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Native Contractor has repeatedly been urged on to greater activity.

After those few works on hand have been completed, the portions of this road which require making are:—About 30 chains through Havelock; about 60 chains between Waitahora and the Puki-Puki; about 20 chains inside of the Rev. S. Williams' Paddocks; and 12 chains sidecuttings between Kaikora and Waipawa.

When those works are done, the principal expenditure required for this road will be for maintenance, for which purpose liberal allowance should be made, the traffic being heavy when compared with the inferior quality of the metal available.

On the road from Waipawa to Tikokino 7 chains of sidelings have been washed away last year, but some outlay will have to be incurred to protect the newly-made portion against further encroachments of the Waipawa river. Several pieces of this road have been cut up very much of late, and require a thin coat of metal, and it is very desirable that the newly-made 7 chains should be metalled.

On the Porangahau Road the banks of the cuttings have slipped in a good many places especially at Pukikura and near Eparaima. In the latter locality the slips are so heavy and so frequent, that one man is nearly constantly employed during the winter season in their removal. These slips will continue on the light clay soil of that district until the base of all the slopes will be in the proportion of about 2 to 1 to their height. The road about Pukikura and through the Bush near Motuotaraia is very soft, which I hope to remedy in the first named locality, by inserting a number of small covered drains during the coming dry season, to improve the road through this bush, will be, I fear, beyond our present means. The only new works on this road are 4 chains through a swamp on the North side of Pukikura, and a small piece of plankroad through the Bush at Motuotaraia. The old bridge on the North side of the Bush has been very much damaged by the late freshets, and I have arranged for its reconstruction with enlarged waterway. Arrangements have likewise been made for the battening of the Eparaima bridge, and for the drainage of the approaches thereto. The bridge is uninjured, and I purpose to have it tarred as soon as the weather will permit of it.

On the road from Porangahau to Tautane I have marked off sites for bridges over the Mangamairi, the Tautane, and the Mangatawiri Creeks, and the drainage of the Road through the low flats at Tautane is now in progress in the hands of a Contractor.

The natives of Porangahau have agreed to sell the timber required for the bridge over the Mangamairi Creek at moderate prices, but no agreement could as yet be made with them respecting the cartage. As the bridge will be used much more by the Natives than by the Europeans, I trust they will comply with our just request, to get the timber at reasonable rates, so that the bridge can be erected during the coming summer. In the meantime, arrangements have been made for keeping the present crossing-place practicable. I have sent plans and specifications for the bridging of the Tautane and the Mangatawiri Creek to the parties principally interested in the erection of those bridges and am awaiting their replies.

No new works have been undertaken on the Middle Road between Havelock and Patangata, but two men are constantly employed on its maintenance since the beginning of the wet season. This road, although soft in many places, is in good order, considering the time of the year. It is very desirable that the side-cuttings between the Havelock boundary, and Mr. Foster's homestead and from there to the Gorge should be made, to avoid the crossing of three steep hills, which make the road at present almost unavailable for horse-carts. Nothing has been done on the other side of Patangata, but tenders are now out for the bridging of the three creeks between Patangata and Wautukai.

The Awatoto Road from Tareha's bridge to the Meanee bridge is now being repaired and protected against the further encroachments of the Tutaekuri river, but I recommend that the extension of the metalling be deferred until the dry season.

From the Meanee bridge, which has withstood the freshets without injury, the formation across the flats was completed in April, but no portion of it has been metalled, the season having been too far advanced to do so to advantage. The portion from Mr. Tiffen's boundary to the hills has stood very well, and is properly settled for the reception of the metal, but the 40 chains between the Meanee bridge and Mr. Davis' property will have to be either raised 2 feet and provided with 3 large culverts, or otherwise the river wil have to be banked in, before I can recommend its being metalled. The road from the flats to Puketapu has stood very well considering it being not metalled. A man is employed on its maintenance during the wet season.

On the road from Petane to Petane Valley, one large culvert has been made, and a man is stationed on it now, so that, although not metalled, it will not suffer materially.

On the road from Petane valley to the Pohui Bush a temporary outlay has been made at Muun's Point, to keep the communication open until spring, when the road will have to be carried by a side-cutting to the next terrace, avoiding the river flat, over which the track is running now, and upon which the river is encroaching very much. Between Muun's Point and Mr. Atkinson's several culverts and side-cuttings are now in progress, and it requires now only a side-cutting up the rather steep North bank of the Mangakopikopi Creek to make that of the road available for the cartage of timber. The road to the Pohui Bush runs from Mr. Atkinson's in the bed of the River Esk (Petane River) to its junction with the Katwaka Creek (a distance of about 8 miles),