E.—4c

8

left the Clutha on Saturday last, for the purpose of waiting upon you. As the telegram informing me as to the time the deputation proposed starting did not reach me until after the deputation had left, I was not able to accompany them. I may, however, be permitted to add my testimony to the excellence of the object which the deputation had in view. The first survey, which was made by Mr. Brunton, followed the valley of the Four-Mile Creek. The settlers of Waitepeka and surrounding districts very naturally interested themselves to get the railway to go by the valley of the Waitepeka, believing that that, in addition to being more convenient for themselves, it was the better route. When Mr. Brunton, about twelve months ago, sent a staff on the ground to make a working survey, he instructed the chief of the staff to examine the route by the Pour-Mile, and also the route by the Waitepeka, and to survey the line by the route he considered the better of the two. That officer decided on the route by Waitepeka and surveyed the railway accordingly. Mr. Brunton, however, after the survey was made, was of opinion that the route by the valley of the Four-Mile was the better of the two, for which he gave various reasons. These reasons, however, I need not enumerate here, as the survey staff who were subsequently sent to make an accurate survey of the route have had to abandon it, owing to its impracticable nature. The route now proposed is geographically a little nearer the Waitepeka, but owing to the configuration of the country it will be quite as inconvenient to the settlers as if it went by the Four-Mile Creek itself. The arguments in favour of this route, as advanced by the Engineer-in-Chief, to whom the matter in dispute was referred, are that the line will have a better gradient than a line by the Waitepeka would have, and that the difference in cost would make a branch line. Of course these are strong arguments, and lam not in a position to dispute them. I may, however, express my surprise at the statement that the gradient will be better than by the Waitepeka, because it is scarcely possible to conceive a district with a better railway gradient than the Waitepeka appears to have, the incline being very gradual from the point where the railway strikes the valley. As to the difference in cost, Ido not think that, considering the advantages which the line, if it went by Waitepeka, would confer on large and important districts, and the large traffic to the railway itself, a few thousand pounds should stand in the way. Any branch line that may be made in the direction of Port Molyneux and Catlin's River is not at all likely to go by way of Waitepeka, so that, unless the main line goes in that direction, the settlers in Waitepeka and surrounding districts are not at all likely to reap any advantage from the railway system of communication. I am aware that the matter to which this communication refers docs not come within the sphere of your special duties as a Minister ; but I trust that, as you have a local knowledge of the districts referred to, you will use your influence in inducing the Government to take the railway by the Waitepeka. I have, &c, The Hon. W. H. Keynolds, M.H.R. James W. Thomson, M.H.E.

No. 16. Memoeandum laid before the Hon. the Commissionee of Customs by Deputation from Waitepeka. Sic, — At a meeting of settlers held (in Waitepeka School-house on Friday, llth instant, to take into consideration the reply to his Honor the Superintendent's recommendation of the Waitepeka route, it was resolved to elect a standing committee to further the interests of the meeting in regard to railway deviation. The meeting understanding that you were in Dunedin, it was resolved to send a deputation to wait upon you and to lay the whole matter before you, and to request your aid in behalf of the settlers. In accordance with the above, we would in a few words state the whole matter from the beginning. A memorial of the settlers, embracing Warepa, Waitepeka, Puerua, and South Clutha, was forwarded to the Government by the hands of Major Richardson. A select committee was called to consider it, and, from the information then to hand, it was thought, in committee, that a branch railway would answer all the purposes of tho memorialists. Upon hearing this, the memorialists, having a thorough knowledge of the country, were at once aware that a branch line could not in the least suit the convenience of the settlers. Whereupon their representative, Mr. Thomson, was desired to state this in a letter to the Minister for Public Works, and his reply thereto stated that the Engineer was instructed to examine the proposed deviation. The report of the Working Engineer was at once so favourable that it was forthwith permanently surveyed, and the obstacles of that route were so few, that the whole survey was completed in a month's time. The settlers therefore thought that the whole affair was concluded ; but not so, for the surveyor was again sent back to see whether he could make any deviation at a certain cutting near the junction, men being at the same time employed putting down trial pits to test the nature of the cutting, which was satisfactory, being found to be good holding clay and rotten rock. But it appears that there was something else in the way, for the Engineer immediately instructed the surveyor to go on with the survey of the Four Mile Creek route, and sent at the same time a communication to Mr. Thomson stating that he had now made a permanent survey, and he found the Waitepeka route was about three-quarters of a mile longer than the Four-Mile Creek, that the gradients were steeper and the earthworks much heavier, and that it would entail an expenditure of over £12,500; and on these grounds he could not recommend it to the Government. This reply staggered the settlers at once, for they eonld not understand where Mr. Brunton could find the gradients to be heavier, the valley of the Waitepeka being traversed by a sluggish creek, and having little visible fall, while the valley of the Four-Mile Creek, if it could be called a valley, is so crooked in its nature, and traversed for a considerable distance by a rapid running stream, and very deep, the whole formation being of a rocky nature. This decision of the Engineer was so opposite to what the settlers expected, and rumours were afloat of the determination of Mr. Brunton to carry out the original flying route by Four-Mile