216

Fittings at Immigrants’ Barracks.
Have been completed.

Additions to Court House, Dunedin.
Plans have been prepared, and a contract
entered into with Mr. B. Jarvis to com-
plete the work for £148. Some extras
were added. The whole is now completed.

Quarters for the Commissioners of the
Gold Fields (Tuapeka.)
Plans and specifications were prepared,
and tenders obtained. No tender has been
accepted.

Mining Board Offices, Tuapeka.
Plans and specifications were prepared,
and tenders obtained. No tender has been
accepted.

New Shed at Jetty-street Jetty.
Plans were prepared, and an estimate
made and forwarded for the information
of your Honor. No further instructions
have been received respecting it.

Fencing, Repairs and Additions to
Schools and other Buildings.
Instructions have been received for
numerous works of this kind. Specifications
have been prepared when necessary,
contracts entered into, and the work com-
pleted.

Having furnished a statement of the
various Engineering and Architectural
works carried out, in progress, and to a
certain extent contemplated, I would take
the opportunity of stating that many im-
portant works have not received the at-
tention wholly due to them. This has been
owing to the insufficiency of the staff, and
the difficulty, if not impossibility of ob-
taining efficient assistants at the rates of
salary hitherto allowed. I trust there will
be no necessity to make this excuse in the
next half-yearly report.

3. ROAD MAKING AND MAIN-
   TAINING.

On the 7th October last I had the honor
to inform you that I was about to hand
over the charge of the Roads and Bridges
to Mr. Howden,(a) the Government hav-
ing sanctioned the proposal contained in my
letter of the 9th September, viz., that the
Roads should be made into a separate
Department. During the short time I
have been in office, I have found it im-
possible to even pay a visit to many dis-
tricts which require attention, and in the

(a) This separation of the departments had
been resolved on for some time, owing to the
stagnation of work, and the departments get-
ting inextricably in arrear.

prosecution of the road works, I have
necessarily been guided by the reports and
advice of the District Inspectors.

In my letter of the 7th instant I stated
at length my views on the past manage-
ment of the Roads of the Province. It
will, therefore, be unnecessary for me to
repeat them here.

I forward herewith for your Honor’s
information the District Road Inspectors’
half-yearly reports of the various works
which have been carried out during the
last six months. Three of the reports were
not received until the 20th instant.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Upon taking office I found there was a
great want of proper forms of conditions
of contract, forms of tender, and bonds,
&c., &c. I have prepared such forms
after the most approved models in Britain
and Victoria. The same, after having
been approved by the Provincial Solicitor,
were printed, and are now in all cases
attached to contracts, large or small. By
following this course, an immense amount
of clerical work is avoided, there is no
chance of an important clause being
omitted, and I believe Contractors and
Sureties are now more careful in their
calculations and tenders.

Telegraph to Port Chalmers.

In April last a Contract was entered
into with Mr. Richard Woolley, to con-
struct a line of Telegraph between Dune-
din and Port Chalmers. This work was
not put up under my supervision, but
there is a clause in the conditions which
states that the work should be completed
to the satisfaction of the Provincial En-
gineer.

In August I was requested by his
Honor the Deputy-Superintendent to ex-
amine and report upon the work. The
substance of my report, dated August
22nd, was, that the work had not been
satisfactorily performed, more especially
as regards the square posts, through the
town of Dunedin.

The Contractor has consequently given
orders that the present unsightly posts
should be removed, and straight, square,
sawn posts erected in their place.

Building Ordinance.

During the last six months, a consider-
able portion of my time has been occupied
in the preparation of a Building Ordi-
nance for the town of Dunedin. The
Metropolitan and the Melbourne Building
Acts were taken as the basis of the pro-
posed Ordinance, such modifications, ad-