FURTHER PAPERS RELATING TO RAILWAYS.

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proportion of the £4,000,000 Loan ; and the Executive are sanguine that, if expended with care and judgment in the directions indicated, the permanent benefit to the Province will be so great aB largely to vindicate the policy of the Government. Hugh H. Lttsk Superintendent's Office, Auckland, Ist August, 1871. (for the Executive).

No. 2. The Hon. W. Gisborne to His Honor T. B. Gillies. Sic,— Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 11th September, 1871. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor's letter of the 4th instant, in which you forward for the consideration of the Government a memorandum by your Executive in relation to " The Immigration and Public Works Act, 1870," and shall be obliged if your Honor will, as required by the terms and spirit of that Act, favour me with your opinion of the several proposals ■which your Executive therein make. I have, Ac., His Honor the Superintendent of Auckland, Wellington. W. Gisborne.

lI.—CANTERBURY. No. 3. His Honor W. Rolleston to the Hon. W. Gisborne. Sic, — Superintendent's Office, Christchurch, 29th August, 1871. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 11th instant, in which you request to be informed as to my opinion of which would be the line which should be followed by the Northern Railway to the north of the Southbrook Station. The opinion of the Provincial Council has been already forwarded to you, and I now do myself the honor to enclose a copy of a Minute passed by my Executive Council on the subject. In forwarding this, I am bound to state that, after reading the very clear report of the Acting Engineer-in-Chief, in which he states that the estimate for the Parliamentary Line is £15,000 lower than that for the Ashley Township Line; that the distance is more than a mile shorter; that the height which the latter line rises is 47-j feet in excess of that of the former; and that the cost of maintenance, as well as the working expenses of this part of the Ashley Township Lino would be materially greater, and therefore recommends the adoption of the Parliamentary Line, I do not feel competent, in a matter involving so many engineering considerations, to express an opinion adverse to that given by him.- the more so because it had been agreed between the Hon. Mr. Vogel and the Provincial Government, in accordance with the terms of my letter of 21th December, IS7O, and your telegram of the 28th of the same month, that the question of deviation " would be referred for decision to the Colonial Engineer, Mr. Blackett." In reply to your present request, I have to state my individual opinion, that if, as suggested by Mr. Blackett, the saving effected by the adoption of the Parliamentary Line (£15,000) be devoted to making a line of light railway through the township of Rangiora, in the direction of Oxford, so as to supplement the vote of the Provincial Council of £10,000 for the Oxford Tramway, the special interests of the township, and those of a large and growing population in the east and Oxford districts, would by this means be most effectually served. I have, &c, W. Rolteston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Superintendent.

Enclosure in No. 3. Northern Railway — Ashley Crossing. The Council, having before them a letter from the Colonial Secretary, dated 11th August, 1871, requesting to be informed of the opinion of the Superintendent with reference to the Resolution of tho Provincial Council relative to the line of the Great Northern Railway via Ashley Township, advise His Honor to inform the General Government that the line by the Ashley Township is the one which, in their opinion, should be adopted. At the Government Buildings, A. Blakiston, Christchurch, 22nd August, 1871. Clerk to Executive.