H.—2

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still about, but during the time the rata was flowering they were to be seen in hundreds. Bell birds and tuis are numerous, but I have only seen a few native thrushes; tits and fantails abound. During April the Government decided to withdraw the Custodian from Resolution Island, and Lieutenant Goldfinch accordingly left on the sth May.

APPENDIX 11. REPORT OF GOVERNMENT BALNEOLOGIST, ROTORUA. Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, Government Sanatorium, Rotorua, Sir,— 11th May, 1909. I have the honour to present my report for the year ending 31st March, 1909. New Bath Buildings. —These buildings were opened in August, 1908, on the date of the visit of the American Fleet, but, though formally opened, the baths were very far from completed, and were in nothing like working-order until December. A great many difficulties, some unexpected, but for the most part anticipated, were met with in pumping and conducting the acid mineral water. These difficulties led to a considerable expenditure both of labour and material, but they have now, I believe, been satisfactorily overcome by the use of lead-lined iron pipes and of rubber hose, and the cost of maintenance in the future should be very materially reduced. Mineral-water Supply. —The supply of " Priest" water from the new spring has proved most satisfactory, both as to quantity, quality, and temperature, and this spring will evidently suffice for all our needs, however much we increase our bathing establishment. The Spout Baths, Whakarewarewa. —The old and dilapidated Spout Baths have been replaced by a suite of four Spout and four Oil Baths, with waiting-rooms, dressing-rooms, attendant's room, and offices ; the whole housed in a substantial and picturesque building. The Sanatoiium. —ln spite of the additional wing which has been this year available, the pressure on the sanatorium beds has been as great as ever, and we have been unable to supply the demand for accommodation. In estimating the value of the treatment given at the sanatorium and baths, I would wish to particularly emphasize the point that this value cannot by any means be measured by the cash receipts. The greater part of the value is not shown in cash at all. Thus, the majority of cases treated at the sanatorium are those of chronic crippling disease —disease which utterly incapacitates a labouring man from manual work, and disease for which no similar adequate treatment is provided in any other hospital in the country. We will suppose a man of fifty crippled with rheumatism, and unable to earn his living: his actual cost of maintenance to the community can hardly be reckoned at less than £50 a year, and, in addition, the country loses his services as a worker; so that it is putting a very low valuation on his life to say that it is worth £500 to the community, or, in other words, that by restoring a worker of fifty to useful work we save the country at least £500 on a life of average length. Apart from the fifty-eight emergency or hospital cases, 182 patients were treated at the sanatorium during the past year, 155 of whom were so far improved as to be able to return to work, and of those a very large proportion would be men whose working lives might fairly be regarded as at least equal in value to the hypothetical case quoted above. The Emergency Wards have been busier than ever before, as they constitute the only substitute for a hospital in a very large district. It is quite obvious that these two small rooms and our make-shift operating outfit will not suffice much longer for the needs of a large and growing district, more especially as the sawmilling industry is firmly established and brings its inevitable accidents. i The Isolation Hospital, a make-shift and dilapidated structure, is certainly, in its present state, totally unfit for the purpose for which it is used. It needs either thorough renovation or rebuilding, and, serving as it does so large a district, it is seldom empt}' for long together. The question is one of real urgency. The Season. —As far as I can judge, the number of visitors to Rotorua has been greater than in any former year, and this, I think, may be attributed partly to increased bathing facilities, and partly to the completion of the Main Trunk line. Until, however, radical alterations are made in the time-table, so as to eliminate the intolerable delay at Frankton Junction for passengers to and from the south, we cannot possibly expect to reap the full benefit of the railway. Orchestra. —During the season an orchestra has been engaged by the Department to play in the gardens in the day and in the " pump-room "of the baths in the evening. I think that the provision of the music, by brightening up the place, has a good deal to do with the prolongation of " the season," and has indirectly kept up the bath receipts to a high figure right up to the time of writing (May). Nationality of Patients. The total number of new patients who consulted me for baths treatment, apart from the sanatorium, was 620. As far as can 'be ascertained, of these ninety-five came from Australia, forty from Great Britain, and thirty-five from other countries. I have, &c, Arthur S. Wohlmann, Government Balneologist