E.—2.

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selves to me, in reference to some of the local conditions: this information has been useful to me in the course of my study of the subject. Captain Gibson has also supplied important facts with reference to Port Lyttelton. Having now given the question of harbour accommodation for Timaru my most careful and prolonged consideration, I have the honor to submit the following report, accompanied by two drawings, upon each of which the works I shall hereafter recommend are shown in red colour : — Drawings. —Drawing No. 1 is a general chart of the coast from Patiti Point to the Washdyko Lagoon. Drawing No. 2 is a plan, to a scale of 80 feet to the inch, showing in detail the sea frontage of the Town of Timaru, with the existing landing-places, and the railway line and station which were in course of construction at the time of Mr. Eliot's visit. Present Mode of carrying on Trade.- —The landing and embarking of merchandise and goods at Timaru are at present carried on under peculiarly difficult and dangerous conditions. There is no shelter of any kind for shipping, vessels having to lie in the open roadstead, and there to discharge and take in cargoes by means of surf-boats, which ply between them and the shore. Goods sent to and from England are therefore, for the most part, conveyed between Timaru and Port Chalmers or Lyttelton by small craft, and then transhipped into or from such vessels as are capable of making the voyage to Europe. The freight from Port Chalmers or Lyttelton to Timaru is about the same as from England to Port Chalmers, in addition to which there are heavy charges consequent upon the surf-boat service. The expenses connected with the conveyance of goods to and from England and Timaru are therefore more than double those between England and Port Chalmers or Lyttelton. If safe and convenient harbourage were provided at Timaru, 1 know of no reason why the charges there should not be practically the same, so far as freights and landing expenses are concerned, as at Port Chalmers or Lyttelton; and the special losses from damage to goods through being wetted in the surfboats, which I understand is now a subject of complaint by the underwriters, would be avoided. With respect to the present entire absence of shelter for shipping at Timaru, Mr. Eliot has brought under my notice the important fact that formerly, during the wool season, large vessels of about 1,200 tons burden, and drawing from 16 feet to 18 feet of water, called to take in cargoes of wool direct for England. Since the year 1871, however, vessels of this class have ceased to come to Timaru, as the insurance companies refuse to undertake the risk attendant upon their lying in the open roadstead. It will, I think, be readily conceded that under present conditions the trade of Timaru, and the vast, rich producing-district surrounding it, is held in check through the absence of adequate means of landing and embarking sea-borne goods and produce. Proposals tvldch have been made. —Various proposals have been made from time to time with a view to provide for, or at all events to mitigate, the evils which I have referred to —notably the designs which were prepared by the late Mr. Balfour, C.E., and the suggestions in the able report by Mr. Carruthers, C.E. Mr. Balfour's designs did not, however, provide for the berthage of deep-draughted ships, but were mainly intended to increase the facilities for working the surf-boats. Mr. Carruthers, after carefully reviewing the whole question, came to the conclusion that, in consequence of the rapid northward travel of the shingle' along the shore, it would be injudicious to construct either a solid work at right angles to the coast-line, or a wave-screen in the same direction (the latter of which had been suggested by Mr. Balfour), inasmuch as he apprehended that either of these works would obstruct the passage of the shingle northward to such an extent as would eventually render it useless. In the soundness of this opinion I entirely concur. Mr. Carruthers, as I read his report, was of opinion that, taking into consideration the travel of the shingle, the wants of Timaru would on the whole be best met by constructing an open iron jetty, at a cost of about £10,000, with the view of facilitating the working of the surf-boats. No doubt a jetty of this description would be of great assistance in the performance of the surf-boat service, inasmuch as it would obviate the necessity for beaching the boats on all occasions in order to discharge their cargoes : in my view, however, nothing short of deep-water berthage for vessels, and the abolition of the surf-boat system, are compatible with the proper carrying-on of trade at Timaru. Travel of Shingle. —From the River Waitaki, about forty miles south of Timaru, to Banks Peninsula northwards, being a length of 130 miles, there is an uninterrupted beach of shingle extend-* ing along the coast. The heaviest seas come from the south-east, and break obliquely upon the shore, causing a rapid movement of the shingle northward. It is agreed by all who have investigated this question that the balance of the travel of the shingle is unmistakably towards the north. The late Mr. Balfour made some experiments with a view to determine the rate of this travel; he found that in ordinary weather his experimental blocks, which were thrown in at Patiti Point, travelled towards Caroline Bay at rates varying from one mile to one-seventh of a mile per diem. A further confirmation of this rapid northward travel is also to be found in the short experimental breakwater which was carried out from Mr. Balfour's design. The construction of this work occupied about three months, and although within three months after its completion it was carried away, yet in this short period it exercised such an effect in curtailing the passage of the shingle northwards as almost to cover up the work. The waves, curling around the end of the structure, heaped up the shingle on the inside, and scoured away the material from the beach to the northward to such an extent as to endanger the safety of the large boat-shed of the landing service. This action continued until the breakwater was demolished, when the shingle resumed its normal travel northwards. Mr. Carruthers states that the effect of this breakwater in curtailing the supply of shingle to leeward was perceptible at the foot of Caroline Bay, half a mile from the work, and would have been felt even farther than this had it not been for the basaltic rock which forms the subbeach over this part of the bay. The quantity of shingle on the foreshore in front of the Town of Timaru and along the southern margin of Caroline Bay is not very great, if regard be had to the breadth and thickness of the shingle-band : at the time Mr. Eliot's survey was made its average breadth did not exceed 100 feet. Erorn Patiti Point to Caroline Bay the shingle nowhere extends further seawards than to about low-water mark, outside which the rock is bare, and runs in reefs sea