0.—4.

Puketoi Block, Tahoraiti District, 9,080 acres £ s. d. open for sale on deferred payments. Roads felled, 1 chain, formed 12 feet .. .. 3J miles, cost 1,127 2 0 Bridlo-roads, felled 1 chain, formed for horsetraffic .. .. .. ..3-| „ 747 16 0 Roads felled, 1 chain in width .. ..7 „ 750 18 11 14 „ £2,625 16 8 —or about ss. 9d. per acre. This block before being opened up was quite inaccessible and little known. The land has now been in the market twelve months, during which time 24 sections, containing 2,460 acres, have been taken up on deferred payments, and 22 sections, containing 94 acres, in the Village Settlement of Kumeroa, have been sold for cash. The value of the land disposed of is £3,500. In addition to the work already done towards opening up the land, the Road Boards at the expiration of every six months will be given one-third of each deferred payment, which, from the land already taken up will within ten years produce over £1,000. The Puketoi Block having been thrown open for selection on deferred payments, if the whole block is taken up at the upset price, no less a sum than £3,000 will accrue, to be spent on roadworks. The bush-felling and formation were let out in 32 contracts. Ahuaturanga Block, Woodville District, 8.,700 £ s. d. acres, forest land.—Roads, felled 40 feet, and formed 14 feet.. .. .. .. 3 miles, cost 898 13 0 .. 2J 250 0 0 ... 5| „ £1,148 13 0 —or about 2s. Bd. per acre. This block has not yet been offered for sale. An additional sum of £700 has been asked for to complete the main road, and to fall the bush on the cross roads. Ngamoko Block, Norsewood District, 3,992 acres, £ s. d. forest land. Roads, felled 40 feet, and formed 12 feet .. .. .. .. 2\ miles, cost 566 6 0 66 „ .. .. .. 5| „ 579 14 9 8 „ £1,146 0 9 —or, say, ss. 9d. per acre. Since the completion of the road-works these lands have been offered for sale, and the following transactions have taken place : Cash sales—ls sections, containing 978 acres; on deferred payments, 20 sections, containing 1,354 acres. From the land already taken up on deferred payments, there will be available within the next ten years for road-works over £500. Makaretu Reserve, Ruataniwha District, 3,000 acres forest land, not yet surveyed. Bridleroad, felled 33 feet, miles, cost £478 Is. Bd. An additional sum of £250 to complete this line is required, which will amount to, say, 4s. 10d. per acre. The land is situated close to an extensive settlement, and will if offered on deferred payments be readily taken up. Waitara Block, Mauugaharuru District, 34,000 acres, open pastoral land. A bridle-road varying from 5 to 7 feet on the solid, and formed on the permanent grades, has been formed for 12 miles through the centre of the block, at a cost of £793 os. 6d., or s|d. per acre. The expenditure on the Waitara Block has not been reproductive: there is a reason for this. The average market or selling value of the land is from ss. to 10s. an acre. By the Land Act the Crown lands in Hawke's Bay cannot be sold for less than £1 an acre, whilst Crown lands of a similar character to the Waitara Block are sold at ss. and 10s. an acre in Auckland District, and 10s. in Wellington. When the Waitara Block was prepared for settlement, pastoral lands in this district commanded a higher price than they do now. The works in the Ahuaturanga, Ngamoko, and Makaretu Blocks have all been let out in 63 small contracts, worth from £20 to £80 each. The cost of the construction of the roads mentioned above include all incidental expenses, such as exploration, supervision, and engineering work. Horace Baker, Chief Surveyor.

Wellington. The following blocks were opened up by roads: Pahiatua, Kiwitea, and Akatarawa, near Hayward's Railway-station. The practical carrying out of the works was put in the hands of the County Councils. In the Kairanga Block the road and drain works were executed under the control and direction of the District Engineer, Public Works Department, on lines set out and levelled by this department. In the Fitzherbert Block I directed the bush felling and stumping of 220 chains of road-line, to widths of a chain and half a chain respectively. The road-line from the saddle at head of Akatarawa Stream to the Waikanae Flat was ex-

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