The Office Of The District Land Registrar, and Registrar of Deeds and Titles, is domiciled in the Government Buildings, in Shakespeare Road.

Mr. Thomas Hall, District Land Registrar and Registrar of Deeds for Hawke's Bay, is the eldest son of an Auckland merchant, and was born in the year 1858. He was educated by private teachers, and at the Church of England Grammar School, and afterwards studied law under Mr. Samuel Jackson, of Auckland. After page 336 being admitted to the Bar, he practised his profession for a time, and in 1884 entered the Government service as Examiner of Titles at Auckland. Subsequently he served for some years as a relieving District Land Registrar, and in January, 1896, received his present appointment.

Mr. Frederick Bull was appointed Receiver of Land Revenue for Hawke's Bay in the year 1893. He was born in Yalding, Kent, in 1841, and is a son of the late Mr. Thomas Love Bull, who was a partner of the firm of Druce and Bull, merchants, and the founder of the National school at Christchurch, Chelsea, and fellow-worker of the late Sir Wentworth Dilke, in the establishment of the Literary and Scientific Institute of West London. Mr. Bull was educated at Ramsgate, and afterwards entered the office of one of the large copper firms in London. In 1863 he came to New Zealand by the ship “Zealandia” (Captain Foster), and landed in Canterbury. He signed articles to Mr. Charles Ffrench Pemberton, district surveyor for the Provincial Government of Canterbury, and on completion of his articles was surveying in the Kowai district. He was subsequently appointed engineer to the Kowai Road Board, and constructed roads in that district, built most of the bridges, and rebuilt many of them after the destructive flood and tidal wave of 1868. Tempted by the prospects of the flax industry, Mr. Bull resigned his position, and embarked in flax-dressing, employing about fifty hands. The enterprise proved disastrous, and Mr. Bull realised his assets, and in 1872 removed to Wellington, where he joined the Public Works Department of the general Government. Some three years later he was transferred to the Survey Department, under Mr. J. W. A. Marchant, now Surveyor General. On the abolition of the provinces and the formation of the present Lands and Survey Department, Mr. Bull was appointed chief accountant, which position he held until 1893, when he was transferred to Napier as Receiver of Land Revenue. Mr. Bull is a Master Mason, though unattached for many years past, his spare time being mainly devoted to music and to his bowling club, of which he is an enthusiastic member. For over twenty years he was a member of the managing committee of the Wellington Orchestral Society, and also wrote a number of operettas and burlesques, which were performed by the Wellington Christy Minstrels. As a “celloist” he has been successful, and enjoys the unique reputation of being the only left-handed player known. He was a member of the Wellington Philosophical Society for many years, and was an active member of the management committee of the Napier Horticultural Society, and a well-known grower of prize chrysanthemums. Mr. Bull also has ability as a poet; and his “Jubilee Poem” was, and still is, very widely appreciated, and his Jubilee version of “God Save the Queen” was enthusiastically sung at the Napier Cathedral special services by about 1500 voices. His patriotic writings during the South African war were much appreciated. As one of the earliest members of the StaBoating Club of Wellington, Mr. Bull was the designer and originator of the club's crest and motto. “Semper Refulgens.” In 1890 he patented an improved flax-dresser, and spent much time and money in endeavouring to improve the quality of the manufactured article. He was examined in that connection before the Royal Commission, in the published report of which Sir James Hector mentioned Mr. Bull's invention as one of the only two real improvements produced during the preceding twenty-five years. In 1876 he married the youngest daughter of the late Mr. A. B. Sheath, chief accountant of the Post and Telegraph Department, who, with his brother, Mr. Alfred Sheath, initiated the telegraph system of the colony at Christchurch.

Mr. F. Bull.