90

£298 11s. Rate per acre, about 5d.

His services being no longer required, he left the Survey staff at the end of the half year.

Mr. Morkill having completed the survey of the rural sections between Pukikura and Eparaima by the end of January, at the cost of £64 8s., was allowed to take a contract survey of 7820 acres of 5s. land, applied for by Mr. Ormond and Mr. J. Tanner. For this survey he was paid 6d. per acre.

Mr. Locke has staked out the lands purchased by Mr. W. Couper, Mr. A. Chapman, Mr. F. J. Tiffen, the Messrs. Monteith, and others. He has also traversed the block of land at Waimarama, and erected large mounds between the Native land and the Government land.

Total cost of Mr. Locke's party, £366 13. Rate per acre, about 5 1/4d.

Messrs. Skeet have, during the half year, received £329 4s. on account of contract surveys at the rate of 6d. per acre, being selections made by Mr. Hunter, Messrs. Troutbeck & Richardson, Mr. Begg, Mr. Stevens, and others. A small balance will have to be paid them when their surveys have been fully tested.

The total number of Crown
Grants issued up to June
30, amounted to ............ 396
Ready for issue ............ 509
In Auckland ............ 52
In hand ............ 12
Number to prepare, about ... 150

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
H. S. TIFFEN,
Chief Surveyor and Commissioner of Crown Lands.

To His Honor
the Superintendent,
Napier.

Engineer's Office,
Napier, August 5th, 1861.

SIR,—I beg leave to report for your information the progress and state of the Public Works under my charge.

The Bridge crossing the Patiki Creek has been completed. The contractor has also finished the formations and metalling of the Te Aute Road, near Te Matai; and a heavy side cutting on the line to the Pohui Bush has been made. The other new works in progress are:—a line through part of the Town of Havelock, part of the Te Aute Road, between the Kaikora Creek and Abbotsford; and a line from Meanee to Puketapu. The time allowed by the specification for the completion of the first named work (through Havelock) has long since terminated, and a great portion of it is still unfinished, which ought not to be so; for, allowing great consideration for the wetness of the season, the contractor has not exerted himself, or the work should have been long since completed. The other contracts are progressing slowly, but since their commencement the weather has been unusually severe.

Notwithstanding the great fall of rain, neither the Bridges or Culverts have sustained any injury, and the parts of the lines which were metalled (considering the quality of the metal) have stood as well as I could expect; but the natural Road and such places as were merely formed, are in a bad state, being fearfully cut up.

The natural Road, as long as it continues so, will of course be bad in wet seasons; but metalling the formations will speedily improve them; and I would beg to recommend that, in future, no formations should be undertaken, unless there be means of metalling them as they are completed.

The extreme narrowness of the several lines renders it almost impossible to prevent their being rapidly cut up in wet weather; as the traffic is confined to a small space, and the wheels nearly always traverse the same tracks; and the quality of the Road Metal generally procurable, is not equal, in winter, to the heavy loads carried by the drays. A small portion of the Road from Waipawa to Tikokino, has been injured by the Waipawa River shifting its course, and taking away a quantity of the land that lay between it and the stream; no interruption has been caused to the traffic, and I expect the damage will shortly be repaired.

I regret, in the attempts to obtain contractors for repairs, the Government has been as yet unsuccessful; but I expect, if the contracts were to be entered into at the commencement of the year, parties would more readily come forward to take them; and, if once established, both the public and the contractors would soon feel the advantages of the system. During the winter, repairs must be attended to, leaving the new works for the latter part of the spring to the end of autumn. As soon as the weather becomes dry, tenders should be invited for metalling the different formations on which metal has not yet been laid; without which the outlay will not be of much advantage. Few persons, I believe, have experienced a wetter winter in this Province, but the works have not sustained any serious injury; although there is no doubt their state from the