597

Mr. McArthur has had some small experience in Triangulation, but, if only for the sake of securing uniformity, it will be desirable that in my absence Mr. Baker should supervise this work.

3. Mr. Mitchell, Sub-assistant surveyor, is at present completing the survey of the Peninsula formed by the Oreti River and Waihopai estuary, opposite Invercargill.

It was desirable that this should be done in order to fill up one of the few remaining gaps in the old surveys, but it might, to great advantage, have been left until spring, and Mr. Mitchell would have been better employed in the office finishing up the work he has executed between Invercargill and the Bluff; but the necessity of finding employment for the survey men, impelled me to keep him in the field in very wet ground, and at a season when such work is much more costly than at any other.

All Mr. Mitchell’s work is highly satisfactory; he is a most pains-taking and improving surveyor.

4. Mr. Weetman has been constantly employed in the Aparima Hundred. Nothing can be more satisfactory than all the work performed by this gentleman.

5. Mr. Clement Johnstone was employed in surveying land to the north of Spar Bush, but, as this cannot be sold until the new land law comes into force, he has been called in. He is a good surveyor, equally familiar with engineering work, and is also very valuable in the office.

6. Mr. Maling has been employed in the Mataura Hundred and its vicinity. I should have been glad if he could have been called in during the winter, but the necessity of keeping his party employed prevented it.

7. Mr. Butler is now employed in laying off an extension of the township of Riverton, on the Maori Reserve at that place, and in some sub-divisions of other parts of that reserve, as arranged by the Commissioner of the General Government. There is a small block on the left bank of the Waimatuku River which I propose that he should survey when disengaged, which will be in a week or two, and a section of 400 acres has to be surveyed on the coast, beyond Jacob’s River, which it will be convenient for him to do.

The office establishment consists, as before, of Mr. Stevens, Draughtsman, and Mr. McGowan, assistant ditto; both are most efficient. In interruptions which were made in June, the salary of Mr. Stevens was lowered from £275 to £225 per annum. This presses very heavily on him and hardly places him on a fair footing as compared with the second officers in other departments; he has charge of very important documents, and in the absence of the chief surveyor, he has to undertake the whole responsibility of the department.

The lithographic printing is carried on by Mr. Hughes. In addition to the maps which have, I believe, been found convenient to the public, many forms and other matters have been printed for other departments, by which a considerable saving is effected.

Experience shows that the only maps likely to be satisfactory, are those printed in the Office. Before the lithographic press was provided, upwards of 18 months ago, a map of the country to 20 miles north of Invercargill was sent to England to be engraved; a few copies only of that map have just now arrived. It is certainly much better got up than could have been done in the colony, but it is by the long delay so much behind the present state of the surveys, that its utility is very much impaired.

In consequence of the non-arrival of the map from England, another map of the province was ordered to be lithographed in Melbourne; a long delay took place in its arrival also, and when it came its execution was anything but what was expected. As we have now a press large enough to print a map of the Province, there will in future be no necessity for having any mapping executed elsewhere than in the office, except from time to time to add to the plate in England the new surveys, and to print off fresh editions from it as required.

I cannot close this, which is likely to be my last report, without bearing testimony to the steadiness, the energy, and the unvarying attention with which all the officers of the department have applied themselves to the performance of their respective duties.

No head of a department ever enjoyed more constant and effective support from all its officers than I have had, and I trust that should I now leave it, the mutual good understanding and esprit du corps which now animates the staff will still be maintained and invigorated.

I append copy of an interesting report.