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Expenditure and Rates. —Expenditure on maintenance for the year amounted to £2,559. Kates struck : Special, £2,734 ; general, £2,133. Rates collected, including arrears : Special, £3,395 ; general, £2,755. Rebates per cent.) allowed on special rates (1945-46) on account of prompt payment, £5BO. v Maori rates struck (gross) were £325. Of this amount, £126 has been paid, and rebates allowable amount to £25. Hikurangi Drainage Area (50,000 Acres), Whangarei County No work was carried out in this area. Waihi Drainage Area (20,000 Acres), Tauranga County In January a second-hand light excavator purchased from the War Assets Realization Board was sent to the district after overhaul at the Kerepeehi Workshops. Most of the canals and drains require reconstruction, and there are several years' work ahead for this machine in the district. It is at present reconstructing the Waerenga Road Draim after driving sheet-piling and excavating foundations for the drainage pumpingstation now being erected at the junction of Waerenga and Tainui Roads. This station, which will eventually drain an area of 785 acres, will be equipped with one axial-flow low-lift pump of 5,000-gallons-per-minute capacity, and provision is being made for this pump to be duplicated later. The first excavations for the suction bay of this pumpingstation revealed liquid mud of considerable depth underlying a hard marine deposit, and after further investigations it was decided to change the site of the station to reduce the cost of foundations, and the work is now proceeding satisfactorily. Drain-maintenance work in this district is being carried out in conjunction with development work on Crown lands. Contractors cleaned 29 miles 33 chains, and daywage workers cleaned 7 miles 10 chains of main drains. During the late summer a considerable amount of time was occupied in fighting swamp fires. Expenditure and Rates. —Expenditure on maintenance for the year amounted to £1,092. Rates struck : Special, £747 ; general, £1,536. Rates collected, including arrears : Special, £455 ; general, £1,262. In this district' the statutory period of six months and fourteen days during which rates may be paid without the imposition of 10 per cent, penalty does not expire until 15th April, 1946. Receipts up to 31st March, 1946, only are included in this report. Poukawa Drainage Area (15,567 Acres), Hawke's Bay Maintenance work at a cost of £428 was carried out during the year, and 5 omprised the cleaning of 273 chains of canals and 225 chains of drains. I am again indebted to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Napier, for the preparation and inspection of drain-cleaning contracts and payments made to contractors. Rates struck : Special, £1,037 ; general, £323. Rates collected, including arrears : Special, £734 ; General: £228. No progress has been made regarding Maori rates in this area. The amounts shown as expenditure on maintenance may be subject to slight variation on completion of accounts. I have, &c, E. Taylor, Chief Drainage Engineer. The Under-Secretary for Lands, Wellington. STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS A statement of accounts is published in parliamentary paper 8.-l [Pt. IV]. Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, not given ; printing (523 copies), £3 15s.

By Authority: E. V. Paul, Government Printer, "Wellington.—l 946. Price 3d.]

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