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No. 6. Memorandum No. 12, 1874, for the Agent-General, London. Your attention is called to the backward state of the order for rails and rolling stock, forwarded in Mr. Ormond's Memorandum No. 132, of 25th October, 1872. lam not aware that any of this rolling stock has yet been advised as shipped, and out of upwards of 5,000 tons of rails, only a trifle over 2,000 have been advised to latest date, although a later order—that sent on the 18th of January following—has been nearly completed : 997 tons having been advised out of, say, 1,23.2 tons. The loss and inconvenience arising out of the delay in execution of the first-mentioned order are very great, in some cases amounting to a practical stoppage of works. I shall feel obliged by your giving the matter your earliest attention, and pressing forward with the utmost despatch the execution of whatever portion may still remain unfinished when this reaches you, shipping by special charter, if ordinary freight is not available. Public Works Office, Wellington, New Zealand, Edward Richardson. 7th February 1874.

No. 7. • Memorandum No. 14, 1874, for the Agent-General, London. With reference to that portion of your letter of the 25th November, No. 798, in which you state that the shipment of railway material has not been quite so rapid as you could have wished, in consequence of the insufficient freight accommodation on the part of the Shipping Company, I think it well to state—in order to avoid any further misconception on your part relative to the instructions to charter special ships which have from time to time been given to you —that you are directed to charter a special ship to one or more ports in New Zealand whenever the tonnage by the ordinary freight and immigrant ships is insufficient for your purpose. Public Works Office, Wellington, New Zealand, Edward Richardson. 6th February, 1874.

No. 8. Memorandum No. 17, 1874, for the Agent-General, London. I observe with satisfaction the arrangement you have made with Messrs. G. D. Tyscr and Company for effecting insurances at Lloyds, in compliance with the instructions contained in my Memorandum of 4th July, No. 31, 1873,* as reported in your letter No. 787, of the 24th November, and have to express my regret that such an arrangement was not made long before. Public Works Office, Wellington, New Zealand, Edward Richardson. 6th February, 1874.

Sco Par. Pa] E. 3., 1873, No. 29.

No. 9. Memorandum No. 28, 1874, for the Agent-General, London. Advices of the further shipment of material not having been received by the mail arrived here on the sth instant, the usual statement of plant and rolling stock has not been printed this month. In the shipping lists of the European Mail, of 23rd January and 10th February, I notice that several vessels (names quoted in the margin*) have sailed for New Zealand, and in some of them large quantities of public works material have no doubt been forwarded. The absence of invoices, bills of lading, or advices of any kind, causes most serious inconvenience and loss, and I desire very strongly to impress on you, not only the importance, but the positive necessity there exists for my being informed by every opportunity of the shipments that have taken place. Public Works Office, Wellington, New Zealand, Edward Richardson. 9th April, 1874.

No. 10. Memorandum No. 32, 1874, for the Agent-General, London. Enclosed is a copy of a letter from the Government Agent at Napier, in which he calls my attention to the tonnage required for the conveyance from London to that port of the railway material ordered to arrive during the next twelve months, and the necessity for taking advantage of ships direct to Napier. Although the delay and expense occasioned by transhipping in the colony, arising mainly from the large amount of private work there is for the coasting vessels, render it desirable that * Extracts from European Mail of 23rd January : " Durham,' ' Southern Cross,' ' Golden Sea.'" Extracts from European Mail of 10th October: "Apelles,' • Fratelli Gaggino,' 'Syren,' 'Taruna,' 'Atrato,' 'Asia,' 'Undine' Schiehalhon, ' »»"-"-»i