SURVEY REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 30TH JUNE, 1867.

Survey Office, Dunedin, 12th August, 1867.

SIR,—I have the honor to forward to you the Annual Return of Work executed by the Surveyors of this Department during the year ending the 30th of June last.

The return shows 524¼ square miles of minor triangulation, 74,260 acres of rural section survey, and 188 allotments surveyed in various townships.

The 524¼ miles of minor triangulation will be seen to have cost £2,702 17s. 8d., or at the rate of somewhat less than twopence per acre.

The 74,260 acres of rural sections have cost £7,091 9s. 9d., or at the rate of about 1s. 11d. per acre; and the 188 town allotments, generally of sizes less than the quarter of an acre, have cost £203 1s. 7d., or at the rate of £1 1s. 7d. each.

Comparing the above results with those of former years, it will be seen that the cost of minor triangulation is the same as it was last year, and somewhat in excess of years preceding that again—the cause of which is to be ascribed to the very diffuse manner in which these operations are now conducted, extending, as they do, to the most remote parts of the Province.

At the commencement of this system of check survey in 1857-8, the cost did not exceed 1¼d. per acre, owing to the most part of the settlement survey being close at hand, and confined to limited districts.

The cost of the rural section survey nearly doubles that of any preceding year. Last year it was at the rate of 1s. 2½d. per acre, while in 1857 and 1858 the average was only 6d. to 9d. per acre. The cause of this is to be entirely ascribed to the present system of land sales, i.e., to free selection before survey. This free selection extends from the Waitaki to the Toetoes, and over this dispersed area the numerous and distant choices of settlers must be followed after by the Surveyor, connected for record, and marked on the ground.

The now extended privileges of settlers in their land applications cannot, therefore, be expected to be met by this Department at the same cost as previously, when complete blocks were surveyed, the sections marked on the ground, and thus prepared for sale after survey.

It is evident, in the present system of selection before survey, that the cost to Government must depend much on the sizes of the applications and their comparative dispersion—small and distinct selections costing more than large and close ones.

On the result of this year’s operation, I feel it to be my duty, notwithstanding their greater cost, to solicit the favorable consideration of the Government to the general energy, good conduct, and zeal of the Officers at present with me. That the returns of each officer have not been so great was fully anticipated by me, and of which I have several times advised the Government, but more particularly in 1859, in my report dated 20th July; and, also, under date 11th August, 1863.

While in previous years the average work of each Section Surveyor working on the block, or aggregate system, was about 20,000 acres per annum; I see no possibility of each Surveyor doing more than 10,000 acres in the present mode of spotting, especially where small applications are numerous and distant. If, therefore, the Government desire to increase the annual acreage, one Surveyor will be required for every 10,000 acres sold.

This being the first year the Gold Field Surveys have been placed under the supervision of this Department, I beg to report the steps that were taken to put the Surveyors in a position to carry out the various operations in a manner suitable for record.

After visiting the various Fields, in company with my principal assistant, Mr. McKerrow, I perceived that the first step necessary was to divide the whole country into Survey Districts, and at once apply the check of the Geodesical bearings to all work emanating from this branch. Four offices were also suggested to be established at Lawrence, Queenstown, Clyde and Hamilton, and which met the approval of the Government. By the establishing of these offices in the principal mining centres, the applications for mining and agricultural leases could be at once entered into the application maps, and the positions so made known to the respective surveyors. The mining property by this step was also placed on a more safe basis than formerly.

Mr. McKerrow at once applied himself to the instruction of the various officers in the routine of the Otago system, and which, I am happy to say, was easily mastered by the more intelligent of the officers.

Proper camp and field equipments and staff were also granted to each surveyor on my recommendation, thus allowing the various parties to progress in their more distinct duties with comparative comfort and efficiency.

I found that the Mining Surveyors had previously been called upon to perform many quasi-public duties, not necessarily professional, to relieve them of these, without detriment to the public convenience, I arranged as far as possible that where necessary the Wardens should call upon the Draughtsmen to execute the same. Thus the higher paid officers with their parties, who are kept up at great expense, were at liberty to go on with the general survey and settlement of the country, without constant retarding calls on their time. This, I am glad to say, has been agreed to without much murmuring by the Wardens in charge of the various Gold Fields, and with whom I was so fortunate as to obtain a generally good understanding.

The work of the mining branch of the department is not so much to be judged of by the amount of acreage performed as by the number of claims surveyed and settled. I found, when I first took charge, that all surveys requiring record in the public maps of the Province, had to be done over again; that with the staff then retained, about two years’ arrears had to be made up, more particularly in Tuapeka District. I therefore despatched several of the officers of the general staff to assist in overtaking this work, and I may say that the survey duties of the Gold Fields are now so far forward as it is possible to make them under the system of diffusive and indiscriminate selection that there prevails.

Generally speaking, the officers have about six months’ work on hand, which they attend to by rotation. The system of application, indeed, necessitates arrears to some extent.

In order to give the Government a fair view of the cost of surveying lease applications (mining and agricultural) in the Gold Fields, I have had the following table prepared:—

GOLD FIELDS SURVEYS.

Table showing cost of Survey per Application or Section.