Reading between the lines : people, politics and the conduct of surveys in the southern North Island, New Zealand, 1840-1876

The delineation of land parcel is an essential first step in any area undergoing colonisation. Embodying the organisational ideals of the colonising society, the resulting complexes of divisional lines endure in the landscape as monuments to past decisions, continuing to function as frameworks for geographical activity long after the rationale for initial design has been forgotten. The procedure of initial inscription, however, is neither random nor simple. An argument is advanced that the procedure may be advantageously viewed as the product of an ongoing process of 'spatial goal redefinition', itself an example of adaptive learning in colonial situations. It is further argued that, in the course of redefinition, the cadastral layouts embraced economic strategy for the area being colonised, the political climate, or even the idiosyncrasies of supervising bureaucrats - as by purely technological considerations. This being the case, the intricate patterns of cadastral inscriptions discernible in any particular landscape may be considered a crude mirror of the settlement history of that landscape, and of the hopes and aspirations of those who settled it. To test the validity of these postulations, the survey and settlement experiences of one nineteenth century European colonisation site, the southern North Island districts of New Zealand are subjected to close scrutiny.