9

H.—lo.

The gradients over the hi% portions of both sections of road, which are very numerous, have all been made easy for drays and other vehicles. Besides this, a side road to the redoubt has been completed, which contains 552 chains, all block cutting, and 643 cubic yards of stuff have been shifted in the course of the work. At Tapuaeharuru, the detachment has been employed repairing the road on the sections Tapuaeharuru and Opepe, and between Tapuaeharuru and Atiamuri, Tuahu Hill section. On this latter portion of road the work consisted of block and side cuttings, formation, embankments, grading, and removing rocks ; and there has been shifted 5,525 cubic yards of earth and 142 cubic yards of rock. At Eunanga the men have completed, on the section Eunanga and Opepe, 218 chains 18 yards of road, consisting for the greater part of heavy block and side cuttings, and the total amount excavated (exclusive of formation) has been 23,367 yards 23 feet cubic. In addition to this, the road has been placed and kept in repair for a distance of nearly 11 miles, extending from the bridge over the Waipunga to that over the Eangitaiki; and the side road, connecting the redoubt with the main line of road, has been kept in constant repair and improvement. All these detachments have been camped out in the locality of their works, at intervals, and when their presence was not actually required in their various stations, for a period extending over ten months; and in the aggregate they have passed at least seven months under canvas. 2. Building Houses, Stables, Sfc. —At Tarawera, the officers' quarters have been lined, ceiled, fittings put up, and generally rendered more lasting and durable. The sergeants' quarters have been lined, partly ceiled, and repaired ; and the men's barrack-room has been lined, and uniform shelves and beds made and fitted. The Armed Constabulary Office has been lined, new spouting made and put up round all the buildings inside the redoubt; and the stable enlarged, improved, and partly lined with sawn timber. Between 4,000 and 5,000 feet of timber have been expended on these various works, which has all been cut by men of the force posted at this station. At Eunanga the barrack-rooms, store-room, officers' quarters, orderly-room, men's mess-room, and other public buildings have all been repaired. A new stable is in course of erection, and a new pumice-stone chimney erected, the materials for which had to be brought a distance of over two miles. At Tapuaeharuru a guard-room, 12 x 12, and an officers' cook-house, 10 xlO, have been completed. An orderly room, 10 x 14, is now being built; and a boatshed for the Government whale-boats, 36 x 14, has been completed. The roof of the library, consisting of raupo and toi-toi, has been renewed; these materials are only attainable within ten miles of the station (on the opposite side of the Lake), and this service is performed by the men of the Force in the whale-boats. The magazine, cook-house, and library chimneys, all which are composed of pumice-stone, have been repaired and re-pointed. At Opepe the barracks have been lined, and a uniform cot fitted for each man, as directed by the Commissioner (Lieut.-Colonel Moule) on his last inspection. A coach-house, lSx 12, has been erected for the ambulance wagons, and a cook-house, 14 x 12, for the Officer Commanding, built of sawn timber. A pumice-stone chimney has been attached to this building, and the whole of the edifices in and round the redoubt have been repaired. The timber required for these works and those at Tapuaeharuru has all been cut by two men at Opepe, who are kept constantly employed sawing. They have turned out upwards of 12,000 feet during the past twelve months, which has all been used on the public service. The buildings at each station have been painted for the purpose of protecting the wood, of which they are composed, from the inroads of damp. 3. Fencing and Laying Bown in Grass. —At Opepe two paddocks, one containing about nine acres and the other forty, have been greatly cleared of stumps, and the fencing kept constantly in a state of repair. The Taupo force must grow all their own forage. The mounted men at this station when not engaged on orderly duty are employed at this work. The large paddock on the road to Eunanga, commenced last year, is not yet complete owing to so many men having been engaged on roadwork, but every available opportunity is seized to forward its completion. Grass seed has been sown in all the paddocks and on all favourable spots of bush land in the neighbourhood of the post, with the endeavour to make the feed as good as possible, which, however, can never be first-class, in consequence of paucity of the soil. At Tapuaeharuru thirty chains of post-and-rail fence have been erected, enclosing about three acres, making a total of fifty-seven acres now enclosed immediately round tho redoubt. A number of bluegums have been planted in and around the paddock, in order to obtain, if possible, some slight shelter for the horses, the site of the redoubt being in winter exceedingly open and bleak. Thirty and threequarter chains of swamp have also been completely and thoroughly drained, and a quantity of Cape and English broom seed sown thereon. At Eunanga an acre and a half have been added to the paddock ; the fences kept constantly in good order and repair, and a large quantity of trees and scrub removed. There has also grass seed been sown throughout, which here affords better feed than in the generality of Taupo paddocks. At Tarawera 800 posts and 2,500 rails have been split, and formed into 37 -_■ chains of fencing (threerail) round the large paddock begun last year. The fence round the small paddock has also been kept in repair, and the parade ground where abutting on the cliff has been fenced. The paddocks have both been laid down with grass and clover seed. The duty of fencing at this station proves a very arduous one, as the posts and rails have to be carried by the men ou a very rough bush track for a distance exceeding a mile. There is now employed at Te Haroto, an abandoned post some ten miles from Tarawera, a detachment of every available man in the district, with the object of preparing land for cropping in accordance with the terms of Circular No. 163, dated Wellington, April 7th, 1875. Tho work is being steadily pushed forward, but I fear will not meet with much success, the ground throughout the district being anything but of a nature to repay tillage, and the work of clearing alone will prove a most laborious undertaking. 2—H. 10.