D.—l.

During the above period 80 farmers have arrived who satisfied the AgentGeneral that they were possessed of the requisite capital (amounting in all to £34,405) as required by the regulations of the 28th September, 1885. The total number of immigrants, exclusive of small farmers, introduced since the inauguration of the immigration scheme by the Colonial Government is 113,953. Details of the nationalities and classes of the immigrants introduced to the 30th April, 1887, will be found in Parliamentary Paper D.-9, 1887, presented last session. The expenditure on immigration during the last four years has been respectively, in round numbers, £107,000, £57,000, £12,000, and £12,000, and for this and the three following years the expenditure proposed is respectively £16,720, £20,000, £20,000, and £14,000, being a total allocation for immigration purposes, out of funds in hand and now proposed, amounting to £70,720. TELEGEAPH EXTENSION. As regards the subject of telegraph extension, I find that during the present financial year telegraph or telephone communication has been established between Clevedon and Papakura, Pukekohe and Mauku, Tahoraite and Danevirke, Springston and Prebbleton, Upper Eiccarton and Middleton, and a line is now in course of construction from Masterton to Mauriceville and Mangamahoe. The proposals for further telegraph extension in the estimates for the present year include the construction of lines between Kaipara Heads and Te Kopuru, Blenheim and Awatere, Ophir and Tinker's (Matakanui), Miller's Flat and Lawrence, Henley and Berwick, and the erection of an additional wire between Wellington and Auckland by way of Foxton, Woodville, and Napier, as well as a local wire from Foxton to Woodville. The expenditure for the last four years has been respectively about £19,000, £26,000, £36,000, and £19,000; and for the present and three following years the amounts proposed are £20,100, £10,000, £6,000, and £5,000, the intention being that the cost of future extensions of the telegraph system should be gradually thrown on the Consolidated Fund, and that after March, 1891, no further expenditure of this character shall be charged to loan funds. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. The principal public buildings in course of erection during last year were some additions to the Lunatic Asylums in Christchurch and Auckland, the construction of a new Printing Office in Wellington, and the continuation of the works for the new prisons at Wellington and Auckland. During the current •year it is proposed to put in hand a gasworks and a doctor's residence at Seacliff Asylum, a doctor's residence and farm buildings, &c, at the asylum at Sunnyside, and the addition of a male wing to the asylum at Auckland. It is also proposed to ask for a vote for a new asylum at Porirua, for the Wellington District, and also for the long-proposed public offices in Auckland. The re-erection of the Post Office in Wellington will shortly be undertaken, but, as the Government considers that this is not properly chargeable to loan, it has been determined to provide for it out cf consolidated revenue. On public buildings generally the expenditure during the last four years has been, in round numbers, respectively £164,000, £117,000, £87,000, and £89,000, and during the present year the liabilities already incurred are such, especially in respect of lunatic asylums, school buildings, and the printing office at Wellington, that the expenditure will have to be about £109,000. It is proposed, however, to materially reduce the expenditure out of loan on this class of works during the following three years, the amounts proposed being respectively £69,700, £26,000, and £7,600. The total amount allocated for public buildings during the four years is thus £212,410, of wdiich departmental buildings, including the Wellington printing office and the Auckland departmental offices, will absorb £40,000; judicial buildings, including the gaols at Auckland and Wellington, £34,550; lunatic

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