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braces, so as to maintain such posts perpendicularly, and to prevent any inclination on account of the strain exerted by the wire. At points where the line may traverse or cross streets, roadways, creeks, rivers, watercourses, or any other declivities, or acclivities, the posts are to be of sufficient height to keep the wire at an elevation of at lea-it eighteen feet (18 feet) above the ground, or twenty five feet (25 feet) above the water as the case may be. 6. Posts erected in passing through the streets or suburban roads of Towns or Villages are to be plained and afterwards painted with three (3) coats of white paint to within six feet of the [earth, the remaining portion to be painted black. 7. The insulating pins and the insulators to be firmly fitted to the tops of the posts in the manner shewn by the model exhibited at this Office. No portion of the insulator to remain nearer than within one (1) inch of the wood work of the post or of any iron work connected therewith. 8. The main conducting wire is to be drawn to a tension, leaving not more than (2) two feet, notless than sixteen (16) inches of deflection between any two (2) posts, and this wire is to be securely fastened to the insulator by binders of annealed charcoal wire number fifteen (No. 15) galvanized according to the pattern shown at this Office. 9. The metallic connections or jointings of the main wire are to be most carefully effected and made and soldered in the form exhibited at this Office. 10. In timbered Country through which the line may pass, the trees and branches are to be cut down for a distance of forty (40) feet on each side of the main wire, and any felled timber, brush, or dead wood is to be entirely cleared away from about the base of the post for a radius of the same space, this portion of the work to be so performed as to leave no obstacle in the way of the usual road traffic, such timber as may have been felled into the road to be drawn within the line of the trees felled, the trunks laid as much as possible in the same direction as the road. On one (I) chain roads no felled tree to be left within less than forty (40) feet from the opposite boundary line of the road, and damages done to post and rail fences to be made good, and if iv the execution of this work any damage be done to the mettaling, water tables, bridges, culverts, or any other works whatever of the department of roads and bridges, the same shall be made good by the contractor for this work, or failing his doing so after notice shall have been given to him, then the Department of Roads and Bridges shall have power to execute all necessary repairs and the whole costs of such repairs will be charged to the Contractor, and deducted from any monies due or that may become due to him. 11. Insulating brackets, angle insulators, and terminals, according to patterns exhibited, are to be provided where required for digressions, intermediate stations, or other purposes on the Line. 12. The insulation and continuity of the Line must be guaranteed and maintained for the period of two (2) months after the wire shall have been tested, for which a reserve of £5 per cent, shall be retained from the balance of the contract. 13. All the materials supplied are to be the best of their respective kinds, and the whole of the work and labor is to be performed in a substantial and workman-like manner to the entire satisfaction and subject to the approval of the Honorable the Commissioner of Public Works, the General Superintendent of Electric Telegraph, or other Officer appointed to inspect and supervise the work, and is to be fully completed within two (2) months from the date of signing this Specification, under a penalty of fifteen pounds (£ls) for every week that the work remaius incompleted from such date. 14. Iv the event of any unnecessary delay or failure on the part of the Contractor to proceed with the work when called upon to do so, it will be in the power of the Government to terminate the Contract, or procure the work to be performed by other persons, and the extra expense (if any) charged to the Contractor. The Contractor to state in his tender a price per mile for wire, insulators, pins, side brackets, (according to pattern exhibited) including fixings for such porlions as may be required to run the wire, on posts already set, or to run a second wire on posts which may be set, under this Specification. Witness to Signature,

COPY OF A DESPATCH FROM THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO GOVERNOR GORE BROWNE, C.VJ. Downing Street, 17th February, 1860. Sir, —I transmit herewith for your information the copy of a note from the Netherlands Minister at this Court, which has been received through the Foreign Office, announcing the completion of the Telegraphic Cable between Singapore and Batavia and communicating the desire of his Government to see this line placed in communication with the British Telegraphic Lines in the East Indies as well as with those which are intended to be laid down to China and Australia. I have &c, (Signed) Newcastle. Governor Gore Browne, C.8., &c, &c, &c. New Zealand.