D.—l

XIX

CONTINGENT DEFENCE. The Burnham Industrial School was transferred from the Education Department to the Defence Department and converted into ordnance and mobilization stores for the Southern Command. This change necessitated the erection of suitable buildings for the storage of military equipment. Several wooden hutments have therefore been transferred and are being used as a temporary convenience until a fireproof building is available. For the storage of vehicles buildings are now in course of construction at Trentham. It is proposed later to erect a magazine to store reserves of ammunition for both the Navy and the Military Forces, also to build at Ngaruawahia, on the area of land recently acquired, an ordnance store to take the military equipment for the Northern Command. Featherston Camp will then be dismantled and the hutments sold. LANDS, MISCELLANEOUS. Hauraki Pastoral Areas, &c. —This work consists of the formation, widening, and re-conditioning of roads in the Hauraki pastoral areas, the principal items in hand being the Tapu-Coroglen and Kauaeranga-Tairua Roads, and the Port Charles - Jackson track. Access to a large area of reasonably good country will be afforded by the Tapu-Coroglen Road, and as a result early settlement of discharged soldiers is anticipated along the Tairua Road. Reclamation of Sand-dunes. —Considerable work has been accomplished during the year, and the results achieved are very encouraging. The importance and value of the work is generally recognized, and can be regarded as a truly reproductive work. Where valuable lands are threatened by the drift the work becomes one of necessity, and the ends to be attained are twofold—firstly, the reclamation of the sand-dune area, and, secondly, the protection from injury and possible destruction of valuable adjoining lands now in a productive state. Work has been carried on during the year south of Kaipara Heads in the vicinity of Woodhill, on the east coast between Marsden Point and the Waipu River, and on the west coast near Te Kopuru, in the Northern Wairoa district. A little preliminary work has been done on the west coast north of Kaitaia, near Waiharara. Lands cor Settlement Account. The opening-up of the various blocks of land set apart for selection under the provisions of section 63 of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1913, was pushed on vigorously during the year. The principal works consisted of road-bridges, drains, and other works necessary to give access to land already selected. DEVELOPMENT OF MINING. The vote of last year under this head was slightly overexpended on the purchase of drill equipment, and even now with the extra supply it is anticipated that during the current year all the Department's drills will be in use, owing to the ever-increasing popularity of this form of assistance to the mining industry. IRRIGATION AND WATER-SUPPLY. Ida Valley Scheme. German Hill Race has been enlarged for a distance of 7j miles. Flumes at Moa, Maori, and Dovedale Creeks are under construction, and four road-deviations have been constructed to avoid several culverts. During the season water was supplied to eighteen irrigators. Manuherikia Scheme. During the year the concrete lining of the intake tunnel, the inlet and intake gates, a concrete gravel-trap, as well as the outlet end of the tunnel, have been completed.