On the state of the surveys in Tasmania

At recent meetings of the Royal Society the question of the present state of the surveys in Tasmania and the best methods to be adopted for placing them upon a sound basis was under discussion, and various suggestions were made on the subject.
Subsequently, on the 27th October, a letter was published in The Mercury under the heading " Field Surveyors," which was intended as a reply to the unfavourable comments which had been made upon the existing survey system. This letter was signed by Mr. J. E. Calder, a gentleman who for several years held the office of Surveyor-General for Tasmania, and is therefore entitled to consideration as dealing with a subject with which it is only reasonable to assume he is well acquainted.
Statements, however, are made and reasoning’s adopted which are open to criticism; while the general impression conveyed to the mind of the unprofessional reader amounts to this : — That the surveys of Tasmania are as good as it is possible to make them in a timbered and rugged country, and that a trigonometrical survey is practically useless. Mr. George McIntyre, was an Authorised and Licensed Surveyor, from Christchurch, New Zealand.