1.—6.

with the exception of tho higher parts, the soil is; good. This ilistiiec includes tin; Ohura, Valley, but not to tho Ongamhe, from which a. liu^c additional area would dtmUless feed tho line. The line would ran parallel to 290,000 acres of Crown land, half of which would be opened up by railway, tho remainder being coached from the coast. The line would run Ummgli two other blocks, one of Crown hinds, r,O,()l)t) nvrv\ and unotlici p=Vi.Liiiai.ed ni 70.000 atroH, on Die. Taiif;ar;ilr;Mi, at present under negotiation, and on which the Government liavo made a latyc inlvsuiee Three blocks on tho Ohura and Wanganni of 25,000 acres would also be opened up; this also is Crown land. The coalfield is v \.t\ f\lan;a\-r, one, judging from tho outcrops on Lower Tangarakau, Central T;u;j;;),i-akau, Eao, Ohuia (nvnr the Opatu Block), Mokau-iti, Mokau, :i,nd intlicationti also on the Tongoporutu, near the coast; in all, some thirty-two miles long by twenty miles wide. Limestone is plentiful in the Mokau country, and there are indications of it at the Stratford end, about six miles from present railway. I have, Ac, The Chief Surveyor, Taranaki. H. M. Skeet, Assistant Surveyor.

By Authority Geougs Didsbury, Oovernmont Printer Wellington.—lSB4.

105