, and will then survey 214 acres in connection with the proposed acquisition by exchange of a scenic area at " Sharplin Falls," in Alford Forest. There is an exchange of 80 acres to be surveyed in the Gladstone District, Mackenzie County, but this is not urgent, and can be done when other surveys are required in the vicinity. It is probable that some of the pastoral runs the present leases of which will expire in 1911 will require subdivision ; and this work, in addition to the survey of any lands .purchased for settlement, and the proposed major triangulation, will be more than the present field staff can cope with. Office-work. —During the year 26 plans of sectional work have been examined and approved, and 65 road and railway plans have been similarly dealt with. Photo-lithographic work done includes alterations to the tracings of the Ashley, Selwyn, Ashburton, Mackenzie, and Waitaki Counties, rendered necessary by the readjustment of the boundary of the Canterbury and Westland Land Districts ; completed plans of the Culverden Township and Hurst Survey District; 1 tracing of the Cheviot County, and 10 of lands for disposal; and the original photo-lithographic plans of the Spaxton and Grey Survey Districts brought up to date. Other work done includes the completion of 7 survey plans of the Culverden Settlement, and 4 of the Timaru standard survey ; 7 township plans prepared for the approval of His Excellency the Governor ; 26 cards prepared showing real estate vested in the Post and Telegraph Department, a work which involved much searching of titles ; the copying of