3

E.—2

inquiries both from Mr. Church and Mr. Galbraith, as well as other engineering friends, who are quite cognizant of Mr. Kerle's antecedents. These all confirm the recommendation which I have the pleasure of making regarding him. Mr. Kerle is twenty-four years of age, and is married. I would also recommend Mr. Pattison, who has been engaged for some years upon railways in the north of Spain, the works of which have been interfered with and stopped by the present disturbances there. I have the strongest recommendations of Mr. Pattison in answer to personal inquiries which I have made from those who know him, as well as from Mr. Woods, the engineer for whom he has been acting in Spain. His age is about twenty-four. For the remaining appointment I would recommend Mr. Wm. Kitchen Mason. He originally served his time with Mr. John Evans, one of Mr. Brassey's principal agents, under whom he was engaged upon the Hammersmith and Richmond Railway, and also on the Runcorn Bridge contract, over the Mersey, near Liverpool. He afterwerds went to Germany, and was employed in the laying out and construction of railways in Hungary. His varied experience will, I have no doubt, render him a useful assistant upon the railways in New Zealand. I may be allowed to observe, that where I did not personally know the gentlemen I have named, I have not trusted in any way to written or printed testimonials, but have made personal and confidential inquiries from engineering friends of my own who were cognizant of their antecedents. I may also remark that I have selected those whom I have recommended out of a considerably larger number of applicants. Yours faithfully, I. E. Featherston, Esq., Agent-General. George B. Bruce.

No. 5. The Agent-Gene ral to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sir,— 17th April, 1874. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Public Works Memoranda No. 2-74 and No. 5-74, of the 10th January, 1874, relative to the shipment of railway material, and its delivery in the colony. I may observe that every effort is made and precaution taken by me to carry out the instructions of the Government. The order for each shipment of rails and fastenings is forwarded by me through the Engineers, in the first place, to secure all material being duly inspected before leaving the works; and in the second, to secure proportionate quantities of fastenings being sent with the rails—each order having a special clause requiring this to be done. I have requested the Engineers to explain why these instructions are not always observed, and enclose herewith two letters which I have received from Messrs. Hemans and Bruce, explanatory of the difficulties they have to contend with in carrying out my instructions. I have, &c., I. E. Featherston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Agent-General.

Enclosure 1 in No. 5. Mr. G. B. Bruce to the Agent-General. 2, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, S.W., Dear Sir,— 4th April, 1874. New Zealand Railways. We have read the Memorandum No. 2-74, dated 10th January, 1874, from New Zealand, in reference to the proportion of fittings compared with the quantity of rails shipped by the " Surat." In reply thereto, we beg to assure you that, as far as practicable, every care is taken to send out the permanent way material in due proportion. It is quite true that although the " Surafs " cargo consisted of only about six miles of rails, there were on board about ten miles of joints and twelve miles of spikes, but the weight of both these fittings was only about 36 tons, and considering that these came from two different makers, the weight from each is very small. The spikes and joints shipped in the " Surat" for Otago, comprise only 10 per cent, of the total required at that port, and we would beg to submit that, if shipped in such small quantities as this, the risk of any delay through loss of ships is reduced to a minimum. Many of the vessels take only a mile or one and a half miles of rails, and to proportion a quantity of each description of fastening to such a small lot of rails is not easy of accomplishment, and if done is of no advantage to the Government. In very few cases is it known, until the ship is nearly loaded, what quantity of rails it will