BOUNDARIES. 
er, if there happened to be 100 acres of grass, orbar^ 
rock, or scrub ; nevertheless they were in general fair, 
just and reasonable, giving you as much of the land 
as they possibly could, which you wanted, to suit you, 
as the same time insisting on your taking with it a 
portion of unsuitable ground to suit themselves, which 
was just. 
It has even been said, but I decline vouching for its 
truth, that upwards of thirty years ago some of the 
Government surveyors did not complete the cutting of 
the boundaries of lands they were ordered out to survey, 
but connected the boundaries and calculated the acreage 
on paper. This, of course, could be done in a some- 
what approximate way by merely cutting one boundary 
on a scale, laying it down on paper, and on the same 
scale fitting in on paper or plan the other boundaries 
and then calculating the total amount. In fact, what 
has not been done in the old original days ? Of this 
there can be no manner of doubt, that the Survey 
Department cost Government a great deal of time, 
trouble, and money, in putting to rights old plans 
and measurements, if they are even put to rights still ; 
for it may be even now, that a good many old pro- 
perties, if put under the chain and theodolite in the 
hands of modern surveyors, would made their pro- 
prietors feel a little uncomfortable. The assistant 
surveyors, when out on their extensive surveys had 
a hard time of it. I have known many of them, 
and visited them in their talipot huts. It was about 
the hardest work, and apparently, to me, disagreeable 
occupation it was possible to conceive. Few who were 
kept at it for any long term of years were able to 
stand it. One of the hardest working men at it, 
a clever man at his work, and one who did good service 
in correcting and remodelling the surveys, about 
1846-7-8, was Mr. Charles Wilson. He was popular 
with the planters and in favour with his superiors. 
What has become of him ? Is he dead or alive, for 
he has long since left the island and the service ? [Re- 
tired in 1864, and still draws a pension of £241 per 
annum. — Ed.] 
Most of the jungles are full of streams and small rivers 
of all sorts and sizes, and it was generally considered 
the best plan to take some of them as boundaries, in 
all cases where it could be conveniently adopted, 
because they were permanent ones. The jungle might 
grow and flourish to any extent, but still there was 
the stream boundary, it could not be choked up and 
obliterated. So the surveyor of the olden times, being 
pushed to get through with his work in 'order to 
proceed to some other locality, to meet some x^^’essing ■ 
