XXViii. Appendix. 
Where the problem is an accurate survey of existing possessions, there 
can be, I think, little doubt but that the system adopted in England, and 
recommended by Major Palmer for adoption here, is the best one. 
It matters little if twenty or even fifty years elapse before its details are 
completed. The boundaries of estates, the position of which upon the land 
itself, have been recognised for centuries, are not likely to vanish, nor any 
question as to the whereabouts of a canal or of St. Paul’s Cathedral likely 
seriously to disturb any one’s repose. 
The surveyor may leisurely proceed with his 86-inch theodolite to 
measure the various angles of his great triangulation, and may occupy his 
time in solving the interesting geographical and geodetical problems which 
meet him in dealing with a large portion of the area of our globe, without 
a single person feeling the want of his services or being possibly aware of 
his very existence. 
It is, however, quite another matter where the surveyor is required to 
deal with naked portions of the earth’s surface, and, with the least possible 
delay, divide the same into suitable portions for the occupation of the 
colonist. 
He is required, first, upon the earth itself, to mark the boundaries of 
the various properties; and secondly, to construct on paper, on a propor- 
tional scale, a faithful record corresponding in every particular with the 
actual marks upon the ground, and bearing upon it a reeord of the measure- 
ments of every line of his survey. 
This document is called a plan of the survey. If the work of measuring 
the various boundaries and lines upon the ground is correctly performed, 
and the plan is a complete and faithful record, the boundaries can be repro- 
duced at any time upon the ground, from the information furnished by the 
plan, provided these boundaries are not entirely obliterated ; and hence, in 
every sound system of colonial survey, it is recognised as requisite that the 
boundaries of properties which, from the nature of the circumstances, can 
only be marked in a temporary manner, must be connected or tied to some 
existing marks or objects not likely to be easily destroyed. 
This has unfortunately been neglected in many of the Provinces of New 
Zealand, and hence one source of the existing confusion. 
But not only is it apparent that boundaries should in this manner be 
connected to permanent recognised marks or stations, but it is further 
evident that, inasmuch as the power of reproducing lost boundaries correctly 
is Only possessed where the original detail work has been correctly per- 
formed, it is absolutely necessary that some means should be available for 
testing the accuracy of the detail work itself, and this in two directions. 
Every line on the earth’s surface has two qualities, length and direction, 
