D.—l

IV

The expenditure on this line during the last financial year amounted to £6,476, and for the current year a vote of £10,000 is proposed. Kawakawa-Hokianga. The ballasting of the line to Kaikohe, 16 J miles from the junction at Otiria, was completed, yards formed, and buildings erected at the five stations along the route, during the year, and the section opened for traffic on Ist May last. Construction of a further section of three miles and a quarter from Kaikohe towards Omapere was commenced in January last, and is well in hand over the first two miles. A contract has been let for 60 chains of heavy formation, including a 7-chain tunnel, at the end of this section. A road about eight miles in length is being formed from Kaikohe to Okaihau to give access to the new railway to the settlers of that locality. The expenditure on this line during the last financial year was £29,056, and for the current year a vote of £25,000 is proposed. Whangabei - North Auckland. A contract has been let for formation-work and the construction of bridges over the first four miles of the new branch line which is to connect the North Auckland Trunk line with the Whangarei system, and arrangements are being made for the formation of a further length of four miles, which will carry the line to Oakleigh, from which point a siding will run down to Mangapai Wharf. The route of this line has been located down the Tauraroa and Waiotera Valleys to a suitable junction with the North Auckland Trunk Eailway, about twenty miles from the starting-point at Kioreroa. The expenditure on this line during the last financial year, principally for survey-work, was £2,155, and for the current year a vote of £85,000 is proposed. North Auckland Main Trunk. The terminus was advanced about two miles and a half by the opening on Ist August last of the section from Kaiwaka to Otamatea. The opening was delayed owing to slips, which are frequent in the country traversed by this line. A fine bridge carries the line over the Otamatea waterway, and a wharf with sidings has been built there and connected with the railway. Formation over the next section of four miles and a half is well advanced, but the Maungaturoto Tunnel, 24 chains long, in difficult country, will take some time yet to complete. Earthworks are in progress up to a point eight miles and a half beyond Otamatea, and for most of the distance are well advanced. The completion of the tunnel will permit of rails being laid up to Bickerstaffe Station, four miles and a half north of Otamatea. Metal for concrete-work and ballast is scarce in this district, and has to be conveyed by rail from Hoteo, over twenty miles south of the rail-head. The expenditure on this line during last financial year amounted to £48,250. Owing to the inevitable delay from the presence of so much tunnelling and other heavy work on the North Auckland Trunk line, it has been determined to start working southwards from the neighbourhood of Kirikopuni, on the Wairoa River, to meet the northward extension. Votes for the northern and southern sections of this railway are proposed as under: — £ Kirikopuni southwards ... .... .... 15,000 Kaiwaka northwards .... .... ... .... 60,000 Total .... .... .... .... £75,000 HUNTLY-AWAEOA. Formation is complete over the first section of three miles, and is in hand by co-operative labour over the next length of two miles and a half, which is well advanced. Five small contracts have been let, which are making fair pro-