84

a—l

which 67 chains has been graded and pegged. Three bridges (each 12 ft. wide, and 14 ft., 15 ft., and 19 ft. long respectively) have been erected, and three culverts (two of pipes and one of timber) have been laid. The cost of labour and material has been £52 16s. 6d., this amount being exclusive of the cost of survey and other incidental charges. Moonshine Boad. —48 chains of this road has been graded and pegged, and plans and specifications of formation will shortly be submitted by the Hutt County Council for the approval of this department. The amount granted to the local body for this purpose is £100. Korokoro Settlement Boads. —£4oo has been authorised to be expended on the construction of roads in this settlement, and an engineering survey of 2 miles 23 chains completed. Ngahauranga-Horokiwi Boad. —ln May, 1898, the sum of £100 was granted to the Hutt County Council to be expended, on the basis of £1 for £1, on improving this road for the greater convenience of the settlers on the back portion of the Paparangi Settlement. Formerly it was a horse-road, and used only by two or three settlers, but since the establishment of close settlement it has been found to be of insufficient width for the increased traffic. It has consequently been widened to 14 ft. for the full distance of 73 chains, and metalled 9 ft. wide. The improvements have been effected by day-labour. Paparangi Estate. —The completion of these roads has involved 10 chains of formation 16 ft. wide, 1 mile 62 chains of metalling 10ft. wide, and 8 chains 20ft. wide; 1,600 cubic yards of rock was excavated and utilised as road-metal. In the course of maintaining two miles of road 104 cubic yards of slips were removed. The works on this settlement being now completed, they have recently been handed over to the Hutt County Council. A. C. Tueneb, Eoad Surveyor.

NELSON. Clifton-Pohara Beach. —The Collingwood County Council has spent a part of the grant in forming 61 chains of dray-road, including ditching, fascining, embankment, stone culverts, &c. Takaka Roads and Bridges. —A credit balance of £52 14s. 6d. brought forward from last year is still unexpended, but the Collingwood County Council purposes making application for that sum to be diverted, to increase the amount now available for the Motupipi Bridge, which is found to be inadequate. Takaka-Riwaka.- —-The amount of £75 ss. was expended on maintenance of the main road between the two settlements. Aniseed Valley. —There was a grant of £200 for the construction of a road round a rocky siding to avoid two rough and dangerous fords on the Eoding Eiver. 8 chains 45 links of road, 10 ft. wide, has been made, under the supervision of the department. The cutting was very heavy, being through hard rock the whole distance, and a very bad slip had first to be cleared. There is a balance of £57 16s. 3d., which should be supplemented, so that the road now unfinished and useless may be completed. Brooklyn Valley. —This was a small grant of £50 to the Eiwaka Eoad Board, out of which about 30 chains of bridle-track has been formed 6 ft. wide ; but a large portion of the section previously constructed had to be repaired where damaged by floods. Maitai Road.—The works on this road have been carried out by the department under the co-operative system. A dray-road 10 ft. wide, on an improved grade, has been carried for a distance of 47 chains. This, with previous year's work, has carried the dray-road 1 mile 20 chains from where the bridle-track joined the old dray-road. Motueka-Waiwhero. —The sum of £73 18s. lid. was diverted from actual roadwork and expended by the Motueka Eoad Board in purchase of a necessary deviation of the road through private property. Neudorf-Dovedale. —This grant of £50 to the Eoad Board will be spent partly in new works, the remainder in maintenance. Rawson's Creek Road. —The Eiwaka Eoad Board has spent £25 7s. to date in forming a bridletrack, and the work with the balance of the grant has been completed, and is ready for final inspection. Riwaka Valley. —The Eoad Board has re-formed 35 chains of this road 14 ft. wide, which had been carried away by slips, and 75 chains have been metalled. School Hill, Ngatimoti. —The Waimea County Council has called for tenders for this work on three occasions, but, as none of the tenders received were considered eligible, it is proposed to again call for fresh ones. Wairoa Gorge. —This vote has been expended by the local body in forming 30 chains of drayroad, in extension of that already made. Wakefield-Stanley Brook. —This grant to the Waimea County Council has been expended in the formation of 95 chains of road, repairing portion of road previously constructed, and metalling 23f chains of the new road. Wangamoa. —The Suburban North Eoad Board has received an advance of £85 15s. lid. on works on hand, which consist of one mile and a half of formation, varying in width from 10 ft. to 14 ft. Takaka River Protective Works. —The river, at a point a short distance above the township, has for some years past been making serious encroachments, and protective works were imperative, so as to save the township and the adjacent farms. Had it not been stopped the probability is that it would have completely changed its course and devastated the farms in the low part of the Motupipi Valley. Three groins were erected at intervals, 27 chains of strong embankment made up, and 16 chains of fascines facing constructed. Channels were cut to direct the river into a straighter course, and divert it from the points encroached upon. There have been several exceptionally heavy