H.-31

XIV

A plan similar to that followed by the butter-factories could be adopted. The suppliers could be credited with the value of their respective consignments, and accounts could be settled up weekly. Possibly a scheme of this nature must rest in the womb of time for a little longer unless fresh legislation be enacted, but come it must if milk is to retain its right to be regarded as a " natural fluid." There has lately been introduced a process by which the water can be removed from the milk without apparently causing any great in the chemical condition of the other constituents. Experiments are now being made with this " dried milk," and they promise to supportTthe claims made by the inventor. If this should be, this new process promises to revolutionise the whole milk-industry, more especially the manufacture of tinned and frozen milks. As was pointed out in my last report, the value of the Department is to be gauged not only by the actual number of sanitary schemes which it has brought about, but even more so by the control which it has exercised over local bodies which wished to embark upon unscientific and unworkable schemes. Apart from the powers given us under the Public Health Act, the great majority of local authorities do us the honour of asking our advice before undertaking schemes of drainage and water-supply. With the help of the Public Works Engineers we have been able to suggest in many instances improvements, and now and then it has been our unpleasant duty to utterly condemn the proposed schemes. Departmental Alterations. There have been several alterations made in the working of the Department. Dr. Makgill has been moved to Wellington, and Dr. Frengley, who had charge of the Marlborough, Nelson, and Westland Districts, has been stationed at Auckland. The changes were carefully considered, and will, lam certain, tend to the greater efficiency of the Department. In order that the control over the manufacturing of the vaccine lymph might be more immediate, you decided that a laboratory should be set up at headquarters. This, and the fact that there were many special lines of research necessary to be followed up in order that we might keep abreast of the times, were the reasons which required the removal of Dr. Makgill from a sphere of work in which he had done so much and with the very greatest acceptance to the people. The vaccine laboratory has been placed entirely under his control, and already he has engaged in a series of observations relative to the ventilation and sanitary arrangements in mines. Dr. Valintine has, as in the past, shared with me the responsibility in many difficult questions. His work in consequence has greatly increased, but the presence of Dr. Makgill in Wellington will enable him to continue that campaign in which he is so eminently successful—the conversion of local bodies. The pathological work done by Mr. Gilruth with the assistance of Mr. Reakes and Mr. Barker has largely increased. When the laboratary in connection with the Agricultural Department is in full working-order at Wallaceville, Mr. Gilruth will be able to carry on his important investigations with greater facility and comfort. Our laboratory will then be used entirely for examinations and experiments pertaining to the human animal. The interdependence of disease as between man and the lower animals is every day becoming more recognised ; and the notion that cancer, for example, in the cow, is a totally different disease from that as seen in man, is fast being relegated to the limbo of things that were. The Marlborough District has been placed under the control of Dr. Anderson, of Blenheim, the Westland District under Dr. C. Morice, of Greymouth, and it is proposed to appoint an officer to be stationed at Nelson. As, however, these gentlemen are only in receipt of a nominal salary, and engaged in private practice, special investigations and regular visits will be made by an officer from headquarters when occasion requires it. In this way, without additional expenditure, we shall be able to avail ourselves of Dr. Makgill's special knowledge without in any way interfering with the efficiency of the Department in the district recently vacated by Dr. Frengley, while he in turn will have a larger sphere of action for his undoubted knowledge of sanitary work in general. On Dr. Finch fell an unusually large share of work, as will be seen from my special report on the small-pox outbreak. The work in Hawke's Bay and Otago has been good. Dr. De Lisle has given much attention to field-work, and Dr. Ogston has had many opportunities of bringing to bear his great experience in preventative medicine, as witness his report upon the Mount Pisa outbreak of enteric fever. Dr. Pomare has been indefatigable in his work, and his influence for good among the Maoris is evident wherever one goes. The various Inspectors have done excellent work, and the appointment of Mr. McAlister has enabled the clerical work of the Department to be carried on without friction and with despatch. Sanitation among the Maoris. I have to chronicle with the greatest regret the death of Tamahau Mahupuku, a rangatira of the best and highest type. No one has done more for the physical salvation and safeguarding of the Maori