Turning now to the expenditure of the year, the papar that has been laid upon the table will show the items on which the Estimates havebeon exceeded, and also, those on which the amounts remain' unexpended. The largest of theae arc £1000 for improving the Porirua Road — a work that is now in progress; £1500 for the Forty Mile Bush Road, which sum will no longer be required, on account of the 'works that the General Govern ment propose to undertake ; £1041 2s, which yet remains unexpended on the Road from Rangitikei to Wanganui, but of which a large portion will be required for existing contracts and Grants-in-aid, the demand* on which fund have been £4,798 lla less than the amount which the Council appro priated for this service. Then there is the Wan ganui Wharf which is now in progress and be sides several smaller items, the sum of £2,001 7s remains to the credit ot Contingencies. Upon the items Immigration and Patent Slip, but small sums have been expended, the one being almost entirely a paying out of sums previously deposited by friends, and the other the fees and exponsos of a consulting engineer, whose services the Govern ment were able to secure. There is also a sura of £542 10s representing 1085 acres of land awarded by the Compensation Committee, but not yet ap« plied for. Under the head ol items expended in excess of Estimates, it is to be regretted that the Welling ton Gaol appears for no less than £333 I6s6d, but when it is remembered that the average number of prisoners has more than doubled, this will scavcely excite surprise. Scarcely less regret, though of a different kind, will be felt by seeing that the daraage t done to the Hutt Bridge during the last winter, entailed upon the Province an ex pense of £1062 19s 2d. Under the head Custom House and Post Office there ia also an excess of £938 llsß i, which calls for some remark. The wdole expenditure for the year under this heading amounts to £1408 lls Bd, which is thus made up — for Free Store or Good's Shed £351, Landing Waiter and Wharfinger's Offices, £158 os, the balance having been principally expended upon the Time Ball and apparatus. 