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53

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Main Road to Blocks VII. and IX., Karioi. —Under a grant to the Eaglan County the vote of £100 has been well spent, and 63 chains of dray-road very much improved. Raglan-Ruapuke. —A grant of £200 has been made to the Eaglan County under the usual agreement, £50 of which has been spent in improving one mile and a quarter of dray-road, and other work is in hand. Raglan-Waipa. —On this road the Eaglan County, under grants, have spent £200, for which 52 chains of road have been greatly improved, and 47 chains metalled 12 ft. wide. The Waitetuna Bridge has also been repaired. This is a very important road, being the chief outlet for the Eaglan district. Other works are now in hand under a further grant. Aotea-Raglan. —Under a similar grant of £54 3s. lid. the same county has constructed 16 chains of dray-road, and improved a further length of 23 chains. Waingaro-Te Mata. —£2oo has been spent by the Eaglan County, under grant, in generally improving- the road, including 1 mile 33 chains of practically new road. Waitetuna-Aotea. —Nothing but maintenance has been done during the year, as money for further extension of it was not available until quite lately. Waitetuna-Waingaro. —On this road a length of two miles and a quarter has been widened from a 9 ft. to a 12 ft. dray-road, and a bridge of 16 ft. span, with approaches, built across the Parawai Stream. Waitetuna-Kauri. —Nothing has been done to this road, as it was not worthwhile starting with the small amount available until after the last appropriation. With the sum now in hand, however, a start will soon be made, and I hope by next summer to have a bridle-track open right through. Waitetuna-Whatawhata. —The £300 voted for this has not yet been touched, and no work done on the road, which is roughly estimated to cost from £1,200 to £1,500. I understand that Mr. Vickerman, of the Auckland office, is about to make a survey of it. Alexandra-Kaivhia. —This road has been extensively repaired, and in places improved by cutting off sharp points, &c.; it is now in good order from Alexandra (Pirongia) to Te Eauamoa, excepting the Ngutunui Bridge, which requires repairing. From Te Eauamoa to Kawhia the road is now being repaired. This road will form the principal access from both Kawhia and the railway system to the lands about to be opened for settlement in the Hauturu, Whangaingatakapu, and Pirongia West Blocks. Briscoe's Section, Awakino (Road to). —I regret to say that nothing has yet been done in constructing this, owing to a question of compensation having arisen with Mr. Iredale, through whose land it is necessary to take the road. lam in hopes of arranging with him soon. Hauturu East. —Twenty-four miles of engineering survey has been made, but no roadwork clone. The land is forest and broken, but the soil of good quality; it will, I think, make a good sheep country. Kawhia Wharf. —Nothing has yet been done. The £100 voted will, I think, be hardly sufficient to buy materials of good quality for a very modest-sized wharf. Kauroa-Pakoka. —Under the supervision of the Eaglan County the grant of £100 has been well spent on 43 chains of new dray-road and the improvement of 1 mile 32 chains. Kawhia-Aotea. —This road was put in a state of good repair early last spring, but there are now some soft places on the Aotea flats, across which about seven miles of the road passes. It is, however, not a very important road at present. Mangauika Ala. —Under this heading two miles and a half of dray-road have been made from the Alexandra-Kawhia Eoad to land recently taken up on the eastern slope of Pirongia. It leads also to Crown lands. • Otorohanga-Pirongia. —Only the engineering survey of this road has been done. The work of construction is ready for letting as soon as necessary money is forthcoming. Kinohaku East. —The engineering surveys of roads to open up this land are in hand, but up to date no road-construction has been done. Pirongia West. —An additional 69 chains of narrow dray-road has been made, which makes the road open to 3 miles 69 chains from its starting-point at the Alexandra-Kawhia Eoad, and work is in hand up to four miles. This road opens up fairly good forest land in the hands of the Crown. Tokanui-Wharepapa. —Nothing has been done to this, as there does not appear to be any hurry for it, owing to so little of the Wharepuhunga Block, to which it will lead, having been selected. Te Kuiti-Awakino. —This is by far the most important and extensive of the roads under my control, the expenditure on it during the year being just about half of the whole for the district. The work latterly in hand has been very heavy side-cutting in hard limestone cliffs, requiring a great deal of drilling and blasting. The heaviest part is now done, and I anticipate a quicker progress in the future. This road will assist in opening up extensive areas of Crown lands, some of which are, I think, the best they own in this district. The road is now open for wheel traffic from Awakino Heads for twenty-five miles; from that point to 26f miles it is only partly made and in hand; from 26f miles there is another part open for similar traffic eight miles and a half long, or to miles from the Heads. From Te Kuiti going southwards a length of three miles and a half is open for wheel traffic, and beyond that the work is in hand for a length of two miles and a quarter. There is still a gap of about five miles in the survey, so that the correct length cannot be given, but it will be just about fifty miles from Te Kuiti to Awakino Heads. The following bridges on this road will have to be built in the near future, viz. : Upper Awakino, about 100 ft. long; Mangaotaki, about the same length; Mangakowhai, 54ft. long; and the Mangaparoo, Mangarama, and Mangatea, each about 25 ft. in length. Waitomo Caves Road. —This is only a short road of five miles and a quarter. At the present time a gang of four men are employed in cleaning up the water-tables and drains and making

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