C—s

10

About eight miles of the track has been constructed on the Aorere Valley end, which brings it to the saddle of the Gorge and Big Rivers. Two miles more of this end has recently been let by contract for £537 125., which will bring the track on to the Gouland Downs. A survey is now being made from the Gouland Downs to the mouth of the Heaphy River, a distance of about twenty-four miles, of which seventeen miles and a half are completed. It is not intended at the present time to continue the survey further than the mouth of the Heaphy, as it will take some time before the surveyed portion of the track is completed. From the mouth of the Heaphy Biver to the end of the Kohai Bluff, where the survey is completed, to Karamea is twelve miles, thus making the length of track that will yet have to be constructed to establish communication between Collingwood and Karamea thirty-six miles. At the Mokihinui end twenty-six miles is constructed and a contract for 46 chains entered into, which brings the track up to the Little Wanganui Eiver, where there is a good ford. Instructions have been given to connect this ford with a track to the Ocean Beach. When this is completed a line of communication would be established between Wcstport and Karamea, were it not that there is no ford or crossing-place at the Mokihinui Eiver —a bridge being required to be constructed, at an estimated cost of £3,000. A track has also been constructed from Karamea for about four miles in the direction of the Kohai Bluff. The total cost of this work has been £22,375 10s. sd. Of this amount £18,459 Is. sd. has been paid, and the liabilities amount to £3,916 9s. Whangamatu Harbour to licefs, Thames District. — Eecently, auriferous and argentiferous quartz reef's have been discovered at Whangamatu, about five miles up the valley of the Wairoa Creek from the harbour. This is the only way that the quartz can be sent to be tested, and also the route that a road would have to be constructed to take machinery on the ground should the lodes prove payable for working. In order to afford a means of getting these reefs properly tested £150 has been authorised to make the road up the valley passable for dray-traffic. Boad Motueka-Takaka, do. —This is portion of the main dray-road between Nelson and Collingwood, going over the range between the Motueka and Takaka Valleys. The distance of the road constructed is sixteen miles and a half, which has cost £9,276 4s. sd. Of this amount £8,949 14s. sd. has been paid, and the liability on the work is £326 10s. This road was constructed for this departnieni under the supervision of the Public Works Department, and is now completed less some few repairs in maintenance. Owen Valley Boad. —This is a narrow dray-road from the Nelson-Lyell Eoad to the Owen quartz reefs. The road commences at the Nelson-Lyell Eoad, two miles up the Buller Eiver, above its junction with the Owen Eiver, and goes across a low saddle into the valley of Maggie's Creek; thence up the Valley of the main branch of the Owen Eiver to its junction with the Buhner Creek a distance of 9 miles 20 chains. This road was constructed under the supervision of the Public Works Department, and has cost £2,195 3s. Bd., of which £2,045 3s. Bd. has been paid, leaving a liability of £150. Track, Upper Anatoki. —This is a bridle-track up the Anatoki Eiver to near its head, so that provisions can be taken to miners working near the sources of the Slate, Eocky, and Snowy Eivers. This track is now almost completed. The cost has been £850, of which amount £833 Bs. has been paid, leaving a liability of £16 12s. Track, Jackson's Bay to Gorge Biver. —A horse-track was partially constructed several years ago from Jackson's Bay up the Valley of the Arawata to the junction of the Jackson Eiver; thence up the Valley of the Jackson and across the saddle of the range between the Jackson and Cascade Eivers. The portion of the track lately constructed commences at the crossing of the Cascade Eiver and follows up the side of the Cascade to Saddle Creek; thence up the side of this creek to the saddle between the Cascade and Gorge Eivers; and thence follows down the southern side of the Gorge Eiver to its junction with the Duncan Eiver, being a distance of thirteen miles from the commenc-ing-point, or about thirty-one miles distant from Jackson's Bay. Eight miles of this road is wholly completed, and the remaining five miles are under construction. This line of road has been surveyed and laid off with good dray-road grades up to the junction of the bridle-track from the head of Lake Wakatipu to Martin's Bay, at the place where the chair-crossing is—Pyke's Eiver. The total distance of the line laid off is 46 miles 73 chains. When the present contracts are completed for the construction of the track to the Duncan Eiver it will open up the country about the Gorge Eiver; but before a line of communication could be opened right through from Jackson's Bay to Lake Wakatipu another fourteen miles would have to be constructed. This would bring the road to the track leading from Big Bay to the Eed Hills, and about twenty miles distant from the horse-track leading either to Martin's Bay or Lake Wakatipu. This last twenty miles is over tolerably level land, requiring very little construction to make it passable for horse traffic ; but the fourteen miles previously referred to would be the most costly to construct on the whole line of road, owing to the steep sidhugs and slips over which the track would have to be made. The cost of the work, when the present contracts are completed, will bo about £4,426 15s. 9d. Of this amount £2,850 6s. 9d, has been paid, leaving a liability of £1,576 9s. Boad, Arthur's Point to Skipper's. —This is a dray-road from the Queenstown-Arrowtown Eoad via Arthur's Point. The road is constructed up to the top of the range from Arthur's Point for a distance of a little over three miles, and it is also constructed on the end next Skipper's Point for about eight miles, leaving a portion in the centre of about four miles to complete. Instructions have been issued to the County Council to survey and get out plans and specifications for another section of this road, which is estimated to cost about £1,200. The cost of constructing this road up to date has been £7,570 4s. Id., and another £1,000 is authorised for the work. When this road is wholly completed it will cheapen the cost of transit of provisions, mining materials, and machinery considerably at Skipper's and the Upper Shotover, and it will be the means of quartz being worked which is now considered of too low a grade to pay. Although the reefs at Skipper's have been worked for the last twenty-five years, and a large population always working on the Upper Shotover, the whole of the provisions have yet to be carried on pack-horses, and until the