PROVINCIAL GAZETTE

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 9, 29 August 1861, Page 5 (Supplement)

PROVINCIAL GAZETTE

From a Gazette dated Wednesday, August 21, we take the following reports : Land Office, Napier, August 5, 1861. Sin, —I have the honor to report on the cost of the Surveys and the amount of work executed by the several officers of the survey staff during the half year ending 30th June, 1861. By Mr. Bousfield :—Trigonometrical survey over considerable portion of Ahuriri block, and between there and Maraekakaho block. Survey of Puketitiri forest, (7000 acres), and traverse of river Mangaone. Total cost of Mr. Bousfield’s party, £409 10s. 9d. Rate per acre cannot be. estimated until the survey is completed. Mr. Weber has staked out selections made in Ruataniwha and on Mr. Abbot’s run, a portion of which entailed a considerable amount of bush cutting. Besides this, he- has traversed several miles of swamps and creeks. Total cost of Mr. Weber’s party, £460 11s. sd. Rate per acre, as near as can be estimated, about 6d. Mr. Hughes has surveyed the available portion of the Tautane block, and has staked out the village of Wallingford, and part of the suburban sections there. Total cost of Mr. Hughes’ party, £298 11s. Rate per acre, about sd. His services being no longer required, he left the survey staff at the end of the halfyear. Mr. Morkill having completed the survey of the rural sections between Pukikura and Eparaima by the end of January, at the cost of £64 Bs., was allowed to take a contract survey of 7820 acres of ss. land, applied for by Mr. Ormond and Mr. J. Tanner. For this survey he was paid 6d. per acre. Mr. Locke has staked out the lands purchased by Mr. W. Couper, Mr. A. Chapman, Mr. F. J. Tiffin, the Messrs. Monteith, and others. He has also traversed the block of land at Waimarama, and erected lai’ge mounds between the native land and the Government land. Total cost of Mr. Locke’s party, £366 13s. Rate per acre, about s^d. Messrs. Skeet have, during” the half year, received £329 4s. on acount of contract surveys at the rate of 6d. per acre, being selections made by Mr. Hunter, Messrs. Troutbeck and Richardson, Mr. Begg, Mr. Stevens, and others. A small balance will have to be paid them when their surveys are fully tested. The total number of Crown Grants issued up to June 30, amounted to 396 Ready for issue 509 In Auckland 52 In hand 12 Number to prepare, about 150 I have the honor to be, sir, Your obedient servant, H. S. Tiffen, Chief Surveyor and Commissioner of Crown Lands. To His Honor the Superintendent, Napier.

Engineer’s Office, Napier, August sth, 1851. Sir, — I beg leave to report for your information the progress and state of the Public Works under my charge. The Bridge crossing the Patiki Creek has been completed. The contractor has also finished the formations and metalling of the Te Aute Road, near Te Matai; and a heavy side cutting on the line to the Pohui Bush has been made. The other new works in progress are:—a line through part of the Town of Havelock, part of the Te Aute Road, between the Kaikora Creek and Abbotsford ; and a line from Meanee to Puketapu. The time allowed by the specification for the completion of the first-named work (through Havelock) has long since terminated, and a great portion of it is still unfinished, which ought not to be so ; for, allowing great consideration for the wetness of the season, the contractor has not exerted himself, or the work should have been long since completed. The other contracts are progressing slowly, but since their commencement the weather has been unusually severe. Notwithstanding the great fall of rain, neither the bridges or culverts have sustained any injury, and the parts of the lines which were metalled (considering the quality of the metal) have stood as well as I could , expect; but the natural road and such places as were merely formed are in a bad state, being fearfully cut up. --s I J _ T _ „ _ „ „ ' . _ _ _ y * X iIC Hit I. Lll ill lUitU, cIS iUlltf A 3 ± o L/GHtIuUCS so, will of course be bad in wet seasons ; but stalling the formations will speedily im-

