D.—l.

very close to the sea, heavy cuttings and road-deviations are necessary to provide for both railway and road. A total of 4 m. 11 ch. of formation and 35 ch. of road-deviations have been completed, while 1 m. 19 ch. of the latter are in hand. Twenty-four culverts, varying from 18 in. to 10 ft. by 5 ft., have been constructed, with a total length of 924 ft. A series of borings at all the bridge-foundations on the section has been carried out by a Keystone boring plant, but no work has yet been started on the actual bridge-construction. The following buildings were erected on this section during the year : —Office, store, smithy, and carpenter's shop, garage, fitting-shop, recreation-hall at Wharanui and at Camp No. 8, twenty-nine single huts, and twelve married men's cottages. The average number of men employed on both sections during the period has been 368. South Island Main Trunk Railway.—South End. Conway Section (44 m. 20 ch. to 56 m. ; length, 12 m.).—The main activity during the year has been the prosecution of the large cuttings on this section. During the period approximately 9| miles of heavy grading has been completed, a feature of the work being the comparatively large amount of mechanical plant which has been successfully employed, six steam shovels, two drag-lines, and eight locomotives having been utilized. Although a portion of the plant has only recently arrived on the work and been put into operation immediately prior to the close of the year under review, a total of 187,851 cub. yd. has been shifted by mechanical means. The total yardage of spoil excavated by all means during the year was 345,378 cub. yd. Of the formation work on this section the most important unfinished portion is between 48 m. 4 ch. and 48 m. 50 ch. On the original plans this was shown as a tunnel, and a special contract was advertised and tenders invited for its construction by special contract. On going into the matter further it was found that it was more satisfactory to make an open cut in place of a tunnel. This has now been done, the present arrangement being to treat it as an open cutting and excavate it by means of a drag-line. By this means it is anticipated that a considerable saving can be made over the tunnel proposed. A very extensive programme of culverting has been carried out during the year, 1,700 lineal feet of pipe culverts varying in diameter from 12 in. to 30 in., and 1,151 ft. of arch and flat-topped culverts varying from 3 in. to 9 in. in width having been completed. The nature of the country lends itself particularly to the use of water-drives in place of culverts at many of the heavy fillings, 1,200 lineal feet of drives, varying from 6 ft. by 4 ft. to 9 ft. by 6 ft., being completed and 630 ft. being in hand. No bridge-work has been put in hand, but test piles have been driven at the Leader River Bridge at 44 m. 63 ch., and for the Conway River Bridge at 50 m. 56 ch. Plans have been prepared and material has been assembled on the site in readiness to commence construction. The road-overbridge at 47 m. 45 ch., consisting of a single-span concrete skew-arch, is well in hand. Nine miles of permanent fencing on both sides of the Railway Reserve have been completed. Oaro Section (56 m. onward). —The formation along 4 m. of this section has been opened up, and approximately 1 J m. have been completed. There are on this section 2m. or 3 in. of very light formation, but, practically speaking, this comprises the only really easy portion of this southern section. About \\ m. of grading has been completed, and the culverting is in hand. General. —A thoroughly up-to-date workshop and plant-depot has been established at Parnassus, and all repair work for the extensive mechanical equipment is now being carried out locally. Sixty-one married quarters for workmen and 134 single men's huts, as well as two staff cottages, have been built. The necessary temporary buildings for the prosecution of the work, consisting of fitting-shop, carpentering, plumbing, and blacksmithing shops, store, benzine-store, cement-shed, and office, together with the various miscellaneous small sheds incidental to a large construction work, have been built. A total of 300 men have been employed on an average during the year.

SURVEYS OF LINES UNDER CONSTRUCTION. South Island Main Trunk Railway.—South End. During the period trial lines were run from 53 m. to 73 m. 30 ch., and permanent pegging was completed from 53 m. to 63 m. 15 oh. South Island Main Trunk Railway.—North End. The permanent survey has been completed and plans prepared from 76 m. 0 ch. to 88 m. 0 ch. Trial survey is completed to 97 m. 0 ch., and work is in hand for a further 8 m. 48 ch. Midland Railway. The survey of the permanent line on the Murchison Section has been completed, and continued to 88 m. 0 ch. on the Maruia Section. Survey work was closed down simultaneously with the ceasing of railway-construction.

34