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ascertained at so great a distance in point of time from the happening which gave rise to the right to compensation. To attempt to assess such valuation on the material placed before me and which I have set out would be, I think, to enter the realm of almost pure speculation. It is of the essence that there should be evidence of quantity, locality, accessibility, and cost, as well as market price. There appeared to me to be such an absence of evidence on these factors, and may be on other factors, such as the cost of providing access by road to localities from which gravel could not otherwise be economically obtained. Accordingly, in an endeavour to get something more satisfactory, I asked counsel what further evidence could be obtained, and as a consequence the Valuation Department, after some weeks of investigation, have sent forward the following report Valuation Department, P.O. Box 3016, Wellington, 30th June, 1950. Memorandum for: The Valuer-General, Valuation Department, Wellington. Wangantti River Commission 1. I refer to your memo, of the 29th May enclosing copies of memoranda from the DirectorGeneral of Lands dated the 23rd May and from the Crown Solicitor dated the 19th May. 2. The Crown Solicitor's memo, requests : '' Assuming the bed of the Wanganui River between Raorikia and its junction with the Wakapapa Stream to be capable of furnishing a supply of shingle sufficient for all probable demands, what would, on the 23rd November, 1903 (the date of the passing of the Coal-mines Amendment Act, 1903), be the value of the bed of the river regarded as a fee-simple, such value being supposed to consist in its availability as a source of shingle ? (By ' shingle ' is intended material for metalling roads, for other road construction and road maintenance, for concrete structures, for railway-track ballast, and for any other purpose for which a demand might at that time be presumed to exist.) The valuer would be expected to take into account any potential value that should fairly be assumed, at that date, to exist, by reason of apprehended future demand, in accordance with the usual principles of valuation applicable to such a case." 3. Exhaustive inquiries were made by Messrs. Moore and Fletcher, district valuers, in control of Taumarunui and Wanganui districts respectively. I personally interviewed Mr. Henry Rothery, of Otorohanga, who was the first road contractor to operate in and around Taumarunui. Also I sought information from Mr. Spencer, a contractor of Taumarunui, Mr. John Wood, late Engineer-in-Chief P.W.D., Mr. Turnbull, at one time on the engineering staff of the P.W.D., and Mr. P. Keller, New Plymouth, retired District Engineer, P.W.D. These last three mentioned persons were employed in and around Taumarunui for some years immediately subsequent to 1903. It was thought that they might have been in a position to advise whether any Wanganui River shingle was used for ballasting the Main Trunk Railway. No information of value was gleaned from these sources. I might mention that Mr. Keller was a cadet in the P.W.D. in that district from 1903 to 1908, and although his recollection was not too clear he thought that the material used for ballast was too soft to have come from the Wanganui River. 4. The General Manager of Railways, in a memo, dated the 2nd June, 1950, 16/4753/6, when asked if he could give any information on the subject, replied that: — (1) "The Main Trunk Railway between Poro-o-tarao and Taumarunui was taken over by this Department from the Public Works on the Ist December, 1903." (2) " Any shingle used for railway purposes up to the 23rd November, 1903, would be taken by Public Works Department." The latter Department which had also been communicated with replied, under date of the 16th June, 36/3, that Mr. Fletcher of the Valuation Department had been searching the Department's records of this area which are filed at Wanganui. The engineer went on to say that the records gave no information regarding the taking of any metal from the river during the period in question. 5. At this stage it may be fitting to mention that Mr. Fletcher reported that from his inquiries he learned that the first use of metal from the area of the river in question in his district appears to have begun in 1931 when the metal was used solely for metalling the new road to Pipiriki which was finally completed in 1936. 6. Mr. District Valuer Moore's investigations of the northern reaches are shown by the following extracts from his report:— " That portion of the Wanganui River which lies in my district runs from its junction with the Wakapapa Stream, near Kakahi Township for some seventy miles to the south-western corner of Kaitieke County. This latter point lying between Retaruke and Pipiriki.