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Office. —The total expenditure) of all kinds which passed through the books was £212,582. Of this amount tho sum of £73,295, in payment of wages, &c, was paid out of Thames anel Whakatane Imprest Accounts. Payments through the, Auckland branch of the Treasury amounted to £90,133. The number of pieoework contracts let during the year amounted to 324. The number of vouchesrs passed through the books was 4,229. The total amount of revenue received during the year (apart from rates) was £2,823 Os. 2d., the; principal item being Patetonga tram freights, £621 17s. 2d. Inward correspondence numbered 8,980, outward 13,440. Collection of Rates. —The! total amount received during tho year was £.11,138, apportioned as follows: Hauraki Plains, £7,698; Rangitaiki Swamp, £3,440. A reclassification of the Hauraki Plains area was made; esarly in the year, and the 1923-24 rates we;re> based thereon. Very few objections to this were received, thus showing the soundness of the new classification. By an amendment of tho Act provision has been made for. a reclassification of the Rangitaiki area. The; total number of assessments maele for the year 1923-24 was 1,461. Draughting Staff. —During the: year the draughting staff have been kept very busy. The groat amount of field surveying, mainly m the Rangitaiki district, has occasioned much plan-work, computations, gemeral searching, anel the supply of considerable survey elata. Valuable 40-chain plots of the Rukuhia and Ruakura portions of the Hamilton Swamp areas have been made. In addition to this much work was done in the preparation of Proclamation plans and the drawing-up of any necessary agreements and other small matters incidental to the proclamation of land transactions under the different statutes. On the engineering side the staff has spent considerable! time on the chocking of various designs. and on the! designing of spillways, culverts, weyrs, drains, &c. The! lithograph maps of the various districts have been kept up to date, and a new map for the Rangitaiki district has been prepared. The photostat has been in great demand for the reproduction of plans for survey information, <fee. Approximately 3,500 prints have been made during the year, showing a great saving in labour and cost. The annual reports upon Hauraki Plains, Rangitaiki Plains, and swamp-elrainage works not referred to herein will be found in separate parliamentary papers.

APPENDIX IV.—SAND-DUNE RECLAMATION. (H. J. Lowe, Commissioner of Crown Lands, North Auckland.) DurliN'G the year sand-dune reclamation has been oarrieid on in three different localities —viz., on the! e;ast coast, between Waipu and Marsden Point; on the west coast, between South Kaipara Head and Motutara ;in the far north, between Waipapakauri and Hohoura. Work previously commenceel on the; Northern Kaipara area, at tho back of Te! Iveipuru, was not proceeded with further, though reports show that the lupin plantations previously established are progressing favourably. The expenditure on the various areas to date is as follows : Waipu, £2,345 Us. 4d. ; Kaipara, £2,432 9s. 2d.; Great Northern, £508 os. 9d. ; Northern Wairoa, £268 6s. 6d. I attach herewith a report on the work, by Mr. S. Stafford, Overseer in charge of the operations. Those works must bo olassed more; in the nature of an experiment, and if the work done is to bo protected anel proceeded with the trespassing by cattle and tho menace by fires will have to be dealt with. The Overseer is carrying out his work very satisfactorily with tho means at our disposal, but depasturing on the areas affected should be absolutely prohibited, and some method evolved to deal with the fire menace. Sir, — I have the honour to submit herewith the fifth annual report of the reclamation of the sand-dune areas. Operations were commenced in tho various localities at the following dates : Waipu, 11th August, 1919 ; Kaipara, 10th March, 1920; Ruakaka, 21st June, 1920 ; Northern Wairoa, 2nd May, 1921. The areas Were inspected as follows : Waiuku (south of Auckland), 9th November, 1921 ; Ocean Beach, Whangaroi Heads, 15th November, 1921; Waipapakauri and Hohoura, 15th March, 1922. Reclamation operations commenced at the. Groat Northern (Waipapakauri to Hohoura), September, 1921, by sowing 2 owt. of California tree-lupin seed, between Corcoran's land (inlanei drift) and Stony Crossing, in the vicinity eif the; " Big Flat," and on 23rd May, 1922, 10 owt. 3 qr. 23 lb. of California tree-lupin seen! was sown, principally on coastal dune! areas, anel 103 sacks eif marramgrass plants were planted out.