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6s. 3|d. The repayments for maintenance were the highest on record, averaging £20 12s. 4|d. per patient, or £5 6s. B|d. in excess of 1919. Altogether £96,521 17s. 2d. was collected in repayments of the maintenance of patients, and I wish to congratulate Mr. Wells, the receiver, on the result. This branch was transferred to the Head Office and placed under him in 1910. That year the sum collected was £25,632, an average of £7 7s. 7|d. per head. This year's revenue together with other credits reduces the average increase of expenditure to £7 15s, sd. T mentioned in my last report that our stores of bedding and clothing had run down during the war period and were being gradually replenished, so as the added expenditure should not be thrown on any one year. This year's contribution accounts for £1 4s. of the average excess, while provisions are responsible for £2, and fuel and light for nearly £1 ; but the main factor is the rise in salaries. From the Ist April, 1920, the new cost-of-living bonus was incorporated in the salaries, and this item was further augmented by a number of vacancies being filled. Altogether, this item is responsible for an average of rather more than £6 per head in excess of the previous year. Certain factors operating for the time being in one institution and not in another account for individual differences, such as the wages of a number of temporary hands being charged to salary at Sunnyside, and a lot of the developmental work at Tokanui being charged to the farm. The special institution at Hornby will soon be ready for occupation. Enlarging and adapting it has taken much longer than anticipated. It will be used at first exclusively for women patients able to afford it, whose condition is such that they will not disturb the general harmony and well-being of others. When furnished and ready to receive patients, I trust, sir, that you will formally open this institution, which marks a new departure. The staff has reached its normal ratio, and there are long waiting-lists for possible vacancies. Thus, after a long time, we have arrived at the stage where we can make a selection. The present probation period of one year should be extended to three to enable the Department to retain as senior attendants and nurses those only who are temperamentally fitted for the work and give promise of capacity to fill higher offices in the future. On the whole, the work of the nursing staff has been satisfactory. At the beginning of the year Dr. Truby King, C.M.G., left us on. being appointed Director of Child Welfare. For thirty-two years he has filled the position of Medical Superintendent at Seacliff with conspicuous ability in every department, and his originality, his scientific and general knowledge, and untiring energy have left their mark on the institution, its inmates and beautiful surroundings. It was at Seacliff, in studying nutrition in all its phases, from the treatment of crops and animals on the farm to the dietary of the patients, that he was led many years ago, after arriving at certain fundamentals, to take up the matter of the care and feeding of infants, in which he has now attained world-wide celebrity. The Department always encouraged him in this work, firmly believing, apart from other benefits, that infants naturally and properly reared would in the years to come have a lesser tendency to develop insanity, and in this faith we parted with him. willingly. Ho was succeeded at Seacliff by Dr. McKillop, Medical Superintendent at Nelson, who before he filled senior posts with us was Senior Assistant at the Inverness District Asylum. Dr. Gray, Senior Assistant at Seacliff, who has been with us for a number of years, and was previously Assistant at Kingseat Asylum, Aberdeenshire, succeeded Dr. McKillop at Nelson. A large, number of our medical officers served with the Expeditionary Forces, and in their absence Mr. Sellers, who had attained the age for retiring, kindly consented to remain on at Hokitika as lay Superintendent. Of his long and faithful service I wish to record my thanks and appreciation. With much to be done he had the difficult job of marking time, knowing that the future of the institution was to be left to his successor. Dr. Buchanan, who went to Waitati on his return to us after the war, was appointed as Medical Superintendent at Hokitika. Last year I expressed my thanks to Mr. Souter, who, after retiring from the position of Chief Clerk at the Head Office, returned voluntarily after Mr. Russell's lamentod death till a successor was appointed. In due course Mr. Holder, Chief Clerk at Porirua, was appointed, to my great satisfaction, as his training for the position was unique. Mr. Riach, who was lent to the Defence Department after his return from active service, because of his knowledge of stores and administration, returned to us at this juncture, succeeding Mr. Holder as Chief Clerk at Porirua. Mrs. McLaren was transferred from Tokanui on appointment as Matron to Seacliff ; and Miss Martin, from Seacliff, was appointed. Matron at Tokanui. The institutions are subject to frequent inspections when all matters connected with the earo and comfort of the patients are gone into. Private interviews are granted to any patient making the request, and, should the occasion warrant it, any complaint is thoroughly investigated. In addition to inspections carried out from the Head Office, to each institution is attached a District Inspector or Inspectors, and Official Visitors, who are well-known persons in the locality and take up these duties as a labour of love for the well-being of the patients. To these ladies and gentlemen once more I record my gratitude for their kindly interest in the patients, and for many helpful suggestions. Hereunder I shall add their names to the brief note of my visits to the institutions under their oversight. Auckland. —Messrs. E. C. Blomfield and F. W. Wake, District Inspectors ; Mr. John Alexander, Mrs. A. E. Armitage, and Mrs. Yon Stunner, Official Visitors. In addition to other Head Office visitatiotis, I inspected this Hospital, in May and December, and in March of this year, seeing all the patients and according a number of interviews where patients wished to see me, or about whom I had corresponded, or cases Dr. Beattie brought up for discussion. Dr. Beattie's solicitude for the patients under his care is freely acknowledged by those capable of appreciation. 1 was glad to find the Wolfe Home once more in occupation, and when the buildings now in progress are completed the women's side will be very convenient and attractive. The food was wholesome, ample, and of good