f1.—31.

The scarlet-fever wards at Wanganui having been accidentally burnt down, recourse has been had to the old block—known sometimes as the diphtheria cottage—consisting of four rooms and accessories. Plans for additional room have been prepared by the Board's architect. Annexes for Consumptives. Palmerston North is now in line with Wellington and New Plymouth Hospitals in having special accommodation for consumptives on the grounds of the general hospital. During the year there were 27 applications for admission to Te Waikato and Otaki Sanatoria, and 23 patients were examined. Quarantine Regulations. Plans for an isolation hospital on Somes Island have been under consideration. On Monday, the 22nd March, the s.s. " Corinthic " arrived in Port Nicholson with some scarletfever and measle cases aboard. The vessel was ordered to the northern side of Somes Island, and the passengers and crew examined by the Port Health Officer. It was found necessary to remove 44 people to Somes Island, as suffering from or contacts with persons suffering from measles, and to remove 4 cases of scarlet fever to the infectious ward of the Wellington Hospital. Two trained nurses were engaged for those quarantined on the island. . . With one exception, all the infectious cases made a rapid recovery, the exception being a very weakly child suffering from marasmus. Despite every care and attention, the child died, and was buried on Somes Island. The shipping company supplied everything necessary, beyond the buildings and bedsteads on the quarantine station. Although such a large number of people were quarantined on the island, everything passed off with the greatest smoothness. Canterbury District. Infectious-diseases Hospitals. There were 21 cases of scarlet fever treated at Bottle Lake and 12 cases of measles. No attempt, of course, could be made to cope with an epidemic of measles by isolation in an infectious-diseases hospital but from time to time a case may occur in Christchurch of a person who has come in from the country and has no home to which he or she could go, and in these cases the existence of the separate small buildings at Bottle Lake frequently proves very useful. Ashburton.—The following cases were treated in the infectious-diseases annexe : Scarlet fever, 3 ; enteric fever, 5; diphtheria, 3; phthisis, 1. , . Timaru.— Seventy-two cases of scarlet fever were treated in the Talbot Hospital during the year. Of these, 10 were convalescent cases sent from Waimate. Waimate.— Eighty-two cases of scarlet fever were admitted to the infectious-diseases annexe, of which 10 were sent to the Talbot Hospital, Timaru, when they were convalescent but still infectious. Oamaru.— Twelve cases of scarlet fever were treated at the infectious-diseases annexe. Sanatoria for Consumptives. North Canterbury.—The sanatorium on the Cashmere Hills was out of the hands of the contractors in August The sanatorium committee had no funds at its disposal with which to complete the equipment of the building, owing to the South Canterbury and Ashburton Hospital Boards not having pined in the scheme The committee therefore asked the North Canterbury Hospital Board to take the building over and complete its equipment by money raised out of rates. The Board, unfortunately, had made no provision in its estimates for any expenditure on the sanatorium, and, as the making of a special levy on the local bodies would have caused some inconvenience and expense, nothing could be done by the Hospital Board until the beginning of the next financial year. The Board formally took over the sanatorium from-the committee on the 4th February, 1909. South Canterbury.—A site was purchased by the South Canterbury Hospital Board at Winscombe three miles from Fairlie. The site has an elevation of about 1,000 ft., and is conveniently situated near a railway-station. The main disadvantages to the site are the lack of shelter, the extremes of heat and cold (it is stated that the temperature goes up to over 100° in summer and below zero m winter), and its distance from a centre. After conferences had been held between the South Canterbury and Ashburton Hospital Boards, the Boards agreed to combine, under the provisions of section 44 of lhe Public Health Act, 1908," for the purpose of erecting and maintaining a sanatorium on this site. It is understood that the first cost of the building and equipment shall not exceed £2,000. PART 4.-STATISTICS OF DISEASE AMONG THE MAORIS. The following table was compiled by Dr. Pomare from the reports of the medical officers attending on the. Maoris. It cannot be regarded as a complete return, but serves in a general way to indicate the diseases most prevalent in the Native race : —

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