C.—l

46

strong Warren truss of 55ft. span, the total length being 60ft. The timber used is kauri, imported from Auckland, it being found cheaper and considered more durable than local timber. The bridge is well built, painted, and the approaches made. There is now road-communication between Hawera and Mangamingi Settlement. Mangamingi (Vote, £700; expenditure, £493 19s. 5d.). —Within this block 314 chains of the Pukengahu and Sangster Eoads have been felled 1 chain wide, stumped and cleared 12ft. wide, by local men under the co-operative-contract system. Some necessary culverting has still to be done to give some of the back settlers access to their farms. Boads East of Waitara (Vote, £501; expenditure, £424 16s. 9d.). —On the Matau and Mangamairi Eoads (Tanner Special Settlement), 129 chains of road-felling, stumping, and clearing has been done ; also 15-J- chains of 6ft. bridle-road formation, including 72ft. of culverting, the work being performed by the special settlers on the co-operative-contract system. Further works are needed to give access to some of the sections in the Tanner Block, but these had to be delayed, as the authorities granted were exhausted. Anderson Boad (Vote, £500 ; expenditure, £252 18s.). —As this road forms the principal outlet to the recently-surveyed lands in the Ngaire Swamp Block, its formation as a dray-road is being pushed on. The engineering survey of five miles and a half was made, plans prepared, and the work is being let on the co-operative-contract system to local married men. Fifty-eight chains of drayroad, commencing, at Chapman Eoad, was completed on the 31st March, out of three miles let and in progress ; the further lengths will be let as the back contracts are completed. To give better and shorter access to Eltham, and to improve the road, a deviation from the Anderson Eoad was laid off to connect with Chapman Eoad. Including this deviation, 150 chains of the road has been felled 1 chain wide, stumped, and cleared 30ft. wide in advance of the dray-road formation. The whole formation will probably be completed in June, when there will be a continuous dray-road for ten miles through the Ngaire and Mangamingi Blocks. Kaimanuka and Bawhitiroa-Waitotara Valley Boad (Vote, £1,000; expenditure, £804 45.). — About 64 chains of this road has been formed as a sft. bridle-road during the year, completing the contracts in hand at the end of last year. Four cart-bridges have also been erected, of a total length of 267 ft. 6in., the main spans being 55ft., 40ft., 20ft., 55ft. A bridge over the Kapara Creek, 85ft. in length, is now in hand, and will be completed in May. The expenditure for the year includes also the maintenance of the part of the road used within the Taranaki District, about ten miles. The work is all done on the co-operative system. Autawa and Pita, Boads (Votes, £400 and £700; expenditure, nil). —Under this heading is also included the Pukemahoe Eoad, a length of 104 chains of which has been felled, stumped, and cleared the usual width. On the Autawa Eoad, in Blocks IV. and VIII., Huiroa, commencing from the north end of Section No. 16, Block IV., the road is being felled, stumped, cleared, and a sft. bridle-road formed. About three miles of the work has been let to local men on the co-operative-contract system, and is in hand, about 176 chains being completed, the greater part being on steep sidings in papa-rock. Some expensive work and a great deal of bridging will be required on the Autawa Eoad in consequence of the numerous ravines crossing it. If possible the work will be continued so as to give access to each section in the block. South Egmont Forest Beserve (Vote, £100; expenditure, nil). —This vote was for the purpose of assisting the South Egmont Board of Conservators to improve the road-access within the Forest Eeserve, on the continuation of the Manaia Eoad leading to Dawson's Falls and the summit of Mount Egmont. The work is now being done, and the settlers are also erecting a small house for the use of tourists on a suitable site near Dawson's Falls, at an elevation of nearly 3,000 feet above the sea. Newall Boad (Vote, £100; expenditure, nil). —Three contracts have been let by open tender for the felling, stumping, and clearing to usual width 144 chains of this road, commencing from the north boundary of school-site No. 7, Block XIV., Opunkae, and extending to Section No. 3, Block XIV. About 35 chains of the work has been completed, but no payments made. The work will be completed in May. Huiroa Block (Vote, £1,199; expenditure, £1,254 6s. Bd.). The expenditure under this item was for completing the Bft. bridle-road, formation of part of the Motukawa Eoad in progress last year, and the completion of contracts Nos. 151-152, formation and bridging two miles of the Kawau-Motukawa Eoad ; also dressing up the work already done; and in felling, stumping, and clearing 170 chains of Makara Eoad to give access to some sections in Block XII., Huiroa. A further length of this latter work is now in hand, and will be completed in May. Mangaehu Block (Vote, £287; expenditure, £13 17s. 6d.). As the Stratford County Council were spending a large amount of loan money (loans to local bodies) on the Mangaehu Eoad it was deemed advisable to hand over to them the balance available for work on the road, in order that they could spend it, in conjunction with their own money, instead of having two sets of contracts and two supervising bodies on the one road, involving increased expense. The Council has formed the whole length as a dray-road—including stumping and clearing—between the Makuri and Mangaehu Streams, our money providing only a small portion of the cost. Mangaere Block (Vote, £800 ; expenditure, £1,456 14s. lid.). —The work of roading this block, entered upon last year, has been continued a further length of two miles; 52 chains of the Akama, Kirai, and Mohakau Eoad having been felled, stumped, and cleared in the usual way, and 12 miles 70 chains of sft. bridle-road formation made, including 971 lineal feet of culverts. A length of 63 chains of the Akama and Mohakau Eoads has been widened to dray-road formation, and further portions will be widened in a similar manner this year. The work has been done chiefly by settlers owning land in the block, the contracts being let to them on the co-operative principle. Ngatimaru Block, Douglas, Makuri, and Kiorißoads (Vote, £1,000 ; expenditure, £1,657 2s. 5d.). —The felling of these roads was commenced just prior to the last annual report, and is there mentioned under the heading of " Eoads East of Waipuku." The expenditure is from moneys