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occupation license, and at the end of some of the leases he cannot take back his land. By looking at the dairy list we find that there are double the number of milkers in this district than in any other; thus we must make provision for these young men who are willing to become dairy-farmers. The time has passed for kid-glove business ;we must do justice to the Maori and his wants. There is no use of beating about the bush if we are sincere in trying to prolong the existence of the race. We must do more than merely writing reports ; we must look at the question in a just, practical, and unbiassed way, carrying out every promise, settling the land question, as all the sanitary and useful reforms rest on the solution of this great problem. It is hoped that the present Native Land Commission, which is doing such good work, will inquire into the requirements of the Taranaki Maoris. Short leases to Europeans would benefit these Natives for the time being till Te Whiti dies and all the Natives return to their own homes. Then we must encourage the Maori to work by seeing that he has sufficient lands for dairying and other pursuits. When we give him every opportunity to better himself like the pakeha, I am sure the constant outbreaks of infectious diseases, the poverty, the misery, the insanitary conditions of the Maori home will disappear as the dew before the noonday sun. TOHUNGAS. We have long waged war against tohungas. Every year brings a new crop of these pests. This undesirable state will continue until the Maori mind has been thoroughly educated to see the absurdities of tobungaism and until a death-certificate is required with the death of every Maori. The compulsory registration of births and deaths has been too often referred to in our previous reports for us to take any more trouble with the question. There is such a thing as being tired. White women and men have posed as seers amongst the Maoris, and the Maori truly say, " Why, the pakeha themselves believe in these supernatural powers; you must be wrong, and are only saj'ing these things because they are against you doctors." I know a white woman, a charlatan, who can diagnose, prognose, and prescribe for a case just by a lock of hair. She made a lot of money out of the poor Natives. The only way I could demonstrate to the Maoris the deception of this woman was by borrowing a lock of hair from a certain Native's dog. I sent the Native with the lock of hair, and she forthwith wanted £5 for some medicine she had to cure an oncoming attack of paralysis. That was two years ago, and I believe my' Maori friend's dog is still wagging his tail, but my lady of the huruhuru is minus one of her followers. 1 know several pakehas who are practising all kinds of incredible things among the Maoris. Of course, you cannot prosecute unless they render themselves liable by some criminal action. All you can do is to try and scare them by bluffing. Hikapuhi and Rua have been the two most prominent figures in the tohunga business this year. Hikapuhi had a religious sort of ceremony mixed with a great deal of the three-star eau-de-vie variety to cure her patients with. Little children attending schools were made to wear small narrow bottles filled with brandy next their skins. From these they frequently took nips during the recesses. This craze has become very popular, becaitse the wine is blessed by the Divinity. The consequenco of this is that old inebriates have taken to drinking again, and many of those who never drank do so now religiously. We prosecuted several of Hikapuhi's followers for supplying liquor to Maori women, but I think the matter should be attacked at the fountain-head. The Rua craze has been taken up by the Hauhau section of our population. His influence has been productive of indolence, mistrust of the pakeha, the stopping of children from going to school, the stopping of cultivation, huddling in camps, the enticing of Natives to desert their homes, the selling of their goods in order to get money for their " prophet " —in fact, the utter disorganization of all things pertaining to a well-regulated kainga. These poor Natives believe that a flood is soon coming; consequently, in some parts of Ruatoki a path has been made to the mountains, so as to give them easy access to safety when the deluge occurs. The flood, by the way, is to sweep all the pakehas out of existence Attached you will find the statements from the Native Sanitary Inspectors. I will again recommend to you the scheme of having Homes for aged Maoris. In conclusion, I may say that the sympathy, tolerance, and careful adjusting of our men has proved successful in dealing with Maori matters. Our feeble efforts have been rewarded by radical changes in the Maori kaingas. The future, weighted with great possibilities, awaits us. And now ends the report of our frail endeavours in fostering and rebuilding the Maori, in giving light amid the glooms of a mysterious destiny. I have, &c, Maui Pomabe, M.D., Health Officer to the Maoris. Dr. J. M. Mason, Chief Health Officer, Wellington. $ IR) Ohinemutu, Bay of Plenty, 7th May, 1907. Salutations to thee. I have the honour to submit my report for this year. The first question I want to deal with is that of the tohunga, and his methods of treatment of the Maori patient. This subject was brought up in last year's report. The tohungas have been busy, but so have we. The doings of such men ought to be prohibited in every part of the colony. This is a great subject to be dealt with by all the Sanitary Inspectors, because they are coming continually in contact with tohungas. These tohungas often delude patients, and so prevent them from consulting qualified men. This plague of tohungaism I have found to have spread to the four quarters, even to Ngapuhi, Waikato, Hawke's Bay, the West Coast, and Wairarapa. There was a woman, 'who in 1905 toured the district of Ngatitoa and Ngatiraukawa. She went to Hastings, and even reached Gisborne. Many chiefs aided her in her work. She even came to the Arawa district, and sent forth a proclamation to bring the lame, halt, and blind to bathe in the Pools of Siloam.' She said she was not a tohunga, but a nurse —" she could cure all." When she was fairly established I discovered that hor remarkable cures were but fables, and that the name "nurse" was only a cloak to hide the preposterous doings of both her and her apostles. At a meeting of my