From Parliamentary Papers.

Manawatu Herald, 4 September 1894, Page 3

From Parliamentary Papers.

c— — » During the past year tha Department of Lands has had under its supervision, 1,180 miles of main T roads and has spent upon them £22,280. Theiresttlt of handing oter oontrol of well-formed roads to County Councils and Road Boards is nearly -. always, so says the Report, to the disravahtage of the road. It is suggested that the time has come for tht^&orernment to consider whether they; should not directly maintain auch roads. The cart-roads are formed with a minimum width of 14 feet, and the horse-roads of a minimum width of % 4'■ feet-— generally 6 feet, and the tainlmum grade is one in fifteen. Mr C. E. Douglas has been exploring on the Wettland Alps. He desires, he writes, to avoid dilating " on hair-breadth escapes, or relate tales of privation and suffering " but he gets there all the same by mentioning a camp blown away in the middle of the night in heavy rain and hail, and matches not to be found. He reports the gradual extinction ot the native birds up every river in Westland, and lays the destruction the wild cats, and he fears the kiwi and the kakapo are doomed. On the Waiho glacier the party found insect life in the streams and pools in the centre of the glacier and 4,000 feet up. Another curiosity was the number of spiders to be found on the ice. They are the ordinary spiders found in the bush. They are active enough and when chased go tumbling down a orevasse. Mr Douglas notices a tree which he desoribes as the pine-topped neinei. One tree, will grow as straight as a., palm, with one top' of orested leaves ; close to it will be another throwing out branches in every sort of fantastic form. It has a smooth bamboo-like bark. It grows to a height of 80 feet and some are nearly one foot in diameter. The trunk has a thin outer skin as hard as rafca with a pith inside that can easily be out wit!) ft knife. The highest vegetation Mr Douglas ever found was a solitary anemone of a pale-yellow colour (the only life other than minute lichen) and jt was growing on a bare patch . surrounded by snow, at an altitude of nearly 8000 feet. For the comtort of tourists visiting this glacier the erection of a shelter shed is suggested, the site mentioned being perfect for firewood and water. There is feed also for a few horses.