8.—6

XXV

Harbours. A large number of plans of works to be carried out by Harbour Boards have been approved. Buoys and beacons have been overhauled, cleaned, and painted, and new moorings put down where required. Fisheries. Regulations under the Fishing Industry Promotion Act, 1919, have been prepared, and applications for advances are now being received and dealt with, a number of advances having already been made for the purchase of fishing-vessels. The acclimatization of the quinnat salmon, which has been engaging the attention of the Department for some years, is now successfully established, and very large numbers of big fish are each year " running " in the southern rivers. Government Steamers. S.S. " Hinemoa." —This vessel has carried out the work of attending to the various lighthouses and coastal buoys and beacons controlled by the Department. Training-ship " Amokura." —This vessel has had a full complement of boys during the year, but has been unable to proceed to sea owing to her condition. She has therefore been kept in Wellington Harbour, and the boys have received as much training, without the actual sea experience, as it has been possible to give them. The Government has not yet obtained a suitable vessel to. replace the " Amokura." H.M.S. " Diamond " was offered by the Admiralty, but the cost of converting her to suit the requirements of the training scheme would have been so great that it was considered inadvisable to proceed with the work. S.S. " Tutaneltai." —This vessel has been engaged during the year in relieving the " Hinemoa," and in other services on behalf of the Government. PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT. Public works of various types, principally consisting of railway construction, building, improving and maintenance of roads, development of hydro-electric power, erection and maintenance of public buildings, river control, and irrigation of arid lands, have been proceeded with On those railways which are considered of special importance construction has been accelerated, and others, which on account of the state of advancement of construction could not reasonably be discontinued, have been proceeded with at the average past rate. As these minor lines are finished it will be possible to further advance the policy of concentration, under which the works on any chosen line will be completed more economically and rapidly, and under which all lines will probably be completed sooner than would be the case if an attempt were made to construct them simultaneously. Legislation dealing with the construction and maintenance of main roads has been prepared and. will be submitted to Parliament. Roads to open up the undeveloped portion of the Dominion have been constructed as in the past, and this work will be continued in order to promote the productivity of the lands still awaiting settlement. Assistance in roadmaking of the partially developed regions will be accorded on the principle that those who help themselves are entitled to recognition and encouragement. As with railways, so with hydro - electric works. The easing of the world's markets has enabled the purchase of plant and material to be proceeded with, and the works in hand have been vigorously pushed on. The Department now lias in hand the increasing of the Lake Coleridge scheme, the developing of Mangahao scheme to its ultimate capacity, the extension of the Horahora scheme up to the maximum power available at that site, the installation and the first stage at Lake Waikaremoana, and in addition has been rendering substantial assistance to the Southland Electric Power Board, also making arrangements to assist the Dunedin City Corporation to duplicate its present plant, if such assistance be needed. The reason for the latter action is that arrangements

iv—B. 6.