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house has been built at Seddon Station. The greater portion of the fencing has been done up to the Awatere Eiver. The rails have been laid over the Awatere Bridge, and the work is proceeding beyond the bridge to Seddon. The Awatere Bridge is now nearly completed. Some delay was caused by the loss of the staging in a heavy flood, and by the necessity for sinking the cylinders in the last pier deeper to get a good foundation. A considerable amount of work will require to be done to some of the cuttings in the Dashwood Section, and in raising the large bank at 25 m. 10 eh. before the line is fit for traffic. Ballasting has now reached to within a quarter of a mile of the Awatere Bridge. South End. Omihi Section (0 m. to 15 m. ; length, 15 miles). —The earthworks on the first twelve miles are completed with the exception of three banks. Considerable progress has been made with the construction of the small bridges, though this work has been greatly hindered by the slow delivery of ironbark timber. With one exception, all the culverts have been completed for the first fifteen miles. The fencing has been completed on the first seven miles. Platelaying has been started, and the first mile is nearly completed. A contract for the erection of the Hurunui Bridge is nearly ready for advertising. Otago Central. Ida Valley Section (85 m. 60ch. to 98 m. 18ch. ; length, 12 miles 38 chains). —All the formation-works, bridges, and culverts have been completed, and platelaying and ballasting are in progress, and it is expected that this work will be completed in about two months, The stationbuildings at Idaburn and Blackstone Hill are in a somewhat forward state, though delayed through slow delivery of timber. Poolburn Section (98 m. 18 eh. to 105 m. 40 eh. ; length, 7 miles 22 chains). —A short length of this section is nearly completed, and the remainder is fully manned. Some of the banks, &c, are now nearing completion. All the masonry culverts are completed up to the Manuherikia Eiver. The first tunnel in the Poolburn Gorge has been excavated for a length of 4-7 chains, leaving 5 - 3 chains to complete. In the second tunnel a length of 3-5 chains has been excavated out of a total length of 11 chains. These tunnels are in very hard rock. A start has been made with the foundations for the piers and abutments of the Poolburn Viaduct. A contract for the steel superstructure for the Poolburn Viaduct, and the Manuherikia Bridge over the first crossing of the river, and also a contract for the supply of cast-iron cylinders for the Manuherikia Bridge have been let. The works on this section are somewhat heavy. Spottis Section (105\m. to 112 m. 48\ch. ; length, 7 miles 8\ chains). —This is not a heavy section, and nothing has been done yet except starting the earthworks. A telephone-line has been constructed along the line from Blackstone Hill through the Poolburn to Ophir. Catlin's Eiver Eailway Extension. • . The extension of this line for three miles and a half beyond Owaka has been in hand during the year. The formation-works are now nearly completed. Waipahi-Heriot Extension. The extension of this line to Eadie's for a distance of six miles and a half was begun during the year. The formation-works on the first mile have been completed, and the second mile is about half finished. Orepuki-Waiau Extension. Very good progress has been made with the bushfelling and clearing, culverts, and earthworks on the first four miles. This work was just started at the date of last year's report. Surveys of New Lines, Land-plans, etc. The land-plans for the first eight miles of the Kawakawa Southwards Eailway have been surveyed by contract. The Whangarei-Kamo line has been located for a distance of six miles beyond Hukerenui, and a trial line run for three miles further. A deviation has been surveyed on the short line from the Opau Wharf, Whangarei, to Grahamtown. The survey for land-plans on the Komokoriki Section is being done by the Engineer in charge of the works. A contract has been let for the land-plan survey of the Paeroa-Waihi line, and about eight miles are finished. A contract has been let for the survey for the land-plans of the Gisborne-Karaka Eailway. A contract for the land-plan survey at the north end of the North Island Main Trunk line from 49f miles onwards has been let, and about eighteen miles have been finished. The permanent survey of the North Island Main Trunk line from the south end was completed in the middle of March last, joining with the end of the survey south from Te Awamutu, at a point 80f miles from Te Awamutu and 129J miles from Marton Junction. The permanent line for the Stratford-Wangamomona branch line has been surveyed for a distance of 6 miles 25 chains, and the trial survey has been done with more or less completeness for a distance of fifteen miles, and the route explored to the junction with the Ngaire route survey, a distance of twenty-three miles from Stratford. The survey of the line from Napier to Gisborne was extended to a point 97-J miles from Napier during the year, when the work was stopped.