Surveys.

It seems to me that further provision is necessary in the direction of enabling survey liens to be registered.

Until the District Land Registrar has been furnished by the Native Land Court with the order of freehold tenure, no registration can take place, nor can the Court forward these orders until all costs of Court are paid. The surveyor should be allowed to pay these costs in order to give full effect to his security, the amount paid to be added to the security. Power should also be given to the Court to cut off a sufficiency of the land so secured to cover the security and the cost of obtaining and giving effect to the same. Native owners should also be permitted to pay off their proportions of the cost of survey; nor should particular owners be personally liable for the costs of any survey when they hold the land with others. To make the land liable would facilitate this important branch of Native Land Court work, without lessening the value of the security. Additional power is also necessary to enable the Court to order subdivision surveys on terms and conditions. If I understand aright the meaning of Section 81 of "The Native Land Court Act, 1886," the surveyor's mortgage only affects the interests of the Natives who employ him, and if such is the case, the section should be amended so that the security shall cover the whole estate and interest of all the Natives owning the land. Section 82 gives the Court power to secure the cost of a survey made by Natives, who, on the subsequent investigation of the title, are found not to be the owners; but, singular to say, the statute apparently makes no provision for securing to a Native owner the cost of a survey paid for by him. It is sufficient for my purpose to draw your attention to the above facts; the need of a remedy is patent.