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In the Hawke's Bay District the staff has in hand 95,650 acres of settlement land and 41,580 acres of Native land, comprising 13,480 acres for Maori Land Board and 28,100 acres for Native Land Court. Of the Native Land Court area, 23,000 acres has been completed in the field. In addition to the foregoing areas, there will be the subdivision of the Manawaangiangi Block, of 12,000 acres lately purchased by the. Crown through the Native Land Purchase Board. The Taranaki staff has in hand 113,550 acres of settlement land —9,500 acres of which is completed in the field —besides 2,866 acres of Native surveys. In the Wellington District the area in hand for settlement amounts to 69,724 acres, of which 4,406 acres is completed in the field. The Native surveys total to 21,920 acres, comprising 14,850 acres for Maori Land Board and 7,070 acres for Native Land Court, 875 acres of which is completed in the field. The staff of the Nelson District has 62,570 acres of settlement work in hand, 10,000 acres of which has been completed in the field. In addition to this it is proposed to put in hand some :W,UK) acres, which, with the survey of applications for selections received, as well as the necessary triangulation and other current work, will be sufficient to keep both staff and contract surveyors busy for the coming year. The Marlborough District, with 11,900 acres of settlement land, 7,950 acres of which is completed in the field, 143 acres of Native and 31 miles of road surveys, will have also ample work in hand. Westland has in hand 20,066 acres of settlement surveys, of which some 5,000 acres has been completed in the field. There is also a necessity for some extension of standard-survey work in the principal towns of this district. The Canterbury District has in hand some 3,000 acres of settlement land. In addition to this there will be the subdivision of an area of about 106,000 acres, comprising the Sherwood Downs land, of 56,500 acres, lately acquired under the Land for Settlements Act, and 49,870 acres of pastoral land to be offered as small grazing-runs at the end of the coming year. There will also be the survey of the Glynn Wye freehold —about 7,000 acres —as also the road through same. In order to cope with the above-mentioned survey the staff will need some further assistance. The Otago staff has on hand 32,400 acres of settlement surveys, 15,000 acres of which is completed in the field. Southland has in hand 13,144 acres of settlement land, 700 acres of which is nearly completed in the field ; and the subdivision of 14,700 acres for landless Natives, situated in the Forest Hill, Waimumu, and Lindhurst Survey Districts. In addition to this there will be some 18,000 acres to survey, inclusive of a block of some 5,400 acres recently acquired by the School Commissioners and now administered by the Lands Department, besides that of miscellaneous surveys. In addition to what has been outlined above there will be the extension of the secondary and probably some additional minor triangulation to be undertaken during the year in various districts. The proposed operations for the coming year will be found fully detailed in the reports of the respective Chief Surveyors in Appendix I. Surveyors Boaed. In connection with the Surveyors Board, Mr. T. Humphries and myself attended the Conference of Surveyors Boards at Hobart in January last. In an appendix will be found an outline of the general work of the Surveyors Board for the past year. Magnetic Observatory. Throughout the year the work has been carefully attended to by Mr. Skey and his assistant Mr. Maben. The Adie magnetographs and the Milne seismograph have worked very satisfactorily, the latter showing seventy-four quakes, the records of some of which are reproduced and shown in connection with Mr. Skey's annual report. When time permitted further progress was made with the reduction to epoch of field observations. The Magnetic Observer's report makes interesting reference to the visits to the Observatory of Dr. Bauer, Director of the Magnetic Department of the Carnegie Institute ; of Captain Scott's second polar expedition to the Antarctic ; and also to that of Lieutenant Pennell, K.N., in connection with the determination of magnetic force and inclination. The report also incidentally refers to interruptions occasionally caused to the observatory work through the running of the Christchurch electric tramways. A daily record has been kept of the meteorological changes, &c. ; various other matters of interest are also referred to ; and, altogether, Mr. Skey's report, with annexed diagrams and tables, is well worthy of perusal.