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Two additional breakwaters have been erected at Arahura for the protection of the property, at a cost of £115, and a further expenditure will yet be necessary for this purpose, as parts of the main road through the property between the upper and lower bridges are in very bad repair, mainly owing to the want of river-bank protection, as any repairs are rendered useless by each successive flood destroying the bank. The Superintendent of Westland has offered to make the necessary repairs to the road if the trust would bear the expense of constructing the necessary protective works. Upon inquiry it was found that the length of the river-bank protection requisite to be done between the two bridges is 25 chains, the cost of which would amount to £572. The protective works alluded to in my report of last July have not been carried out, and the changes which have taken place since make it necessary to substitute bank protection for wing dams. The construction of the bank protection of 15 chains, out of the 24 chains noted above, includes the reconstruction of the road at the same time, as the one cannot be done without the other. As it is highly important in the interests of the property that an outlay should be made for the conservation of the river bank, with a view to prevent, if possible, a large portion of the land on the south bank from being converted into a river-bed, I would beg to recommend, if the Provincial Government will consent to contribute £200 towards the work, that the other portion of the estimated cost might be borne by the Greymouth fund. The work to be done under the supervision of the District Engineer. The correspondence forwarded under cover of my letter of the 17th instant will have apprised you that a difficulty exists with regard to the selection of ten acres in the township of Arawata, recently laid off in connection with the special settlement formed by the Provincial Government at Jackson's Bay. The moot point which the Government are contesting is that the ten acres in question is described in the schedule to the deed of sale as situate at the River Arawata, consequently no right can exist to select land in a township three miles distant, although it is clearly proved by documentary evidence recorded subsequent to the date of the deed that the ten acres was to be selected in the township when laid off. The omission of the words at " site of town," in describing the situation of the land in the schedule to the deed, unfortunately leaves the question open to dispute, but there is not the least doubt as to the intention, and although the legal right may be barred by the omission, the moral right still exists. The chief reason why the Provincial Government is repelling this claim is that it is opposed to giving the Natives ten acres of town land now valued at £48 per acre if it can manage to compel them to take ten acres of suburban land at the River Arawata, notwithstanding that this would be an infringement of the original understanding that the land was to be town and not suburban. The Natives interested in the matter urge that if they are debarred from selecting the land in the township as originally intended, they purpose claiming £500 as compensation for a breach of faith with them. I have, &c, Alexander Mackat, The Under Secretary, Native Department, Wellington. Commissioner.