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may be said of the continuation of the line to some distance beyond the trigonometrical station G.

From that point the line descends on to the great swampy flat which forms the continuation of the Seaward Moss westward to the New River Estuary. This flat was, and in part still is, very wet; but where the road crosses it, it has a sound bottom of hard sand, at a depth hardly anywhere exceeding three feet, and in those parts to which outfall drains have been completed, it has consolidated quite sufficiently to admit of an excellent road being constructed over it by a light embankment laid on fascines, for which superior material is at hand. The line is carried over this flat in a curve of 200 chains radius, the distance from the foot of the terrace at G to the rise of the Mokomoko Hills being two and a-half miles. The Mokomoko range is the only eminence on the line which involves either steep gradients or else heavy earthworks to avoid them; the summit is only thirty-eight feet above the formation level on the embankment across the little inlet at its southern foot, but it rises abruptly from the sea on one side, and from the level plain only six feet above high-water mark on the other.

As the range is of hard stone it is proposed in the first instance to make shallow cuttings only, and to cross it on gradients of 1 in 58, twenty-four chains long each. But as this stone will be a very marketable commodity in Invercargill, and as its conveyance for road metal, as well as for sills, steps, foundations, and similar purposes, is looked upon as one of the resources and objects of the Railway, it is intended to carry in by the side of the line a narrow quarry face or cutting for its supply; the bottom of the cutting may be kept at a very easy gradient, and when it is completed throughout the rails may be removed into it. For the supply of material for forming and partly ballasting the line across the flat, a short siding may be run in to the foot of the hill from the west side; this will also afford a permanent quarry of indefinite extent. A branch line one mile and a quarter long is designed to leave the main line at about eight miles from the Invercargill terminus, and to reach the shore of the New River a little north of the Mokomoko Inlet abreast of the Horse Shoe Channel. The greater part of the land in that vicinity consists of fine sandy fiats, with a fertile peaty soil of varying thickness; it is almost entirely dry or easily to be made so. The superiority of the facilities which this spot affords for shipping over any other part of the New River is remarkable. This was early seen, and on Mr. Thomson’s original map, as well as on the Admiralty charts, it is marked Lower Harbour. At this spot alone can wharves be made fit to accommodate large ships in proximity to the shore; the channel there is narrow and deep; the shoal opposite, dry at half-tide, will protect the wharves from any sea or serious ripple, and immediately above and below it the channel opens out to a space sufficient to accommodate a great number of ships at anchor. Looking at the facilities which this spot alone presents, I cannot doubt but that as the commerce of Invercargill enlarges this will be its harbour.

From the Mokomoko range the line crosses a narrow cove of the Bluff Harbour on an embankment eighteen chains long, and then enters the forest, proceeding for 2¼ miles on curves of large radius, crossing the points of land which project into the Harbour, and skirting the heads of the indenting bays. On reaching the south-westernmost of these, known as Archie’s Bay, a curve becomes necessary somewhat sharper than any of the others—its radius is thirty-five chains, which is not at all open to objection; it is thirty-six and a half chains long, and eighteen and a half chains of it is on an embankment having a maximum height of ten feet. From its termination the road is straight for nineteen chains, and then runs on to the station by three curves of forty chains radius each, skirting the shore, and occasionally coming on to the beach. The whole length of the line is fifteen miles and four chains, besides the branch at Mokomoko, one and a-quarter miles.

From Invercargill to the foot of the Mokomoko hills, the highest part of the Railway will be only twenty feet above the lowest; the cuttings will be only just sufficient to furnish material for forming the lower parts, and the steepest gradient will be one in one hundred and seventy-six. The short steep rise over the Mokomoko hills will be only temporary; below that the ground is very irregular, but no gradient there will be steeper than one in 104, and the cuttings will nowhere be more than ten feet deep.

In the very heavy forest which borders the Bluff Harbour considerable difficulty was experienced in selecting the best route. A trial line was laid off approximately, in right lines, and cleared so as to admit of levels being taken throughout; a great part of the cleared line has been permanently adopted, but it has been found necessary to modify one portion of it considerably: a line with very practicable levels has been obtained by cross sections from the cleared roadway, but as the new line has not been cleared so as to admit of its being accurately set out, a limit of deviation of three chains on each side has been taken, in order to include any alterations in detail which may be found necessary. This is far within the limits of deviation customary on Railways in England.

The high road has been constructed from Invercargill towards the Bluff in a direction roughly accordant with the line selected for the Railway as far as the terrace beyond the Mokomoko stream; from thence a temporary road has been made striking out on to the beach of the New River Estuary, and the present land communication with the Bluff is kept up by following that beach, when the tide is out, up the Mokomoko inlet, crossing the neck of land intervening between the two harbours on a road which, after a large outlay on it, is still of a very temporary character, and then continuing in like manner along the beach of the Bluff Harbour. Works are in progress for the construction of the high road, by the side of the intended railway across the Mokomoko hills, and it is hoped that these