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1917. NEW ZEALAND.

DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND SURVEY. SURVEYS (ANNUAL REPORT ON).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Survbtor-Genebal to the Right Hon. the Minister op Lands. Sir,— 2nd July, 1917. I have the honour to present herewith the report on survey operations for the year ended 31st March, 1917. I have, &c, E. H. Wilmot, Surveyor-General. The Right Hon. W. F. Massey, P.C., Minister of Lands.

RE POET. This report will deal with survey operations for the year in a general way. Details will be found in the tables attached, and in the reports supplied by the various Chief Surveyors, which are filed as departmental records. Contrasting the acreages of rural and Native land surveyed with the acreages surveyed last year (see Table B) a considerable falling-off in those of this year is apparent, amounting to rather over 23 per cent, in rural lands and over 36 per cent, in Native lands. Several factors contribute to this result. One of these is that the acreage returned in rural lands last year included exceptionally large areas of pastoral land subdivided for settlement in Otago, while others are the depletion of the field staff by enlistments, the difficulty in getting efficient field hands, and the abnormally wet season in the north of the Dominion, where the bulk of the surveyors, both staff and private, have been working. The last two factors will probably account for a very slight increase in cost per acre, the cost still, however, being very satisfactory. Tables A and B, which follow, gives a summary of the survey-work executed during the year.

1-C. IA.