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Works. —The principal works carried out in the various districts during the year are as follows : In the Whangarei district activities were again mainly centred on the furtherance of the five-year bridge programme. Twelve bridges and six large culverts were completed, the total length being 1,485 ft. A further length of 1,904 ft. is in hand. The principal formation work was the construction and culverting of a 2\ mile deviation as an eastern approach to the Tangiteroria Bridge. When this is metalled, a section subject to severe flooding will be eliminated from the Whangarei-Dargaville State Highway. Three miles of reconstruction and sealing and 3f miles of maintenance sealing were carried out. In the northern division of the Auckland district (now No. 2a Highway District), work has been chiefly of a maintenance character, including making up arrears due to war conditions and military traffic. Although difficulty has been experienced in obtaining chips, an effort has been made to keep up the resealing programme on both State and main highways, and, including plant-mix surfacing, a total of 44 miles has been accounted for. Two and a half miles of new work was also carried out. Two concrete bridges aggregating 215 ft. are in hand, several others being held up on account of shortage of steel. Two miles of footpaths have been constructed. In No. 2b (Hamilton) District the supply of materials has been very limited and little sealing was done until towards the end of the season. However 2J miles of new and 23| miles of maintenance surfacing were carried out. The \ mile of approaches to the Otorohanga Overbridge received a priming-coat. Two bridges totalling 154 ft. and two large culverts were constructed. In Te Awamutu Borough the traffic-filter, a modified " roundabout," which has been under trial and discussion for some considerable time, has been put in hand in its final form. In the Tauranga district, 9 miles of resealing was done, and the metalling of the 5 mile clay gap on the Rotorua-Tauranga (direct) Highway commenced, 2 miles of base course being completed. Twenty-seven chains of concrete cycle-track was laid in Tauranga Borough. The Gisborne district reports considerable damage to highway foundations from shrinkage cracks, due to the drought experienced during the summer. This has resulted in numerous irregularities in sealed surfaces and an increased development of corrugations. Four miles of surfaces have been resealed. Flood-damage repairs have been carried out, and two small bridges replaced by culverts. At the Mangahauini Conservation Block 91,000 trees were planted out. Twenty-one chains of footpath was constructed at Tokomaru Bay; In the Napier district one of the principal works has been the reconditioning, widening, and sealing of the Devil's Elbow section, necessitated by the heavy flood damage sustained in 1944, and the reconstruction of the Esk Bridge - Whirinaki length, which was destroyed in the same flood. A 160 ft. concrete bridge with 40 chains of approaches was constructed at Eskdale. The Tangoio afforestation project was adopted by the Board, in conjunction with the Soil Conservation Council, to prevent serious damage to the State highways during heavy rains. A large number of trees were planted on the 400 acres resumed, but the drought which followed killed about 75 per cent, of them. Further planting is being undertaken this season.

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