mile of the point upon which the lighthouse is erected.

The bearings are magnetic. Variation, 16° east in 1856.

HENRY ADAMS,
For Alfred Domett,
Provincial Secretary.

Provincial Secretary’s Office, Nelson,
July 30th, 1862.

DIRECTIONS

TO

BLOCK AND SECTION SURVEYORS.

1. THE Surveyor will be furnished from the Head Office with a skeleton map showing the boundaries of the Block as far as they may have been surveyed, with the terminations of the roads running into it; and having the Trigonometrical Stations within the Block accurately laid off.

2. On arriving at his destination, the Surveyor’s first duty is to explore for, and to mark out with flagstaffs and ranging rods, the best lines for the Main Roads, according to the indications given to him from the Survey Office, and at the same time to seek for information to guide him in afterwards laying off the cross and back roads for the subdivision of the land to the greatest advantage for its agricultural settlement.

3. The Main Roads are always to be taken along the driest and most available lines that can be found in the general direction indicated, and as straight as possible, consistently with this condition. When an easily made road line cannot be had by deviations not exceeding 30° on either side of the line of the general direction, in drafts of generally no less than 30 or 40 chains, such a traverse line can be taken as the permanent high road; but when difficulty — such as the head of a deep swamp, or other considerable but not insurmountable obstacle — can be avoided by a sudden detour, such bend is to be made, and marked off on either side as the temporary road; but the direct line is also to be laid off and reserved for the permanent line. Such difficulties ought always to be reported to the Chief Surveyor as early as possible.

4. After the Main Roads have been determined on completely through the Block, survey lines can be cut on one side of them in the usual way by contract. When the road skirts a forest, so that the sections on one side will be in bush, that side ought generally to be put in preference. All angles on roads must be measured on both sides of it by large square pegs, branded, with the arrow head, and by trenches 2 feet long by 9 inches deep, cut in the true direction of the two lines. The Surveyor should then proceed to those convenient Trigonometrical Station, and set his theodolite to the true meridian by the given bearings of the surrounding stations; all the stations in sight should be observed, and the bearings noted in the field-book. Lastly, he should observe the bearing of a flag previously erected at the junction of the starting point of the road traverse; then, proceeding thither, he can take the back bearing of that and of another station, if a second one is in sight, subtending an angle between 30° and 120°, in order to fix the true position of the starting point; if no other station is observable within these limits, then the line from the one must be run out and chained. He can then proceed with the traverse of the Main Roads, noting of course, in the field-book all streams, swamps or other notable features of the country crossed, and the suitable places for cross roads, marking them as necessary. Bearings should also be taken at suitable places on Trigonometrical Stations, and these should be so managed as to supply, as far as possible, a system of minor triangulation, and any line passing within 10 chains of a Trigonometrical Station should always close with it.

5. After the Main Road lines are traversed and plotted, the rivers, forests, &c. sketched in, and the best lines for cross and back roads noted, these last, and the subdivision of the land into sections, can be designed, as symmetrically as the lay of the country will permit. The cross roads should leave the main roads as nearly at right angles as possible, at distances of 1¼ or 1½ miles. The back roads, when made, only for access to sections, and not in situations likely to become thoroughfares for other districts, should run nearly parallel with the main road, or with its general direction, at a mile or a mile and a half from it; but roads must in all cases be laid out only on such lines that they can be made passable at a moderate cost, and must never be carried through avoidable difficulties. The leading high roads are in future to be laid off two chains wide; and no road should be less than one chain, except when, as may occasionally happen, a short accommodation road is required, to reach two or three sections only — in which case it may be 50 links wide. Where two or more main roads intersect, or where other circumstances — such as the vicinity of a ford, or of the head of a navigable river, or of a forest in a part of the country generally open — appear to afford a favourable site for a future village, the attention of the Chief Surveyor ought to be drawn to the circumstance. Generally it is desirable that such reserves should be made at distances of from four to six miles apart. Suitable spots for obtaining gravel should also be looked for on the lines of road, but especially of the main roads, and reserves made of them; from 5 to 10 acres will, in most cases be sufficient for this purpose.

6. In designing the subdivision of the Blocks into sections, regard should be had —
   1st, To give all sections frontage to a road, as nearly in equal proportions, and as nearly at right angles with the side lines as possible; the depth being, as a rule, not less than double nor more than four times the frontage; but there will be cases in which this rule must be transgressed;
   2nd, To divide bush frontage, or other local disadvantages, amongst the greatest possible number of sections;
   3rd, It will save great labour in the survey and diminish the risk of mistakes, if the side lines of sections can be made parallel, and to correspond across the roads, so that they can be ranged out continuously for several sections. The size of the sections may vary in general from 80 to 100 acres; but occasionally, where required by circumstances, they may be larger: 240 acres should be the maximum.