H.—2

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in their season, including pigeons [these are very fond of the miro-berries], kaka, tui, bell-birds, and most of the small birds, except tits, which are scarcer. The warblers (riroriro) are more plentiful, noticeably so, and probably because the long-tailed cuckoo (koekoea,) [which is parasitical in its breeding habits, and ousts the young riroriro to make room for its own eggs] has not patronised my place for the last year or two." Flowering-trees and shrubs and berry-bearing trees are plentiful, and the honey-eatmg birds, such as the bell-bird and the tui, find abundant food. In March of this year, reports the custodian the flax was loaded with flowers and honey. The kakapo feed on mapou and other berries, and also on the honey of the rata-blossoms, &c. It is a matter for regret that excursionists on schooners and other vessels have been m the habit of destroying birds on Resolution Island and other localities in the Sounds. The heads of the Sounds and the wooded islands are natural preserves, and will continue to afford shelter and food for native birds when some of the rarer species are extinct on the mainland. The birds in these localities are often exceedingly tame, and no true sportsman would think of shooting them. The coast-line of Resolution is so large that the custodian cannot patrol it all, and it appears to be desirable in the interests of our native-bird life that some regulation should be brought into force to prohibit excursionists and others taking guns with them when visiting Dusky Sound, and, m fact any of the other Sounds and islands within the bounds of the Fiordland National Park. 'During the last ten years Mr. Henry has kept a record of the rainfall at Pigeon Island-one of the wettest places in New Zealand. The rainfall has sometimes been as much as 31 in. in the month; the wettest recorded month last year was November, when 22| in. of rain fell.

APPENDIX 11. Sir — REPORT OF GOVERNMENT BALNEOLOGIST. I have the honour to submit my report for the year ending the 31st March, 1905. Arthur S. Wohlmann, Government Balneologist. The Superintendent, Department of Tourist and Health Resorts. Durino' the past year, while no fresh constructive work of any magnitude has been attempted, yet several minor new"baths have been erected and old ones improved, so that all the spas belonging to the Department are in considerably better order than heretofore. For the convenience of visitors and of medical men who may wish to send patients to one ot the Government spas, I have written guide-books dealing with the use of the mineral waters at Rotorua, Te Aroha, and Hanmer, which are being distributed gratis by the Department. Rotorua. While from a variety of causes the season has not been as good as had been anticipated yet this resort undoubtedly continues to grow in favour, and perhaps the most striking feature of the year has been the unmistakable manner in which Rotorua as a spa has outgrown its equipment. This has been evidenced both at the baths and at the Sanatorium. It is not merely that the number of bathers is much greater than formerly, but a higher standard of treatment, involving the use of more complex apparatus, is expected, and a much higher standard of comfort is demanded by the public, so that the machinery which could easily cope with the work five years ago is to-day hopelessly inadequate. r The Baths. The decision of the Government to proceed at once with the erection of a large portion of the new baths will be hailed with satisfaction by the ever-increasing number of visitors to Rotorua. The nortion to be erected will comprise by far the most expensive section of the whole, but, while involving a considerable expenditure on first construction, there will be a real economy in maintenance for owing to the state of decay into which the old baths have fallen, and the generally makeshift nature of the appliances now in use, the expense for upkeep and repair has been unduly heavy, and this expenditure is hardly likely to decrease so long as the existing buildings are Utlll Tn'spite of the fact that the past year has been a bad tourist season, yet there has been an increase in the bath receipts on any previous year, though naturally, as compared with the phenomenal rise of last year, the increase has been only slight. In some direc ions indeed notably at the Pavilion Baths, which are most of all in need of reconstruction, and where the baths are most uninviting, there has been a distinct retrogression. The recent purchase by the Government of twenty porcelain baths, which can be used at the Pavilion Baths pending the completion of the new buildings, will do much to restore this establishment to public favour. The total receipts at the baths have increased by nearly £450, the bulk of which, however, has been made up by the increased revenue from massage and from the sac of Te Aroha water. Since this water has been aerated its sale has been quadrupled, and I would strongly advise the similar treatment of an iron, an iodine, and a purgative saline water. Bath receipts: 1904, £2,464 Ob. Bd. ; 1905, £2,910 7s. Bd.