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provided under the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act. On the three roads mentioned 15 miles 30 chains have been felled, stumped, and cleared; 6 miles 46 chains of this has been formed as a sft.—in some parts 6ft.—bridle-road, including 984 lineal feet of culverts, 30 chains of drains, and nine bridges of a total length of 199 ft., the bridges being built of heart wood of rimu, and estimated to last ten or twelve years, before which time the road will be widened, and cart-bridges erected. The work was done by settlers on the block and local applicants for work, and was let in fairly small contracts under the co-operative system. Oxford Association Block (Vote, £350; expenditure, £495 9s. Bd.). —6 miles 22 chains of the Mangaopa, Te Wera, and Mohakau Boads within this block have been felled, stumped, and cleared to usual widths, the work being done by the special settlers themselves, or those holding lands in adjoining blocks, under the co-operative-contract system. Some contracts are now in hand for bridle formation and culverting. Upper Waitara Block, Uruti Boad (Vote, £126 ; expenditure, £62 lis. 6d.). —86 chains of this road has been felled, stumped, and cleared, and 80 chains has been formed as a sft. bridle-road, by the settlers whose lands abut on it. The expenditure was from moneys raised under the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act, the whole loan being expended. The contracts were under the co-operative system. Milsom Block (Vote, £1,000 ; expenditure, £1,387 7s. Bd.). —The year's work within this special settlement consisted in felling, stumping, and clearing 479 chains of the Matau and Mangaoapa Eoads ; also forming as a 6ft. bridle-road 462 chains, including 874 lineal feet of culverts. Some more bridle-road formation and culverting is required to give access to the furthest outlying sections, but this has to be deferred, the authorities received for the work having been exhausted. Lepperton Block (Vote, £500; expenditure, £535 3s. 7d.). —Within the block the Mimi Eoad has been felled, stumped, and cleared a length of four miles and a quarter ; grass-seed has been sown to bind the low or wet places, and is effecting that object in a very satisfactory manner. Dray-road formation and culverting, including draining, is now being done in connection with the formation of other parts of the Mimi Eoad by co-operative labour. A bridge will be erected over the Mimi Eiver this year, and flood-openings constructed in places where culverts would be ineffectual. About one mile -and -three quarters of the Gilbert Eoad into the block from Pukearuhe was opened up as a bridle-road, to facilitate the packing-in of food-supplies to settlers and workmen, grass-seed, &c, whilst the Mimi Eoad is being constructed. The whole of the work within the block has been done by the settlers under the co-operative-contract system. Mangaotuku Block (Vote, £500; expenditure, £376 12s. 7d.). —In continuation of the work on the Mangaotuku Eoad, mentioned in last year's annual report, a further length of 118 chains of 6ft. bridle-road has been finished, including the logging and stumping through the clearings; also the necessary culverts. The work will be resumed when the loan moneys are being expended in opening roads through the Eltham, Gatton, and Terrace End Special Settlements in the Mangaotuku Block. Kaitangiiohenua Block, Bawhitiroa Boad (Vote, £300; expenditure, £1,375). —This road when complete will form an inland connection between Eltham and Waitotara Boad, and may possibly extend eventually to the Wanganui Eiver about Pipiriki, the route lying from Eltham by way of the Anderson Eoad to Patea Eiver, thence through the Matemateonga and Kaitangiwhenua Blocks to Waitotara Boad; the distance between Eltham and Waitotara being about forty-three miles. Of this distance, ten miles of the Anderson Boad will be open as a dray-road about June or July, and the work is being pushed on from the Waitotara end by way of Bawhitiroa Boad. The Bawhitiroa Eoad is being felled, stumped, and cleared the usual width, and a bridle-road sft. wide in the solid is being formed. On the 31st March eight miles of the road, including 485 lineal feet of culverts and four bridges of a total length of 135 ft., had been made, and a further 1 mile 50 chains was let and in progress. There remains, however, about thirteen miles and a half of the road to fell and form through the Kaitangiwhenua Block (Crown lands), and about eleven miles and a half through Matemateonga and Tutaiariari Blocks (private lands bought from Natives). The road will give access to a large portion of the Crown lands in the Kaitangiwhenua Block, including the three large special settlements—Whenuakura, Moeawatea, and Kaitangiwhenua —selected within the block. The work is done in small contracts by co-operative-contract labour. Opaku Kapara Block, Okahutiria-Mataimoana and Weraweraonga Boads. — (Vote, £830 ; expenditure, £186). —These roads lead to and give access to over 18,000 acres of Crown land in Blocks XII. and XVL, Opaku, and Blocks V., IX., XIII., Kaipara, inland of Waverley and Waitotara, a large portion of which is now being occupied. During the year, 3 miles 32 chains of the Okahutiria and Mataimoana Eoads, and 1 mile 69 chains of Weraweraonga Eoad, have been felled, stumped, and cleared the usual widths, and a sft. bridle-road formed. Two contracts are still in hand, of about one mile and a half in length, and will be finished in May. Stratford-Ongaruhe, Ohura Boad (Votes, £11,000, £2,500, and £2,500; expenditure, £6,499 18s. 9d.). —In continuation of the engineering survey in hand last year, under Mr. A. L. Scaly, a further length of four miles was made — namely, to the proposed bridgecrossing of the Tangarakau Stream. Here, however, it had to stop temporarily, owing to lateness cf season, the difficulty of getting supplies to surveyor being too great. It is proposed to recommence and complete this survey, joining on to Mr. C. W. Hursthouse's survey at Heao, early in spring. The dray-road formation through Pohukura Block and down the Makahu Valley has been continued by co-operative-contract labour. 151 chains of felling, stumping, and clearing, also 6 miles 27 chains of dray-road formation, including 2,481 lineal feet of culverts, has been finished during the year. About three miles of this work was of a very heavy nature, the whole width of the formation having to be cut out of the solid papa-rock, the cross-section of the ground varying from 50 to 80 degrees. By the 31st March, a continuous dray-road was completed, and being used for traffic to two miles within the Taumatamahoe Block, a distance of three miles and a half from Stratford, and a further three miles and a half was under contract and in progress. Of the eight