G.—2a

8

is far less drinking amongst them, and a more general desire to improve their condition. It is to be hoped that the men in authority in this district will see the advantage of assisting this intelligent group of Natives in the good work of helping themselves. Te Wairoa School-house. This school has been built eleven years. The roof is out of repair, and the room too small for the attendance. There is no special provision for ventilation, no latrines, and no lavatory. The daily average attendance is sixty, and the dimensions of the school, 30 + 20 + 9 -*- 60 — 90 cubic feet per head. The children are unusually healthy. At a very small outlay this school might be put into a satisfactory condition. It is an important and well-conducted school, and deserves attention. Arild, Near Rotomahana. Here dwell some twenty-five of the Tnhourangi; they are abundantly supplied with food, and have no sick. Ilorohoro. This settlement is fifteen miles from Rotorua, at the foot of the Horohoro Mountain. The Natives belong to the tribes Ngatituara and Ngatikea, and number about sixty. They are in good health, In the way of food, they have plenty of pigs and potatoes, and obtain pigeons and kakas from the bush. They have some well cultivated land at Tarewa, close to Ohinemutu, where they are to be found in planting and harvest seasons. At present Tarewa is deserted. Summary. The diseases from which the Natives of this district chiefly suffer are :—(1) Pulmonary affections, which include bronchitis, bronchial catarrh, bronchial asthma, and phthisis of the pneumonic rather than the tubercular type. (2) Scrofulous disease, affecting the glands, the bones, and the skin. (3) Acute and chronic rheumatism. (4) Fever, of the typhoid type. (5) Chronic constipation. (6) Venereal diseases, including syphilis and gonorrhoea, but in a far less degree than they are generally credited with. (7) A form of ophthalmia peculiar to the Maoris. (8) A parasitic skin disease known as ake-ake, also peculiar to the race. In my opinion, the production, the severity, and the spread of these diseases are determined by two main factors : first, the influence of the wharepuni ; and secondly, the consumption of putrid food. Compared with these two gigantic evils, alcohol is nowhere. Were there no wharepunis, I believe the Maori would be a successful rival of his European neigh hour in sobriety and industry ; but with his blood vitiated by the foul air of these hot-beds of disease he has neither strength nor inclination to work, and it would be odd indeed if he had no craving for stimulants. lam inclined to credit the wharepuni with more than half the infant mortality. Not only is the child injured directly by this devitalizing influence, but indirectly through the mother, whose milk is diminished in quantity and impoverished in quality by the same cause. I believe the growing intelligence of the rising generation of Maoris has already checked the rapid decadence of the race. I believe, too, that these evils will gradually die out, and we shall find the Native population increasing pari passa. In the meantime, I think it useless to attempt to teach them elementary physiology and the laws of health from books, or viva voce only ; everything in this direction should be taught by experiment. I have found it impossible by any amount of talk to make a Maori understand that air is a substantial entity. They cannot see it, and so are unable to conceive of it; whereas, by a few simple experiments, its qualities and various relations to animal and vegetable life might be demonstrated to them. The consumption of putrid food, of course, tends to confirm and intensify the influence of the wharepuni. The Natives, fortunately, are beginning to discover, from their own observation, that much rotten potato and stinking corn means much pain and disfigurement from boils, skin disease, and strumous abscesses, and they are gradually discontinuing the habit. That it will die out long before the wharepuni I think certain. I have, &c, Alfred Cinders, The Sanatorium Rotura, 19th May, 1885.

No. 9. Mr. Thos. Lambert, Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, to the Hon. Native Minister. (No. 85/1646.) Sir, — Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, Ist May, 1885. In obedience to instructions contained in Circular No. 6, dated 20th April, I have the honour to transmit, through Captain Preece, E.M., Native Agent for the Hawke's Bay District, the following report on the sanitary state of the Natives in this part of the Provincial District. Though never defined, I presume my district comprises the County of Wairoa. During the year ended 31st March, I supplied medicines gratis to 178 Natives, many of whom were assisted more than once. The affections were varied, from simple catarrh to typhoid fever. Fourteen deaths have been reported to me, but I have reason to believe the actual mortality exceeded the number given. In all these cases, but one, typhoid of a very low type was the cause of death, the exception being a case of disease of the hip joint. Careful observation of the Natives during the last nine years leads me to conclude that the mortality rate is much higher than has ever been suspected, and is rapidly increasing, each succeeding generation being constitutionally inferior to the one precedimg it. In fact the majority of the younger Natives (up to 30 for instance), have quite lost the grand physique of the old men and women who may still be met with, full of vigour, and disease-resisting capabilities. The younger Natives are exceedingly subject to