Moeraki.

A sum of £700 was placed upon the Estimates for a Jetty at Moeraki.

Moeraki is particularly favored in its capabilities for being made a first-rate harbour, more so than any place I have seen on the east coast.

A sum of £700 would go but a very little way in erecting a complete pier or Jetty. My late assistant, Mr. Druids, has made a survey, and taken soundings of the locality, but the plan being unfinished, I am not in a position to state what sum would be required to construct a serviceable jetty. I think £1500 the least sum that ought to be calculated upon.

Waikouaiti.

Surveys and soundings have been taken for a Jetty and Break-water at Waikouaiti. No definite plan or estimate has been made. The position chosen, although the best that can be obtained, is very exposed. The Jetty and Breakwater will have to be composed entirely of stone and earthwork. There is abundance of stone in the immediate neighbourhood, but the sum of £2000 at the least will be required to form an efficient work.

Bridges.

The Bridges erected hitherto are of the simplest character, and as they have been under the supervision of the Road Inspectors, I shall not allude to them in this report under the head of “Engineering Works.”

Harbour Improvements.

In connection with Engineering works the most important that presented itself, on my arrival in this Province, was the extension of the Town towards the South-east, or from high water-mark to the Bay. (a) I saw that not only did a large area exist, which was dry at low water, but that a much larger area had only a depth of water of from 1 to 3 feet.

Having been engaged in the north of Ireland in the reclamation of more than 80,000 acres of ground from the sea, where the tide rose and fell 10 feet, and the banks were exposed to an ocean swell, the practicability of a scheme (which I believe has been under consideration for some time) for reclaiming some 400 acres from the Bay in front of Dunedin, was at once apparent to me.

One great point in favor of the proposed reclamation, is the immediate contiguity of high lands from whence clay and stone may be readily conveyed to their required position.

With this report I forward a plan of Dunedin, showing the extension of the town. A portion of the proposed extension is drawn in strong red lines; this part having been approved, and the schedule of the several building sites is incorporated in “The Harbour of Otago Leasing Ordinance,” Session 15, No.

The area above mentioned extends from a point opposite Walker-street to a point 500 feet north of Stuart-street, extending 2000 feet from high water-mark into the Harbour, and comprising 137 acres—of this area 37½ acres are appropriated to three Docks, containing respectively 16½ acres, 12¼ acres, and 8 acres.

In planning the extension it was my object not to sacrifice any works which had been already performed. I have, therefore, made the Jetty-street and Stuart-street piers available, as landing and discharging points in the centre of the docks; and Rattray-street pier being composed of solid earthwork, I propose should form one side of No. 3 Dock.

There are about 5½ miles of streets, 66 feet in width, of which nearly 2 miles have a frontage to the docks. The streets occupy an area of nearly 46 acres.

The Schedule attached to the plan and the Ordinance, gives the areas of the building sites to be reclaimed, viz., 54 acres 327 square yards.

I have prepared an Estimate of the cost of the works included within the area of 137 acres. In order not to understate, I assume the embankment necessary to form the streets at an average height of 14 feet or 3 feet 6 inches above high water-mark. The solid contents of a bank 14 feet high, with a top width of 66 feet, and side-slopes 2 to 1, are 146 cubic yards, which at 3s. 6d. per cubic yard equals 41s. 8s. per lineal yard of bank. The embankment will require, say 17 square yards of 15 inch stone pitching at 10s. per square yard, or £8 10s. per lineal yard of bank. The two items make a total of £26 15s. for every lineal yard of street throughout the reclamation. I have before observed that there are 5½ miles of street, or 10,087 lineal yards, which multiplied by £26 15s. gives £269,827. Metallic 5½ miles of streets and culverts will cost say £55,478. Three swing Bridges, and three sets of Lock Gates at £10,000 each, equal £30,000.

(a) Under the direction of the late Capt. Cargill, in 1859, a general plan and estimate for the reclamation of the ground referred to was made by J. T. Thomson, Esq., Chief Surveyor, and would have been immediately carried out had the Revenue admitted; and under the present Superintendent a Crown Grant having been obtained, a detailed plan was drawn out by Mr. Langlands, the late Superintendent of Public Buildings, and laid before the Provincial Council; a change in the department then occurred.