for the year 1864. xciii 



valuable results of the labours of Mr. Ligar's (the Surveyor 

 General's) officers, will shortly leave nothing to be desired 

 as regards the. topography of Victoria. 



The great credit of first discovering and practically apply- 

 ing a process for photographing maps, &e., on lithographic 

 stones, and printing from such impressions directly, without 

 the aid of a draftsman, is due to the Surveyor General's 

 (Mr. Ligar's) department of this Colony, and the first suc- 

 cessful steps in the invention were exhibited at a Meeting of 

 our Society. Our Vice-President, Mr. Ligar, commenced, 

 and is still carrying on, the series of experiments in the 

 course of which his assistant, Mr. Osborne, made this valuable 

 discovery, for which he was rewarded by Parliament with a 

 grant of £1,000. 



It is now acknowledged by those in Europe who are the 

 best authorities in the matter, that to this colony is due the 

 merit of having first originated Photolithography, as now so 

 extensively practised at the Crown Lands Office for the re- 

 duction and publication of the numerous sale-plans issued to 

 the public by that department. 



When first introduced by its inventor (Mr. Osborne), con- 

 siderable doubts were expressed as to its practical utility, 

 but such doubts may now be considered as set at rest, by the 

 fact that the immense numbers of sale plans required by the 

 Government in connection with the business of the Crown 

 Lands Office are prepared exclusively by this process. 



As an instance of the rapidity with which plans may be 

 reduced and copied by it, I may state that upon the passing 

 of the Land Act of 1862, upwards of 350 different plans of a 

 large size were issued by the aid of Photolithography in the 

 space of about four weeks. 



The process is also frequently taken advantage of by the 

 other Government departments for the purpose of making 

 fac-simile reproductions of valuable documents both in print 



