this, however, is an inconvenience, and may at high tide even occasion delay in getting a ferry along, though I have marked the proper course with a line of posts, and even at high tide the depth of water is not such as need stop a ferry, and as this inconvenience exists only for a small portion of some days, I do not conceive myself justified in forming an expensive road where a good natural one already existed, or could be made at little cost.

I have had to construct three bridges of some size on this portion of the line, which has been done at one-fourth the ordinary expense by my own company of the 58th Regt. I have already transmitted plans of these bridges, showing their length, width, cost, and the time occupied in every piece of timber, the time employed in building them, and many other particulars, which I thought might be useful. I need not therefore further notice them than to say that they are full strong evidence of the value which may be derived, by the service from the systematic instruction of soldiers in these the most important duties of their profession. The ordinary lines, during the last two years, have been constructed by Mr. Johnstone (late Clerk of Works) in every description of carpentry, rough masonry, &c., and it is evident that with the aid of an intelligent practical Clerk of Works, the public buildings of our colonies might be constructed by soldiers at half the expense now paid to civilians.

I have also constructed three causeways of rough masonry across as many small bays of different depths, of which two of these were built by the military and one by Mr. Compton's native party under Mr. Johnstone's direction, and I think I may say they are highly creditable to all employed. The cost of this road, including the beach and also the three bridges, and causeways, as well as the cuttings at Gordon's ferry and Ford Road, amounts to £539 per mile, the distance from its junction with the Porirua road, near Brown's No. 1, to Pauatahanui Bridge being six miles 55 chains. It was made by Military parties under lieutenants Turner and Bazalgette, 58th Regt., Lieutenant Garstin, 65th Regt., and by native parties under Mr. Compton and Mr. Maitell.

The Horokiwai road, commencing at Pauatahanui Bridge and ending near Pakakariki, was begun on 1st January, 1847, and completed on 30th November, 1849.

The Horokiwai Valley is enclosed between a range of hills called Pouaha, (apparently proceeding from the Tararua mountains) and a gigantic feature thrown off by this range near Pukerua, which, sweeping round, heads to the Southward in an opposite direction to that of the range from which it proceeds, and fills the whole space between the sea and the Horokiwai Valley with its ramifications. The valley thus enclosed becomes a cul de sac from which it is impossible to emerge without crossing either this feature or its parent range; and I have chosen their point of junction for that purpose. It was along the crest of this range, the Pouaha, so narrow as not to permit two men to pass abreast, and so entangled with supple jack and undergrowth as to make hands as necessary as that of the feet in traversing it, that Raangihaua, with ability which denotes the genius far war possessed by these natives, conducted his retreat with two hundred men, in the face of a thousand, from which circumstance an idea may be formed of the necessity, yet difficulty of carrying a road through such a stronghold.

The valley, which is narrow even from the South, and encumbered by spurs from the hills by which it is enclosed, gradually contracts until the scene of the fight of the 6th August is gained; and it was here where the progress of the troops ceased, that operations were first commenced by a native party under Dr. Turnbull, while a similar party under Captain Newenham, 65th Regt., worked from Pauatahanui upwards, and a third under Mr. Yule established near the coast, commenced the ascent of the Western side of the range, gradually rising at a general angle of about 1 in 8, and gaining access to the Horokiwai Valley at an altitude of more than seven hundred feet. To proceed, however, from Dr. Turnbull's station northward, the valley becomes so narrow and the rocks so precipitous, that the whole width of the road is in many places cut out of the solid rock; and until a means of passing was thus excavated, the only way of doing so was through the river, and in afterwards widening the road it was difficult in some places to dispose of the debris without raising the level of the river to that of the road. It is, indeed, difficult to conceive greater obstacles than were encountered in forming this road, though I am happy to say they have ceased to be evident in many places, where they were greatest. The cost is £1433 per mile, and the distance from Pauatahanui Bridge to its termination near Pakakariki is ten miles and sixty-eight chains, which were made by military parties under Captain Newenham, 65th Regt., and by native parties under Captain Newenham, Dr. Turnbull, Mr. Yule, Mr. Compton, and Mr. Maitell.

The total distance from Newry Church to Pakakariki is twenty-four miles and fifty