G.—loc

TE KAHA DEVELOPMENT SCHEME.—TE KAHA PROPER. (See Plan 30, G.-10.) Work done to 31st Makch, 1933. Contracts.—Contracts for work estimated to cost £1,158 were approved, and subsidies totalling £480 13s. 4d. were allotted. Up to the 31st March, 1933, £694 18s. was spent on various works, and the amount of contracts outstanding totalled £463 2s. The subsidies paid or payable on the contracts completed amounted to £320 13s. id., and £160 was outstanding on one uncompleted contract. The number of men employed was 86—individuals 38. Work.—This is set out in the summary hereto and comprises scrub-cutting, ploughing, sowing and manuring, renovation of pastures, post and batten splitting, fencing, general improvements to the Whanau-a-te-Ehutu Marae, and the building of a store-shed. Scrub-cutting, Sowing, and Manuring.—This was done on a portion called Kinakina, comprising about 80 acres flat and 120 acres of hill country. The total cost was £150, and 27 men were employed. It was burnt off, surface-sown, and manured for £20, and the work employed 9 men. Ploughing, c6c., Sowing, and Manuring .—The work done under this heading totalled 166 acres. The area upon which payment was made for labour was 147 acres for £153 10s., and gave employment to 5 men. Nineteen acres ploughing and the sowing and manuring for the whole of the 166 acres were done by the units themselves free of cost. In addition 38 acres of pasture were renovated. Splitting, &c. —Contracts for post and batten splitting to complete the Kinakina fence-lines were let. Five hundred posts and 8,000 battens were delivered under these contracts at a total cost of £75, providing employment for 8 men. A further contract to provide posts and battens for all units under the Scheme was also let. At the close of the financial year 24-0 posts and 500 battens had been delivered at a total cost of £16 18s. It was stated that a further 500 posts had been split at the stump, but as the contract is at a delivered price no payments were made on these, and totals of 5,760 posts and 23,500 battens were shown as the uncompleted portion of the contract at 31st March, 1933. Thirteen men were employed. Fencing. —The fencing contract let was to enclose the Kinakina area of 200 acres. The whole length of this line was 260 chains, and the labour cost amounted to £110 10a. Six men were employed. Other fencing is estimated on the wire issued at 160 chains. This would be a conservative estimate as it was based upon seven-wire fences. Marae Improvements.—These were effected on what is known as Te Whanau-a-Te Ehutu Marae. It is situated midway along the tribal territory and is the common meeting-ground of the various subtribes of the Whanau Apanui Tribe when big functions take place. The work was made urgent by the fact that His Excellency the Governor-General was to visit the district towards the end of March. Tribal prestige demanded that the Marae be made a fit courtyard for the reception and entertainment of such a distinguished visitor, so that the work set out in summary hereto was undertaken and completed at a total cost of £92, and employed 16 men. Water-supply.—Under memorandum dated the 13th November, 1931, proposals and estimates for a water scheme to supply 592 acres of dairying land at Te Kaha were submitted. The estimates provided for the expenditure of £1,000 including the cost of supervision. The Scheme was authorized in December of the same year, but work did not commence till February, 1932. Labour was offered free, and comprised the construction of a reservoir with a capacity of 33,000 gallons, the laying of seven miles of pipe-line and connecting to cow-sheds and dwellings, and the construction of troughs. At the close of the 1931-32 financial year it was found necessary to extend the water scheme to include a further area of 53 acres, so that at 31st March, 1933, water was being supplied to 25 consumers, occupying a total area of 645 acres. The total cost at the close of the financial year stood at £1,132 2s. 5d., including cost of survey. The Secretary of the Te Kaha Dairy Company advised that the water was responsible for an increase of 20 per cent, in the supply from the Te Kaha farmers during the summer months of 1932. Buildings.—A store-shed, with a lean-to as an implement-shed, was erected as a depot at which requirements for the settlers may be received and stored, and from which they may be issued. The total labour cost of erection was £22, and 2 men were employed. Top-dressing.—Twenty tons of super was supplied for the top-dressing of 200 acres of old pasture in the spring of 1931, but since then no manure has been applied to old pastures. Haymaking.—This Scheme is very backward in this respect, and a conservative estimate of hay saved would be 20 tons.

16