C.—B

For some years past the construction activities of the Department have been planned to provide a maximum amount of manual labour, and, this year, preparations were made for considerably extending these works undertaken for the relief of unemployment. Provision was made for the employment of at least 250 men on sound undertakings on which each pound spent creates at least a pound of value. Nine relief-work camps have been established throughout the district; but, owing to the difficulty in getting men, these camps have not been filled, and apparently it will be necessary to close some of the camps without completing the works for which they were established. The largest number of men employed on the works was 252 in August and the least 189 in January. The average number of men employed during the year was 220, and this figure includes about 50 men engaged on standard work. Though the number of men employed on relief works fell very far short of expectations, a considerable amount of valuable work was accomplished. This includes road formation and metalling, drainage, stopbank construction, cutting scrub, and clearing land for settlement. There is, on the Hauraki Plains, a vast field for the profitable employment of two or three hundred additional unemployed workers on the development of Crown land in preparation for permanent settlement. In one area of.about 5,000 acres of peat land a considerable amount of drainage and roading has already been carried out; but, owing to the consolidation of the land in response to drainage, the drains now require deepening. This is essentially hand labour on which a large number of men could be given immediate employment. A large portion of the area has reached a stage when a comparatively small amouiit of additional work will make the land suitable for grazing, and when this condition is reached development is fairly rapid and a more or less natural process requiring only periodical attention to drains, and the cost of this work can be met by leasing the land for grazing until it is in a condition suitable for settlement. Flax-milling has almost ceased in this district during recent years owing to the low ruling prices for hemp and tow, and, unfortunately, large quantities of millable flax have been damaged and destroyed by fires a,nd stock. This is waste of a valuable asset. Fortunately the present outlook is not without signs of improvement and hope for the rehabilitation of the industry. The future holds great possibilities for a very considerable fibre production from the vast areas of unreclaimed swamp in the district. Until recently, the dredging of rivers and canals and the construction of stopbanks with mechanical excavating equipment occupied a prominent place in the construction activities of the Department. In July, 1932, most of the excavating plant was laid up for reasons of economy, and, since that date, only the most urgent work of this class has been carried out. In April, 1933, two of the eight serviceable dredges attached to the works were in commission, and since then only one plant has been operating. The following table shows the total quantities excavated by the dredges during the past fourteen years: — Year. Cubic Yards. CdSteYwd. 1920-21. .. .. .. ..158,865 7-42 d. 1921-22 .. .. •• •• 246,022 7-29 d. 1922-23 .. .. •• •• 440,092 8-20 d. 1923-24 .. .. .. ..508,654 7-27 d. 1924-25 .. .. •• •• 822,286 5-86 d. 1925-26 .. .. •• ..856,653 6-32 d. 1926-27 .. .. • ■ •• 647,182 7-42 d. 1927-28 .. .. .. 652,413 7-32 d. 1928-29 .. .. •• •• 619,911 6-54 d. 1929-30 .. .. .. ..595,565 6-25 d. 1930-31 .. .. ..536,692 8-32 d. 1931-32 390,611 7-99 d. 1932-33 .. .. .. •• 200,954 8-00 d. 1933-34 .. .. ■ • ..116,224 5-96 d. No. 24 American Steam Dipper Dredge worked intermittently in the Pouarua Canal. Prior to the Ist April, 1933, the beginning of the year covered by this report, a shallow canal had been excavated for the entire length of the canal, a distance of 480 chains, and the upper reach of 100 chains had been deepened to finished grade as the dredge worked down stream. By December, 1933, the dredge had completed the deepening of the canal, having excavated 107,364 cubic yards in traversing 380 chains of canal. The average daily output was 652-8 cubic yards, and the cost was 5-31 d. per cubic yard. The time that the plant was actually dredging was only 166 days in nine months ; but stoppages were made to erect a new bridge behind the dredge and to remove two existing bridges and to replace them after the passage of the dredge. A temporary dam had been constructed in the Pouarua Canal, at its junction with the Waitakaruru-Maukoro Canal, to maintain a high water-level during construction, and, as a safeguard against excessive bank caving, the dredge was laid up for eight weeks while the canal water-level was gradually lowered. The crew was temporarily transferred to No. 23 Dredge in the Elstow Canal, and returned to No. 24 Dredge on the 18th February last to remove the dam and back-fill a temporary channel cut through the Canal Bank Road to float the dredge out. The plant is to be brought to Kerepeehi, and, at the end of the

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