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Waimata Biding. —On account of the destruction of all the bridges and serious injury to the road to Waimata by the disastrous flood in that locality, £830 was granted to assist in reopening it for traffic, and with this money four bridges have been rebuilt and ten miles of dray-road made passable again. Pouawa Boad Board. —The road in this district was seriously injured by the same flood as destroyed the Waimata Eoad, and a grant of £130 was given, of which only £37 ss. was paid within the financial year. Nuhaka. —Five miles and a quarter of bridle-road was constructed by co-operative labour. The object of the work is to connect the Nuhaka settlement with Gisborne, and afford means of communication between that town and Wairoa by this route, which will, when completed, be an improvement on the present main road by way of Tiniroto. Waiapu Inland Boad. —£100 has been spent by the Cook County Council in constructing two small bridges and generally improving four miles of dray-road. Fvasertown-Waikaremoana. —The Wairoa County authorities have had the spending of £400 in rebuilding bridges, removing slips, and generally repairing the serious damage done to the road by last winter's floods, by which the road was rendered perfectly useless and impassable. This road leads to many thousands of acres of Crown land, and the famous Waikaremoana Lake. Awanui-Hick's Bay. —Co-operative labour has been employed on forming four miles and a half of bridle-road, but several miles now require to be done to complete it the entire length. Cook County Flood-damage. —£200 was granted to assist in repairing damages, and has been expended in this manner. Tauwharetoi. —A sum of £1,175 was borrowed under the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act for opening up this block of Crown land, and £1,160 6s. 2d. has been spent in forming six miles and a half of bridle-road and improving two miles and a half by co-operative labour. This block has now been disposed of, and no doubt the facilities given by these road-works contributed greatly to its early selection. Pohui Block. —The expenditure in this block has also been out of loans under the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act, and one mile and three-quarters of road has been felled and cleared, and a bridle-track formed for the greater part of the distance by heavy sidings in papa rock, at a cost of £264 7s. The work was done by co-operative labour. Liberal Block. —£51 2s. 2d. out of a loan on the land has been expended in felling and clearing 44 chains of road. Umutaoroa Block. —This has been similar work, 56 chains having cost £28 7s. Id. Woodville. —This work, which cost £26 9s. 10d., was the clearing of previously-felled road 60 chains in length. Meanee Protection-works. —£loo of the vote of £500 has been spent in cutting down the willows on the banks, and otherwise removing obstructions in bed of the Tutaekuri Eiver. The Meanee Eiver Board also spent £200 raised by rates in renewing the portion of the stop-banks that were demolished by the floods in December of 1893, when the river overflowed its banks and broke through, overrunning the adjacent country. Thomas Humphries, Chief Surveyor.

TAEANAKI. Mohakatino Bridge (Vote, £856; expenditure, £699 6s. 4d.). —A bridge, of a total length of 174 ft., has been erected over the Mohakatino Stream, on the Mokau Eoad, about three miles from Mokau. The bridge consists of two main spans of 70ft. each, and two end spans of 15ft. each. The stream being a tidal one necessitates the piles and other parts exposed to the action of the Teredos navalis (sea-worm) being sheathed with muntz metal. The lower timbers of the bridge to the level of the corbels are of totara, the superstructure is of kauri. The bridge will be a boon to settlers and others travelling between Waitara and Mokau or Awakino, as the dangerous quicksands at the mouth of the stream can now be avoided. Three lives have been lost in crossing the stream, and there have been many narrow escapes. The necessary approaches have been made, and the bridge is now open for traffic. As it was found that in extreme storms the waves endangered the embankment-approach at the south end of the bridge, protection sheeting had to be fixed of stubpiles and planking for a length of about 3 chains, at an extra cost of £46 10s. This gives complete protection against the combined effects of special high tides and floods. The total cost of the bridge will be £1,180. Mimi-Mangaroa Boad (Vote, £300; expenditure, nil). —A subsidy of £300 at £1 for £1 was granted the Clifton County Council for metalling the worst parts of the Mimi Eoad, between the Main North Eoad (Mokau Eoad) and Uruti Eoad. Tenders were on two occasions invited for the work, but in consequence of the lateness of the season when tenders were called, and of the uncertainty of obtaining suitable material near the parts to be metalled, the tenders received were higher than the County felt justified in accepting, and the work has therefore been deferred until next season. Pukearuhe Inland to Mohakatino-Mimi Boad (Votes, £1,507 and £4,000; expenditure, £2,359 17s. 8d). —This road had previously been felled, formed as a dray-road, and bridged, for a distance of 6 miles 3 chains from the Mokau Eoad, and at the beginning of the year a contract was in hand for forming (including one bridge) a further length of 79 chains. This contract was completed early in the year, bringing up the formation to 7 miles 2 chains. From thence the felling, formation, and culverting has been carried on by co-operative labour a further distance of two miles to the Lepperton Special Settlement, and is now nearly completed. Two bridges, however—over the Uruti and Mangahia Streams —are still required, and will shortly be put in hand. The road has been felled, stumped, and cleared through the Lepperton Special Settlement —a distance of four miles and a quarter