Mr. John Holland Baker, Assistant Surveyor General and Commissioner of Lands for the Wellington Land District, was born at Chilcomb, Hants, England in 1841. A son of the Rev. Thomas Feilding Baker, Rector of Cressingham Parish, Norfolk, he was educated at Yarmouth Grammar School, and in Germany, and came to New Zealand to his uncle, the Ven. Archdeacon Mathias, of Christchurch, in 1857 per ship “Maori,” landing in Lyttelton. In the following year Mr. Baker joined the Survey Department as a cadet under Mr. C. Davie, afterwards Chief Surveyor of Canterbury. Four years later he was attached to the Southland staff as sub-assistant surveyor, and in 1863 he was appointed assistant surveyor to carry out the Southland Triangulation. In 1864 he was promoted to the post of Deputy Chief Surveyor, and later on in the same year when the late Mr. T. Heale resigned he became Chief Surveyor, and a member of the Southland Waste Lands Board. On the free selection. Land Act coming into operation in 1865, Mr. Baker introduced a system of survey by District Surveyors, who were paid on a fixed scale of fees, which system remained in force until Southland page 340 was re-annexed to Otago in 1870. Mr. Baker then became Inspector of Surveys for Southland, and in the following year he assisted Mr. McKerrow in connecting Stewart Island with the geodesical survey of Otago. While in Southland Mr. Baker arranged the exhibits for the Otago and Melbourne Exhibitions. From the commissioners of both the received letters of thanks for his services. In 1873 he was appointed one of the commissioners under the Southland Waste Lands Act to classify the agricultural and pastoral land in that district. After the abolition of the provinces (1876) Mr. Baker was appointed chief surveyor of Canterbury, where he had commenced his professional career. He at once re-organized the staff, and introduced the present New Zealand system of survey, extending standard bearings and minor triangulation over the whole of the district. He became Commissioner of Crown Lands for Canterbury in 1884. Five years later Mr. Baker was appointed one of the commissioners to assess the Canterbury runs. He has occupied the responsible position he now holds since 1891, when he was transferred to the Wellington land district, and promoted to the position of assistant surveyor general for the Colony. Twice during his career Mr. Baker, in recognition of his services, has had leave of absence for twelve months, first in 1875 when he visited Europe, and again in 1885 to recruil his health which had become impaired by the great strain of his official duties. Mr. Baker was married in 1875 to Miss Isabel Strachey, of Ashwick Grove, Somerset, England.

Mr. William Girvan Runcie, Receiver of Land Revenue for the Wellington Land District, is a native of Kilmarnock, Scotland, and was educated at the Kilmarnock Academy. page 341 Arriving in Port Chalmers, New Zealand, in the month of October, 1862, per ship “Cheviot,” Mr. Runcie engaged in mercantile pursuits in Invercargill and on the West Coast of the South Island till 1878. For some years he was a member of the well-known auctioneering firm of F. A. Learmonth and Co., of Hokitika and Kumara. On retiring he joined the Civil Service of the Colony in Christchurch, as accountant in the Lands and Survey Office, remaining for four years. Mr. Runcie was then transferred to a similar position in Dunedin, which he retained till 1892, when he was removed to the head office in Wellington. After a short time he was promoted to the position of Receiver of Land Revenue for the Wellington Land District. While resident in Dunedin, Mr. Runcie took considerable interest in singing, and was a member of the fine choir of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition of 1889–90. Although busily employed in the duties of his office, Mr. Runcie finds time to attend meetings of the Terrace School Committee, of which he is a member, In 1877 he married Miss C. A. Green, daughter of Mr. James Green, J.P., of Sydney, New South Wales, and has two daughters.