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He entered a plea of " Guilty," and was fined. Several persons have been threatened with prosecution, but the threat has had the desired effect, and the nuisances have been abated. Same of the hotels in the outlying parts of the district are in a shocking state, and others are far from satisfactorj-. Representations have been made to the Licensing Committees calling their attention to the necessity of having , alterations and repairs carried out. A very watchful eye has to be kept to prevent the erection of slum buildings provided with insufficient air-space, and I have had to interfere to prevent the erection of some buildings on an insufficient curtilage, and to insist on the restriction of others the completion of which in accordance with the original design would have traversed section 352 of " The Municipal Corporations Act, 1900," and section 12 of the Municipal Corporations Amendment Act. I regret that some of the local authorities are not sufficiently alive to the necessity of insisting on a sufficient air-space, and 1 have to reiterate my demands more than once to get them to act in this important matter. Napier. In my previous reports I have alluded to the cleanliness and sanitary excellence of this borough. It is sufficient to say that it has in no way deteriorated during the past year, and continues to be a credit to the inhabitants who have interested themselves in its sanitary welfare, and an example to many larger centres in other parts of the world. The work of connecting houses with the sewer is being proceeded with as fast as circumstances will permit, and the plumbers and drain-layers in the town are kept fully employed. The nightcart is being rapidly improved off the street, but I regret to say that it still pursues its unsavoury if restricted path. * In this connection Mr. Archer, the Sanitary Surveyor and Engineer to the Napier Borough Council, writes in reply to my inquiry: — " Napier Borough Council, Overseer's and Sanitary Surveyor's Office, "Deak Sir,— " Napier, Bth April, 1907. "In answer to your letter of the 2nd instant, I have the honour to inform you that between the Ist April, 1906, and the 31st March, 1907, there were 185 connections with the sewers. On the 31st March there were 77 houses to instal the W.C. system. Of the 77 houses left to instal W.C.s, 17 will have to have new main sewers laid before they can connect, and about 14 of them have taken out permits to do the work, and it is now in hand. " I estimate that it will take three months to get the premises that can connect finished, and about five months before all are completed " Tours faithfully, "James Archeb, Sanitary Surveyor." The reclamation of the swamp is nearly completed, and it is estimated that by next August the ground will be surveyed, cut up into building-sites and small farms, and offered for sale. The opening-up of this land "will act as a safety-valve for Napier, and do much to help to relieve the congestion that is fast becoming acute. The removal of the weir that was erected by the syndicate to aid in the reclamation will create a danger with the effluent of the Napier drainage. The river is a tidal one, and the sewage will be carried up when the tide is in flood, and deposited on the banks left by the ebb tide in the vicinity of dwellings. It is imperative in the interests of public health that the effluent be treated before being allowed to enter the river. I have written to the Borough Council pointing out the danger, and recommending that the advice of a sanitary engineer be taken. My letter has been referred to the Sanitary Committee to report on, but though the Committee has met, it does not appear to have devoted any attention to the matter, and no report has been issued. I shall bring this matter to the notice of the Council again, and insistently, as I feel confident that apathy will be severely punished by an augmentation of cases of typhoid and possibly diphtheria; that Napier will find that the light of other days has not quite faded ; and that there will be outcry from the ratepayers that, notwithstanding the augmentation of the rates for sanitary advancement, there is still so much preventable disease in their midst, with the unwelcome trouble and expense that it A deplorable example of "man, proud man, dressed in a little brief authority" occurred during the year The meter that was attached to the Lands Office registered a larger amount of water than could possibly have passed through the pipe. The Council insisted on charging for the amount of water that the meter registered, and the Lands Office as obstinately refused to pay Ihe Council then cut the water off, and as a consequence closets and urinals remained unflushed. The matter was referred to me, and I wrote to the Council pointing out that it was the duty of a local authority to abate, not create, a nuisance, with the result that the water was restored for a short time, when it was again cut off. This culminated in a Supreme Court action, in which the Council came oft second-best. . . . , ~ In Napier and other centres I have been able to effect some improvement in food-delivery. The wrapping of meat in newspaper or second-hand paper is prohibited, and the returning of bread from the houses of customers is not permitted. I regret that milk is still delivered in the old objectionable method of baling it out at the customers' doors. I have written to the Borough Council repeatedly, but the same-reply to my communications, "Received, comes with dreary monotony. As stated by you in the last annual report, the consumers have much to blame themselves for They are careless as to the manner in which they receive the milk; and as long as the milk-suppliers please their customers their ends are accomplished. When the public are alive to the importance of clean milk, properly delivered, we shall have a change m the present method, but not till then.