The Water and Drainage Department is for the present detached from the Surveyor General's department.
Were the Officers in charge of these Departments to draw stores from a common Storehouse, friction and inconvenience might or might not arise. For example, the head of one Department might draw Stores, which the other had provided for some special work. Nor would the union of the Stores effect any appreciable saving. Each Department must have its clerical staff for recording its store and Cash transactions. Both these Departments now have Stores and Storekeepers.
The Surveyor General informs us that all that is required in order to bring the Store accounts of his Department into good order, is not a Storekeeper, but a trained Accountant, capable of keeping the books of his Department, including the Store books.
In regard to the Stores for Reclamation Works, we are of opinion that the Surveyor General should decide as to the manner in which they should be kept, whether in a separate Store and account or combined with the general stores of his Department.
There will however be no objection to the supply of stores from the Store of either Department, with the consent of the Officers concerned.
We are decidedly of opinion that the Surveyor General should have a Workshop, affording the means of carrying out work departmentally, instead of through Contractors, should he consider it to be economical or expedient to do so. As it is, many minor works have to be done by day laborers.