D.—l

VIII

South Island Main Trunk. Formation from the terminus at Ward to Mirza Station, three miles and a half distant, is almost completed, and the whole length is ready for platelaying. The formation between Mirza and Mills, a little to the south of the Ure River, is of a heavier character, and works are in hand over the whole of it. A tender has just been accepted for the construction of a combined road and railway bridge over the Ure River, two miles and a half south of Mirza, the contract price being £3,859. Extensive plantations of sand-binding grasses and shrubs are being made on the cuttings and banks and adjacent areas on this section. The engineering survey of the Kekerangu Section is in hand. At the south end work has been carried on principally on the Parnassus Section, eight miles and a half in length, which is practically finished, and is in hand on the Mendip Section for nearly four miles beyond Parnassus. During the last financial year the expenditure at both ends of this line amounted to £55,661, and for the current year votes of £20,000 and £30,000 are proposed for the north and south ends respectively. Westport-Inangahua. The first section of 5 miles 74 chains to Te Kuha was completed and opened for traffic in April last. Construction-work, consisting mainly of rock-cuttings, with occasional short tunnels along the north bank of the Buller River, has been in progress during the year for a further distance of over four miles. The first half-mile is being carried out by co-operative labour, and is approaching completion, and the remainder Las been let in seventeen small contracts, principally taken up by parties or workmen. Five of the contracts have been completed, one was abandoned by the contractors, on two others progress is somewhat tardy, but on the remainder the rate of progress is quite satisfactory. The Department's experience on this line is that rock-excavation costs less under the contract system than by co-operative labour, but that there is no appreciable difference in the cost of tunnels or bushfelling. The line is authorized for eight miles beyond the limit of the formation contracts. During last financial year the expenditure on this line amounted to £21,572, and for the current year a vote of £20,000 is proposed. Greymouth - Point Elizabeth. Unfavourable weather-conditions during the greater part of the year, and numerous slips in the heavy cuttings, retarded the completion of this length of railway, which is to serve the new State colliery at Point Elizabeth. Formation is practically complete, and platelaying and ballasting are beingjpushed on with all possible expedition. The central brake-rail for the Fell system on the incline has yet to be fixed in position, and one small bridge remains to be finished. The expenditure on the line during last financial year amounted to £25,420, and for the current year a vote of £12,000 is asked for, which should carry the line to completion. Ross-Mikonui. The construction of an extension of the- railway from Ross to the south side of the Mikonui River, about four miles in length, was authorized last year, and a vote of £5,000 on account of the work appeared on the estimates. During the year a survey of three miles of the route was made and plans prepared, but no construction-work was done. The expenditure out of the appropriation amounted to £51. Midland. At the Nelson end the section between Kiwi and Glenhope, 12 miles 58 chains in length, was completed and op mcd for traffic on the 2nd ultimo. The opening of this section is a matter of some importance to the settleis along tht Buller River and in the Murchison district, as it brings the line into the watershed of the Buller River, shortening tlie coach journey by twenty-two miles, and saving the heavy haulage over the Hope Saddle. Bushfelling and clearing along the next two miles