492 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



is this : that among the most legible handwritings those 

 which have not thick and thin strokes, but those which 

 are even in flow, are in the majority ; and observation and 

 trial lead me to the conclusion that the bias of shaded writing 

 is towards illegibility. 



Briefly, the conclusion arrived at may be stated thus : Re- 

 place the environment which results in illegible angularities 

 by one which produces curves — that is to say, let the fingers 

 and thumb used in writing trace a circle so often that a 

 curve will be the line of least resistance to them. This, to 

 my mind, is done in the simplest way by rapidly tracing in 

 one spot circles on top of one another, of the size of an ordi- 

 nary written " o," with pen or pencil. But this can be yet 

 more effectively done by the aid of one of the simple me- 

 chanical means submitted. These provide a way of over- 

 coming the inclination to shirk the exercise of will latent if 

 not active in most of us, giving, moreover, an accurate circle 

 for tracing. The aim, then, is to practise the circular motion 

 with finger and thumb until that motion becomes pure habit. 



On no account should the wrist be moved ; it should be 

 held firmly by the left hand. 



The statement which, within the limitations of this paper, 

 may be made an axiom is, the ability to form a perfect circle 

 with finger-and-thumb motion is the ability to write well ; 

 or, in order to write well, occasionally practise forming circles 

 until the muscles of the fingers and thumb tire. 



Art. LXI. — Survey : Practical and Precise. 

 By the Honourable G. F. Richardson. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 12th March, 1901.] 



The survey of new lands contains more elements of interest 

 than that of older countries ; in the former case the points 

 and lines determined mainly concern the creation of new 

 holdings and new homes, whereas in the latter they only serve 

 to record old ones. In these colonies especially the propor- 

 tion of land occupiers and owners is so large that most of 

 us are directly or indirectly interested in " section pegs," 

 "trigs," and such-like, while at Home the expression of this 

 interest is practically limited to the impersonal " beating the 

 bounds of the parish." The subject being one of much interest 

 and importance, I propose to consider, from my point of 



