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II

The Ohaupo Contract has been finished, and the Waikato Eailway is open as far south as Te Awamutu, about two and a half miles from the confiscated boundary. Waikato-Thames Railway.—The Grahamstown Contract of the WaikatoThames Eailway is completed, and the Shortland Contract nearly so. The Waikato Contract, extending twelve and three-quarter miles east from Hamilton, is progressing favourably. A survey of this line has been completed from Hamilton to Te Aroha, and up the Thames Valley for thirteen miles from Grahamstown, leaving about nineteen miles still unsurveyed. Foxton-New Plymouth Railway.- —The railway from New Plymouth was opened as far south as Stratford on the 19th December, and a further section to Ngaire will, it is expected, be open in a few weeks. Some other portions of this line between Stratford and Carlyle are under contract, some are being done by day labour; and between Carlyle and Wanganui the Waitotara Contract is approaching completion. The Waverley Section is in hand, and the Carlyle Wharf Contract has been let, while some portions of the works in the neighbourhood of Carlyle are now being prepared for absorbing unemployed labour. Commodious workshops have been built at Wanganui, and a contract has been made for a new railway station and wharf at Poxton. Wellington- Woodville Railway. —On the Wellington-Woodville Eailway, the works of the Carterton Section, over twenty miles, have been vigorously prosecuted by the department, the average number of men employed being 275. It is expected that by September next the whole distance between Wellington and Masterton will be open for traffic. The Greytown Branch was opened on the 26th May. With the view of finding work for the unemployed in this district, some men have been engaged in earthwork and bush-clearing on the Opaki Section beyond the Carterton Contract; and on the Crofton Section of the Wellington-Poxton Eailway sometimes as many as 350 of the unemployed have been set at work. The number has now fallen below 100. Napier- Woodville Railway. —The Napier-Woodville Eailway is nearly completed to Makatoko, about seventy miles from Napier, and the last contract of five and three-quarter miles will shortly be ready for public traffic. Works are being pushed on towards Tahoraite, about twelve miles farther, and surveys of the country to the south have been completed for about fifteen miles more. Napier-Walling ford. —An examination of the country from Napier to Wallingford, through the district between the Tukituki Eiver and the sea-coast, has been made, but the country appears to be very unsuitable for railway construction. MIDDLE ISLAND EAILWAYS. Nelson-Greymouth. —The works on the Nelson to Greymouth line at the northern end have been confined to the completion of the railway connecting the City of Nelson with the Port, and an extension three miles beyond Poxhill by the Bellgrove Contract, now almost completed. At the Greymouth end, the Stillwater Contract, an extension of the original Brunner Eailway for three-quarters of a mile, has been found to be a work of considerable difficulty and expense, the contract price for sixty-three chains being £12,234 for formation only. The harbour works at Greymouth, which have been carried on as a part of the improvements designed to develop the coal industry in that district, were almost suspended for some little time, while awaiting Sir John Coode's report. It arrived in March last, and it is satisfactory to find that the work already executed has been approved and adopted by him as part of his design. Hokitika-Greymouth Railway. —Some small contracts on the GreymouthHokitika Eailway have either been finished or are near completion, and no new works were begun this year.