D.—l

XV

Touwai, Rakamanga, Raorao, Waiotapu, and Te Haroto; also additions at Nuhaka and Koroniti, and the Maungatapu School was removed to Papamoa. A new site for the school for deaf-mutes was purchased, and the rebuildingworks at Caversham Industrial School were completed. This year provision is made for the building recently purchased for an industrial school at Mount Albert, Auckland, also for an industrial school for boys at Wellington and reformatory for girls in Canterbury, and for new building for the school for deafmutes, and additions to the industrial-school buildings at Burnham, &c. LIGHTHOUSES, HARBOUR-WORKS, AND HARBOUR DEFENCES. The only expenditure last year in connection with new lighthouses was for land compensation at Cape Palliser, and for further work on the new building at East Cape. This year provision is made for the completion of East Cape Lighthouse and for anncrw r light at Kaiourangi Point, and for the connection of sundry lighthouses with the telegraph system of the colony. The expenditure on harbour-works was trifling in amount, being only £365. This year a much larger expenditure is provided for, the principal items of which are as follows: New wharves at Maungaturoto, Manukau (sandspit), Mokau, Karamea, Bruce Bay, and Okuru; also for snagging the Mokau, Manawatu, and Little Wanganui Rivers, for repairs to the wharf at Okarito, and for harbour-improvement works at Collingwood, &c, &c. The vote for harbour-defences last year was £10,000, but, owing to the military authorities being so much occupied with the despatch of contingents to South Africa, and other matters, less attention was given to our harbour defences than would otherwise have been the case, so that the expenditure fell a good deal short of the vote. A large amount of work is required this year, including the construction of a new battery at Wellington in a more advantageous position than any of the existing forts, and also some very necessary works of defence in connection with our chief coal ports. The vote proposed for the current year is £20,000. Last year's vote for contingent defence was £40,000, which, however, was slightly exceeded, the total expenditure amounting to £42,810. This year a vote of £100,000 is provided for. CONCLUSION. Honourable members may rest assured that the allocation of the money for the various works has received most careful consideration; and, while there may be some disappointment with regard to the amounts set down for particular works, I am confident that it will be admitted that the allocation has been made upon a fair basis, and with a view to promoting the best interests of the colony.