and that it only rises to an extreme ftttitudffof ■SOOft,',- against nbout 3,300 ft. on the inland line. These advan tages.cpnsiderablv putweigh jipse of all i other'routes, as well'as it* own disMvaa tages, viz.>. great ..difficulty pf construc tion." The report fustier shows thaf'the total length 1 from' Chri'stbhuroti to Pieton by way of .thp/ooast line— viz., by Wai para, Cheviot,' Parnassus, Kaikoura, and Blenheim-is 215 miles, and that the dis tanoe by the inland line-viz.; by Amuri, Upper Clarence,, Tophouse, and Wairau YaUey to Blenheim is 245 miles, showing 30 miles-more. Mr Blah's final remarks on the whole question are as follows •— "In my report of 1879 1 showed that the dlr ??t sea , route from Lyttelton to Wel lingtoif is J hp longer than the 1 shortest

raitway'rftute between Gbristohnroh and T'u^m, and that when the passage from jfi ictbh tosWjpsgton^is^ftllojf;eif <%, tjft balande of^Hime'in favor- of .the railway; only, amounts: to^an' hour an a ; half. r-Thei respective |timea' were calculated at fonr- ; teea and $, half; and sixteen hours. ' By making thjj works somewhat heavier than originally.';, contemplated, and running express, 'tlie time m the former case could be redrioM.to twelve hours; but, - on the other handj- the fast steamers now eomin|-liofthff"oolony<ean'makethe pas sage from. Lyttelton to Wellington m fdu.rteenr.npA™ m P^de.^f'^ealhlrJ' It is therefore of the greatest importance that the r&ilway^hoald be>made as-shorfc and level as possible, j In.conseqnence of the height,*?' be .'oywdom>) as well as the additional distance to be travelled, the time by the Parnassus.'Ainuri diversion cotoriof 6e;.lfsl thaa thirteen hdura, ahd by thelnland ; line not lass than fourteen hours. (''From the foregoing : remarks it will be seen; tha^he selection of tbi.tontq to be adopted m extending., the main tru l nk l t ! rku\fay ) is''n'aVrbVred' down the -"quettioij'fasito WhetheV:the lide'is Intended' to swerve tho Middle Island alone br^o form a Hak;n the connection bptweon the' two.ends of the colony. ' My previous repiort.ish'owa that' the. 