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public work on which they may be employed. Perhaps the best plan would be to charge a third to public works, and the remainder in equal portions to the Charitable Aid and Immigration accounts.

W.M. THOMSON.

" October 8, 1863.

The above rule if approved of, would apply equally to all newly landed immigrants engaged by Government from want of any other employment."

W.T.

I am still of opinion that this is the fairest mode of appropriating the payments made to unskilled laborers in Government employ; in which case the Immigration Account would be chargeable with a further sum of nearly £3,500, as the proportion of the sums paid from the Public Works Department under the heads of Immigration Labor and of the West Coast Road, Mandeville District and Waimakariri Defences, on which works they were placed.

The sum voted for the Charitable Aid Fund would apparently have been sufficient for the year, except for the strain arising from the above cause. If this charge should be made, the expenditure will be considerably in excess.

It will be seen from the General Miscellaneous list, that the vote for Printing is still inadequate. The excess on the vote for fuel is also considerable. £267 15s of this excess, however, is for fuel got during the financial year 1862-63. The excess on the grants to Timaru and Akaroa is only apparent, not real, the amounts having been paid to the Treasury and entered to the credit of the Province.

The details of the expenditure on Contingencies are given in full, and will no doubt be explained by the Executive.

The whole expenditure for the nine months, exclusive of that by the Public Works department, is £204,020 9s, of which it will be seen £95,886 11s 9d have been paid on Railway account.

In the Public Works department it will be seen that there is a large sum paid without vote, and that considerable discrepancy exists between the Appropriation Ordinance and the expenditure under the head of Outstanding Liabilities. There is no doubt that many of the items which appear in the list of over expenditure might fairly have been charged against some of the votes on which there are heavy unexpended balances. As Mr. Wylde, under whose inspection I presume the estimates were framed, did not continue in office above a fortnight after the publication of the Appropriation Ordinance, and as an almost entirely new staff succeeded, and as the Executive by whom the Ordinance was carried through the House also resigned at the same time, the present Government have, I think, acted only with common fairness to the House in giving the list of works done in full detail, instead of attempting to reconcile them to votes to which they could not with certainty ascertain them to be applicable. In all cases where claims have been sent in for works not appearing on the Estimates, I have drawn the special attention of Government to the fact, and they have been warranted by order of the Superintendent and his Executive. In an investigation I thought it necessary to make as to loss upon stores supplied to the workmen on the West Coast road (and which was fully accounted for by the fact that they were issued at less than cost price and expenses), the cost of the works done there was largely overstated by Mr. Rich, from an error made by him in his calculations and afterwards discovered. The real cost is that given in the treasurer's account, and the real value of that work as estimated by Mr. Rich tends to prove that the proportion of the immigrants' labor chargeable to works on which they may be employed, as proposed by me in my memorandum already referred to, is a just one. Except in cases of extreme emergency, however, the system of carrying on public works by Government labor cannot be approved of, and must be less satisfactory in every way than that done by contract.

I may be allowed, in conclusion, again to press on the Council the expediency of having the Appropriation Ordinance passed at an early period of the financial year. Where a large portion of the expenditure is on imprest, (and, in the present instance, the payments for nearly half the period have been virtually so), both delay and confusion are likely to arise before the several departments can get their accounts put into such a shape as to enable the Auditor to report on them satisfactorily.

I have the honor to be, sir,
Your obedient servant,
W.M. THOMSON,
Provincial Auditor.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW ZEALAND,
CANTERBURY DISTRICT.

In the matter of the "Debtors' and Creditors' Act, 1862."

NOTICE is hereby given, that the following Petitions will be heard in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the 18th day of May next, at Eleven o'clock in the forenoon.

In the matter of George Lumley,
late of the Oriental, High-street,
Christchurch, on the Petition of
John Ward Shackleton, a Creditor.

In the matter of William Merritt,
of Christchurch, Carter, on his
own Petition.

In the matter of the Co-partnership
Firm of Bains and Manning, late
of Christchurch and Timaru, Mail
Contractors and General Carriers,
on the Petition of Edwin Cuff, a
Creditor.

In the matter of William Lewis Watts,
late of Christchurch,
Builder, on the Petition of Milton
and Co., Creditors, per Patrick
Laurie.

In the matter of Richard Bowen,
late of Rangitata, Accommodation
House Keeper and Ferryman, on
his own Petition.

FRANCIS SLATER,
Solicitor,
Christchurch.

Provincial Secretary's Office,
Christchurch, April 29, 1864.

HIS Honor the Superintendent, in pursuance of certain powers vested in him by "The Empowering Ordinance, Sess. II. No. 2," directs it to be notified that the footpaths hereinafter described, having been well and sufficiently made and completed for the use and accommodation of foot passengers, according to the provisions of "The Footpaths Ordinance, Sess. VII. No. 12," are hereby declared to be public footpaths, and from and after the date hereof shall be deemed and taken accordingly to be public footpaths within the meaning of the said Ordinance.

The said footpaths are as follows:—

On both sides of Colombo-street South from the South Town Belt to the junction of the Windmill Road.

On the South side of the Ferry Road from the North-west corner of Section No. 32 to the centre of the Northern boundary of Section No. 14.

W. ROLLESTON,
Provincial Secretary.