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pipes outside the tank, and a by-pass connected from the supply to the delivery-main to keep up an uninterrupted supply to the town in case of emergency, or while the tank is being cleaned out, as will be necessary from time to time to free it from sediment. The delivery-main from the tank to the bottom of the gully, and passing through sections of E. and W. Brideson and Tregoweth, and crossing Butler's Road to Main Street, will be 6m. castiron pipes, with a stop-valve outside the tank, and a pressure-valve and scour-valve at the bottom of the incline down the gully to Main Street. From this point the same 6 in. pipes will form the reticulation and continue up Main Street to the post-office, with branches at present only of 4 in. pipes at Bush Street and at Moresby Street, as shown in thick red lines on plan. All the pipes to be laid with tees to provide for localities in which branches are likely to be required eventually, and the whole provided with stop- and scour-valves at suitable intervals, and fire-plugs or hydrants at every 3 chains or thereabouts. In back roads or tracks up from Main Street and leading to the scattered houses about the spurs and gullies provision is made in the estimates for laying 1\ in. and 1 in. galvanised wroughtiron pipes, which can be done as wanted, and again lifted and replaced elsewhere with only a slight deterioration when the streets on the high levels are formed and the 4 in. mains extended. This supply, I think, may be considered ample for the present population, and the only additional cost necessary as the population increases, however rapidly—having the head-reservoir and service-tank complete—will be an extension of the service-mains and small branches to the higher levels on both sides of the Ohinemuri River, and to the schoolhouse and other houses beyond in the gorge, as indicated by the dotted lines on the plan. The cost of maintenance will be trifling and almost nominal, one man being all the labour wanted. The tank should be cleaned out occasionally, and the mains frequently scoured, especially at the bottom of the 6 in.-pipe incline from the tank to Main Street. Both the headworks should be securely fenced to keep out cattle. The approximate total cost of such a supply as above indicated, including headworks, supplymains and -valves, two short and light trestle-bridges across the creek, concrete tank with adjuncts, delivery-main with pressure-valve, and all other necessary valves and fittings, I estimate at £1,916. 20th August, 1898. T. Perham.

Mining Township of Waitekauri. — Domestic Water-supply. A report on a water-supply for the above town is the next in rotation, and I forward herewith a sketch - plan showing the contour of the ground, the locality of the proposed reservoir, the headworks, and direction and limit of pipe-track, which I consider is sufficient supply for some considerable time beyond present requirements. That pure water, as in the case of Karangahake, is urgently required cannot be doubted, for the Waitekauri Eiver, on the bank of which the town is situated, on account of pollution by the cyanide plant in connection with the battery, as well as other workings higher up the river at the Golden Cross, is totally unfit for human consumption. The small streams running immediately through the town to the river are too insignificant to be used for the purpose, except by creating expensive storage; and, moreover, the riparian-right question here as elsewhere is very much in evidence. The only streams of any size are "The Irishman's " and another, both owned by the Waitekauri Gold-mining Company. The population, at a liberal estimate, is not more than two hundred and fifty, counting all houses round and about the hills outside what may be deemed the town's extreme limits. Considering, however, the probability of extension in the near future, it is as well to provide for an increase to, say, five hundred, at the rate of 30 gallons per head per day of twenty-four hours—viz., 15,000 gallons, ample both for purpose of fire-extinguishing and ordinary domestic use (unless the increase in population is very rapid) for some years to come. I am indebted to Mr. McLelland, a member of the Ohinemuri County Council, for accompanying me over the ground and pointing out a suitable little gravel-bedded stream in the hills to the north-west of the town and across the Waitekauri Eiver. Its capacity is good and the water pure—that is, for bush-water—and as it is permanently running at a minimum of about 93 gallons per minute, which is far more than sufficient without storage, gives 268 gallons per head of population of 500. The site chosen for the intake is in an almost direct line about 47 chains from the bridge over the river, and the elevation 145 ft. above Eyan's Hotel, which is situated in about the lowest portion of the town. The creek-bed at the point of intake is narrow and confined, and there are no indications of rock, although good clay for puddle crops out of the banks. Under these circumstances, although the works will not be of so permanent a nature as masonry or concrete, I propose a timber weir of the description indicated on the sketch-plan, with a small silt-pit on the outside, which can be frequently scoured and the water always kept clear. Inside the weir the reservoir thus formed is intended to be half-filled with shingle and fine gravel from the creekbed to act as a rough filter, and a timber and iron grid, similar to those already recommended elsewhere, to exclude the floating debris and small snags from the pond. It would be well, as the place is in the bush, to provide for its being roofed over with a frame and galvanised iron to keep out falling leaves, &c.; also to erect a cattle-proof fence around it. The supply-main of 6 in. cast-iron pipes will be laid entirely along the right bank of the stream until the waterfall is reached, then taken over the spur and down across Corbett's Flat to the bridge. Here I may mention that the land and the rights in the creek-water to the north-east of the Waitekauri Eiver is in the hands of the Corbett family, and compensation for the loss of water and the pipes crossing the land is expected. From the bridge up the narrow right-of-way to the corner of the main street between Eyan's and Eae's hotels the 6 in. casl-iron pipes