27

D.— 2b

4. There are no fences except private ones. 5. All the platforms, except one, have new concrete fronts. All the buildings are in good condition and well looked after, tank-stands and windmills good , privies and urinals clean , posts and other timber of loading-banks and cattle-pens in many cases going at ground, cattle-pens renewed in iron rails, sidings are all 401b. rails, well ballasted, but sleepers not equal to the main line, cottages very good and neatly kept. 6. Mile-posts good. Eangitata to Timaeu (25 Miles) 1. The formation is good, many of the banks have been widened. 2. Bails are 531b. steel, very good, ballast and sleepers are very good, and the line is in excellent running trim. 3. Twelve open culverts of 10ft. span or over have been rebuilt in concrete and ironbark, others of this kind are renewed with ironbark piles and beams and caps. Of the larger bridges, many have the piles more or less decayed, and caps and some beams of matai are judged better to be removed these are to be rebuilt in their turn before long. A few in the original totara timber are still sound. The Orari Bridge has had extensive renewals in ironbark , the same is the case with the Temuka and Opihi Bridges, which are in good condition, although more renewals will have to be done from time to time. Two bridges near Washdyke, of the original timber, are in good condition, and two overbridges are also good. 4. There is not much fencing , what there is is in fair condition, a few of the posts being halfrotten and all pretty old. Cattle-stops are generally in good condition, most of them are renewed in ironbark beams, two or three have concrete walls, the rest have sills, more or less old, but in fair condition. Signboards and gates are good. 5. Orari Station is in good condition, platform concrete and asphalt, and all buildings and cottages in good repair Winchester has good tank-stand , goods-shed in good condition, though some of the floor-piles are gone a bit, good platform of timber and asphalt. Cattle-pen had some posts gone at ground, it is repaired with iron rails , tank-stand good, but posts gone a little, rain-water service in good order Temuka has new concrete platform, and everything in good repair Seatown has loading bank in concrete, and all buildings in good repair, platform, timber, front very good. At Timaru a large number of various kinds of buildings —viz., station-building, goods-shed, engine-shed, blacksmiths' shop and forges, stores, carpenters' shop, with tools and benches, fitting shop, plumbers' shop, paint shop, office of Inspector of Permanent Way, coal-store, permanent-way store, locomotive foreman's house, are all in very good condition, although one or two are getting very old. Weigh-bridge, signal-box, signals, turntable, water stand-pipes, traverser pit, outside pits, all good and well kept. All privies and urinals on this section good and clean. Several platelayers and stationmasters' cottages neat and good. Tinwald-Mount Somees Bkanch (28 Miles) 1. Formation in good condition. 2. There are twenty-three and a quarter miles of 401b. steel rails, and four miles and a quarter of 401b. iron , the steel rails are in very good condition, the iron rails have good fish-plates, and are in good condition. The first eight miles the sleepers have a large number half-rotten or dosed, after that they are better, and best towards the end. Ballast is good, but there are many places where the road wants more of it, and a few parts of the line are weedy The line is kept in fine running trim —that is, the rails are straight and joints level, one ballast siding is in good condition. 3. The bridge over the Ashburton left branch is entirely of kauri, and in excellent preservation. Bridge 244 is all ironbark, and very good, and 244 ais concrete and ironbark, also very good. A large number of small bridges are in concrete, with mostly ironbark beams, though a few have still the original totara beams , one open culvert is burnt, and being rebuilt in concrete. 4. There are only eight miles of fencing, mostly iron standards and wire, in good condition. A few cattle-stops have concrete walls, and all but two have been renewed with ironbark beams , sills and frames are old but good. There are a few gates in good condition. 5. All buildings, cottages, station-houses, goods-sheds, are in very good preservation. A few platforms have concrete fronts, others have them in timber, and good loading-banks. Posts of cattle-pens, with the posts of one tank-stand, show in places signs of decay, some of the loadingbanks have been repaired in concrete, one or two must be repaired very soon. Cattle-pens are repaired with iron rails and in good order. At Springburn the termination platform has a concrete front. Shelter-shed and goods-shed very good. Loading-bank of concrete. Engine-shed, coal-store, high tank-stand, rain-water supply, all in good condition. All privies and urinals very good and clean. Washdyke to Faielie Bbanch (35 Miles) 1 Formation in good order. 2. The rails are 26 miles 55 chains of 401b. iron, with good fish-plates, and nine miles and a-half of 401b. steel. The iron rails are fairly good, though some are worn, scaled, or bashed at ends. The line is clean and kept in good running trim The ballast is rough and coarse in places, and somewhat scanty There are a good few rotten sleepers, but on the whole the sleepers are pretty good. Heavy engines are not run on this line on account of the light rails. 3. Bridge 261 has totara piles, kauri caps and trusses, several top chords and diagonals are new