Superintendent’s Office,
Napier, Nov. 20, 1865.

IT is hereby notified for general information that

Mr. JOHN HESLOP,
has been appointed Inspector of Cattle,
under the provisions of the Diseased Cattle Act, 1861.

DONALD M’LEAN,
Superintendent.

CROWN GRANT NOTICE.

Crown Lands Office,
Napier, Nov. 22, 1865.

WHEREAS by a recent Act of the General Assembly it is necessary that all Crown Grants "shall before the same shall be delivered to the Grantee or other the person entitled to receive the same be registered," it is hereby notified for general information, and in order to prevent any inconvenience arising from delay, that in future Crown Grants will have to be forwarded to the Registrar for registration, after application, and payment at this office of the fees due upon the same.

J. C. LAMBTON CARTER,
Commissioner of Crown Lands.

Woodthorpe, April 17, 1865.

SIR,—Herewith I have the honor to lay before you the charts, numbered as per margin* of the Ahuriri Lake, and Roadstead, and of Hawke’s Bay, made in conformity with the terms of the contract entered into by me with the Harbour Improvement Commission, on the 24th December, 1864.

In laying before you the result of my survey, I shall draw your attention to the present condition of the Ahuriri Harbour and Lake, and to such important changes affecting it as are now taking place, and to such as have occurred within the last ten or twelve years; and I shall, with a view to simplify the subject as much as possible, divide it into four parts, viz.—

1st. The Ahuriri Lake.
2nd. The Entrance to Port Napier and the roadstead.
3rd. The Rivers flowing into the Lake, and through the Ahuriri Plains, and—
4th. Hawke’s Bay.

First: The Ahuriri Lake, illustrated by Chart No. 1.

You will gather, from the soundings marked on the chart, that this sheet of water is nearly of a uniform depth, excepting only in places where it is influenced directly by the action of the tide, or by

• Chart No. 1, of Ahuriri Lake, scale 20 chains
  Chart No. 2, of Port Napier and Roadstead, scale 10 chains
  Chart No. 3, of Hawke’s Bay, showing Ahuriri Plains, scale 1 inch to 1 mile.

that of prevailing strong winds; the one forming channels, the other sand and mud banks. The greatest depth of water is from 7 feet to 9 feet 6 inches at high spring tides, with a soft, muddy bottom, nor am I able to discover that a greater or lesser depth was ever known to exist.

I must draw your particular attention to the formation of mud flats and sand banks now going on, on the southern side of the lake, the cause of which formation, I venture to suggest, will be found in the partial deposit, by the combined action of the west and north-west winds, and flood tide of earth washed down by the Tutaekuri River when in flood; the accumulation added to by the great disturbance created on the bar outside, and upon the whole of the lake exposed to the action of those winds and which are the prevailing winds during the spring of the year, when freshets are most frequent. It is worthy of remark that, during a heavy north-west gale, the water in the mouth of the harbour, on the bar, and in all the exposed parts of the lake, is discoloured, as in a fresh, owing to the stirring up of the bottom by the action of the wind; and there can be no doubt that the effect produced by the accumulation of matter thus thrown by the aid of the flood tide on the banks of the southern bight of the lake, is sensibly felt in the course of time. It is to the gradual action of these causes to which I beg to draw your attention, as they appear to be the great and primary principles at work, in the slow, but sure, filling up of the lake. For it would seem that the process is going on, not from the bottom upwards, as might be inferred, but from the side inwards, possibly, but not perceptibly assisted by the upheaval of earthquakes.

There does not appear to me to be any particular channel in any part of the lake, that piece of water being, as I said before, of a nearly uniform depth. It is now possible to cross at high water to the western side from Napier, in almost any course from Battery Point, in from 3 feet to 9 feet of water. Some ten years ago this could be done by taking Onepoto for the starting point. It will also be observed that the Tutaekuri River used, about that time, to cross the mud flats on the line marked K.

The water round the small island lying off the Eastern Spit shoals gradually away on either side, until it attains its greatest depth, but where the channel is confined between "Long Point" and the Sand Spit just off that point on the west side, there, by the increased force of the tide, the water deepens to 10 feet, for a short distance, until it again expands. It is to be noted that in all cases where the flow of the tide is confined between obstructions, as in the above instance, there will be found a deeper channel.

There are numerous sand spits, or shell spits forming off Charlton’s Spit, although