D.—No. Id.

No. 11. Mr. Hales to Mr. Btjllee, E.M. Report on the Mangawhero-Tanpo Road. Sic, — Wanganui, 12th September, 1870. In compliance with the instructions contained in your letter dated 22nd July, I have the honor to report that I have examined the greater part of the work executed under the direction of Mr. Field on the Mangawhero-Taupo line of road. The formed portion of the road seems to have been laid out and constructed simply to serve as a pack-horse track, and without any intention of making it form part of the permanent dray road that will have to be constructed at a future date ; consequently the lino has been taken over the country where it is easiest cleared, without the nature of the ground having been studied, or care taken to secure easy gradients. It is not at present practicable for pack-horso traffic, as slips have occurred in several of the cuttings, and a great portion of the track between the Upokongaro and Mangawhero streams is so soft that horses passing over it sunk to the knees in mud. In reference to the survey line, I may say that it has been cut through the bush for a distance estimated at thirteen miles : no levels have been taken, but the direction and approximate levels of some of the proposed cuttings have been marked by notches cut in the trees, and in several instances by being traced on the ground with a spade. It would not be possible for a road party to carry out Mr. Field's ideas with regard to these cuttings, unless that gentleman went over the ground with the workmen and pointed out to them what he required to be done. This is a matter of little importance, however, as, if it is intended to form the remaining portion of the road in the same manner as that already done, any intelligent workman who has been accustomed to road making could set out the gradients and execute the work. Roads constructed in this way involve no engineering principles, consequently the services of a-professional man will not be required. I consider the work done in cutting the line through the bush to be a fair amount for the time expended on it and number of hands employed. I have, &c, William H. Hales, Superintendent of Roads, Walter Buller, Esq., R.M., Wanganui. Wanganui and Patea Districts.

No. 12. Mr. Field to Mr. Bullee, E.M. Stk,— Wanganui, 7th October, 1870. Although the whole work which I have lately done in continuing the Taupo Road towards the main plain has been undertaken merely in consequence of my own determination to push the line through, I think it may be as well to send you a report on the subject for the information of the Government. I started with Mr. Hales, Mr. Porter, and my son, from Kennedy's, on the morning of the 6th ultimo ; Lockett, who was to have accompanied me, having failed to make his appearance. On reaching Mr. McGregor's station at Te Mai, we found the Mangawhero too high to ford, and were detained a day and a half in consequence. Mr. Porter (who went up merely to see the land at Te Mai) and I went round by a Native track over the hills, which avoids the two lower fords, but which could only be made practicable for horses at a great cost, and could never become available for carts, though it may be useful to foot travellers during slight floods, owing to its saving all but the shallow ford. On the Bth, Mr. Hales, my son, and I went on to Putaringa, and the former said ho could not spare time to go further. I however induced him to go with me next day to a hill-top, to which I had previously taken Mr. Booth, and which aftbrds a partial view of the remaining portion of the Mangawhero Valley, traversed by the road, and of the ridge along which the pack-track runs towards the plains. It rained all next day, and on Sunday Mr. Hales started downwards, while my son and I went upwards. The rain lasted the whole of the latter part of that day, and the whole or nearly the whole of several following days. In fact, up to the 24th, we had more or less rain or snow every day, though nothing like the bad weather we met with in May and June. We continued the line along the Whauriinu ridiTe to the dividing ridge between the Mangawhero and Wangaehu A^alleys, and then followed the latter rid^e to near the Whaokura Hill, which immediately overlooks the Matahitira Plain. From hence and other points further on, I obtained what I had previously sought in vain, viz., a general knowledge of the ground between the lower end of the plains at Matahitira and that of the main plain at Kerioi. I found that Haimona and Komene were correct in saying that it would not be wise to take the road down to the lower plains, though they had given a wrong reason for it. At or just below Kerioi, the Wangaehu enters a wooded gorge which runs for about a mile and a half or two mile in a south-easterly direction, and then turning to the south-west opens out into what has once been a broad flat valley, extending southwards for about six miles further. This basin is partially occupied by large grassy Hats, and partly by koromiko and scrubby bush, with patches of fern here and there. In the course of ages the river has cut itself a winding channel (now a bush gully) within this basin, to a depth, at Matahitira, of fully 300 feet, and the streams which join it from both sides flow through similar ravines, leaving the plains as detached terraces above them. This is evidently the reason why the Native track from Koriniti crosses the river at Matahitira, and then runs eastward through the Murimotu Bush towards the head of the Turakina ; as, had it gone along the plains, it would have had to cross a succession of these gullies. I found that, in other respects, the information I had got from the Maoris was very inaccurate. The Wangaehu does not curve nearly so much to the westward as they represented, and there are two bends instead of one. There are also evidently three or four streams between Mekemeke and Kerioi,

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