prove them ; and I would beg to recommend that, in future, no formations should be undertaken, unless there be means of metalling them as they are completed. The extreme narrowness of the several lines renders it almost impossible to prevent their being rapidly cut up in wet weather, as the traffic is confined to a small space, and the wffieels nearly always traverse the same tracks; and the quality of the road metal generally procurable is not equal, in winter, to the heavy loads carried by the drays. A small portion of the road from Waipawa to Tikokiuo has been injured by the Waipawa river shifting its course, and taking away a quantity of the land that lay between it and the stream ; no interruption has been caused to the traffic, and I expect the damage will shortly be repaired. I regret,. in the attempts to obtain contractors for repairs, the Government has been as yet unsuccessful; but I expect, if the contracts ware to be entered into at the commencement of the year, parties would more readily come forward to take them ; and, if once established, both the- public and the contractors would soon fell the advantages of the system. During the winter, repairs must be attended to, leaving the new ■works for the latter part of the spring to the end of autumn. As soon as the wmather becomes dry, tenders should be invited for metalling the different formations on which metal has not yet been laid, without which the outlay will not be of much advantage. Few persons, I believe, have experienced a w r etter winter in this Province, but the wmrks have not sustained any serious injury ; although there is no doubt their state from the weather caused much inconvenience to travellers. I have the honor to be, sir, Your very obedient servant, Thomas Gill, Provincial Engineer. To His Honor the Superintendent, Napier. The Gazette also contains two proclamations by the Superintendent, one announcing that His Excellency the Governor having assented to “ An Act to enlarge the Provincial Council, and to alter the Electoral Districts of the Province of Haw'ke’s Bay,” such Act is to be in force within the Province on and after the 15th day of October, 1861 ; the other that “An Act to enable the Superintendent to manage and administer certain reserves by granting leases thereof,” “An Act to enable the Superintendent of the Province of Hawlie’s Bay to manage and administer by sale or lease certain Public Reserves,” and “An Act to appropriate the Revenue of the Province of Hawke’s Bay for the year commencing the first day of January, 1861, and ending the 31st day of December, 1881,” have received the Governor’s assent, and are in force within the Province from the date of proclamation ; also, that the tender of Messrs. Ekholms and Lound for excavating the foundation for the new gaol at Napier, for the sum of £BO has been accepted ; a return shewing the lands sold, assessments on runs, and deposits paid on unagricultural land to go to auction at five shillings an acre, &c., &c., from the first to the 31st July, 1861, inclusive ; an abstract of w r orks executed under the charge of the Director of Works from Ist January to 30th June, 1861, which contains the following items—2o chains formed and metalled in Hastings-street, £l2l 165., 5 chains Shakespeare-foad widened, and 2 chains formed over mud flat, £l4B 7s. 3d., Taupo road repairs, and pile shoes and iromvork for bridge, delivered, £56 15s. 6d., Mohaka road repairs, £ll Bs. 2d., new boat and rope supplied to ferryman on Waipureku road, £35 12s. 7d., public buildings—Waipawxi court house, £l3l 165., Napier lockup, £l2 25., hospital, £ll 11s., native hostelry, £l6 55., pilot’s house, £29 12s. 3d., public wells, £lO 19s. ; burial reserve, £59, public pound, £SO Bs. 6d., harbor improvements —timber breastwork, £395 6s. Id., punts, £66 175., caulking punts, deck of dredge, &c., £4O 11s. 2d., coals and stores for dredge, £667 9s. 2d., wages and engineer’s salary, £1,329 14s. 6d., cash for "warded to England in March for unproved dredging gear, £6lB, —total, £3813 11s. 2d.; a° return of Immigration and emigration at the port of Napier during the quarter ended 30th June, 1861, the numbers being—immigration, males—l3B, females —48, emigration, males—llß, females—2s ; a return of the arrivals and departures of vessels at the port of Napier for the same period, shewing the arrivals to be 31 (2257 tons), and departures, 34 (2307 tons); also, a return of exports of New Zealand produce from the port of Napier xoi- the same period, with their approximate value, being as follows.—wool, 123,819 lbs. (£8254 125.), flour, tons (£230), wheat, 180 bushels (£72), barley,

152 bushels (<£4s 125.), oats, 796 bushels (■£23B 165.), maize, 70 bushels (£2l), potatoes, 9i tons (<£47 10s.), bran, 2| tuns (£4 10s.) hay, 18 tons (,£126), melons, 5 cwt. (.£25), tallow, 83 cwt. (£66), horses, 9 (£860), bullocks, 8 (£144), sheep, 1,200 (£1,200), sheepskins, 128 (£l2 165.), curiosities, 1 case (251.), —total,