PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2658, 24 August 1871, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

No. I. PUBLIC WORKS. 3 he first annual report of the Immigration and Public Works Department, as laid; on the table of the House,, gives an account of the organisation of the department, of land purchases in the .Northern Island, road works in the Northern Island, railways, roads in Westland, electric telegraph extension, water-races on goldfields, and immigration o -ganisatiou. Mr John Blackett, C.E , is appointed Acting Engineer-iu-GJiief, and District Engineers, subordinate to him, have been appointed in Aianawatu, Canterbury, Otago,' and Westland, to superintend the works in progress. Mr Knowles is appointed Chief Secretary. Land purchased in the North Island : Auckland, a small section at a cost of Ll5O j in Hawkes Bay and Wellington, the Sevaify Mile Bn-h, measuring in Hawkes Bay 231,430 acres of fertile land at a cost of L16,0(K). The remahider of the purchase is in Wellington, and it is estimated the whole cost wi 1 lie LlB 080. Road Works in the North Island :—For this purpose L 400.000 was voted last session, to be ex pc ode I at the rate of LI 00,000 a year. The object the Government ha\e had in view in this expenditure is stated to have been “to construct permanent ma n lines of road traversing the Island through the length and breadth of the interior, and to attain that result, not by lavish subsidies, or the still more expeu ive force of arms, but by the cheaper and more rational influence, winch in civilised countries regulates the relations of employer and employed.’' The works done have been executed by contract, under “competent professional superviion.” “ ft is a mute' of much congratulation that Native tribes in the ict rior, as well as those in more frequent and immediate intefcourse with us, hive heartily joined in the policy of road-making, and been actively engaged in its practical advancement No charge beyond the contract for the construction of the road is at empted to be made on the ground of its crossing their lands ; and an influential tribe, the Ngatiraukawa, lately arrayed in hostile attitu lo against us, are not only busily occupied in road wmk between Ta ,T po and Tauranga, but have bci n mainly instrumental in r.nc'osing to Eur - pcans the route between Waikato and T npr, a al in securing a revocable prospect of tl e extension of the road a id telegraph over th-1 small interval of space (about thirty mile.-) which now separate Auckland, so far as those works arc concerned, from the rest of the Colony. The services of the Armed Constabulary have also, in out-districts li cn advantageou ly uti ized in the construction of roads.”

“ I may shortly sta'e that the road works between Patea and Niw Plymouth hive enabled the mail coach to run twice a week between those t vo places si >ce it was esta’ - lished in January last, with only one or I v o exceptions, when it was preventer! by Hoods during the late severe weather. Roads from Manawatn to Napier, an 1 from Ma ter on to Vlanawatu (Jorge, will join the West, Kast, nd Southern Coasts through the centres of the Provinces of Wellington and Hawke’s Bay ; they run along the lines laid out for railways and on po:tions of them there are to be tramways, which at any future time can be adopted for the permanent rail wav. The advantage of tramways is. that whu-ie timber is abundant and metal scarce, they c >st little more than metal; and, morcove-, they .are immediately available for heavier traffic with less labour than omrnon roads, anil they can b s m we easily made, by means of tolls, directly remunerative. The tran - ways referred to will at once render market* ab'c large quantities of valuable totara and other t mber. The other great road runs from Napier to Taupo and Tauranga. It will be seen from the printed papers that other roads giving access to important Na; five districts, or opening up confiscated terrii t< ry, are in progress. I append a return showing the expenditure and liabilities incurred up to the JlOth June last on account of roads in the North Island. T his return includes L 23.610, 15s 3d. expended under the 1,30,000 Rond Appropriation for 1809 7<', and altogether shows a total of expenditure and liabilities of L95,(523 3 * 2d ; a great part of this amount c insists of liabilities for contracts and for works authorized but not yit cou'ta tcd fr, and is estimate! at L47.4i0 los lid, which will hj; payab'o in and form part of the expenditure of the prerent year.” Railways.—The report slates that “the construction of those railways authoiiscd to be constructed by direct payment, has p - ceedcd.” In regard to Canterbury’, the “ pr. sedition of the works, under the practical direction and responsibility of the Colonial f'overiimeiit,” hj s been “ vigorously ” entered upon. A site for a railway bridge across the Waitaki has been carefully selected, and the necessary' iron wo: k for the construction of a bridge calculated in the first instance to carry ordinary traffic, has been ordered from Kngl.ind. Mr Blackett and Dr Hector hav- repoitod on the best 1 r.e of railway between the coal mines on the Grey River and the shipping port.