H.—3la.

It was suggested that another nurse to attend Maori maternity cases would be an advantage. The present district nurse to Natives having a large area, seventy miles wide, and being responsible for the care of about one thousand people, has no time to attend at confinements. Ante-natal Care. —All cases attending at the Te Kopuru Hospital receive antenatal care, but country women in the district complain of difficulty in attending the clinic on account of having to travel up to thirty miles or more over bad roads. The Medical Superintendent states that facilities are there, but owing to the geographical position of Te Kopuru they are not availed of. He suggests Dargaville as more central for an ante-natal clinic. Paparoa. Nurse Cavell Memorial Hospital. This is a seven-bed maternity hospital at Paparoa, serving Otamatea County. The fees are £4 4s. per week. Fifty per cent, of cases receive ante-natal attention. Twenty-five per cent, are doctor-attended. Pain-relief is given to an average degree. Recommendations. The Committee is of the opinion that, with the movement of population away from the Te Kopuru end of the district and towards Dargaville, some provision for antenatal care should be made in Dargaville. It is therefore recommended that an ante-natal clinic be established by the Hospital Board in Dargaville to be worked in close co-operation with the Te Kopuru Hospital. It is realized that duplication of the services by the provision of a public maternity hospital in Dargaville would hardly be advisable at present, but it is thought that the position arising from the present trend of population might to a certain extent be met by subsidizing a private hospital there. The Committee also recommends an extension of the district nursing service in order that fuller ante-natal supervision can be given to country women and Maoris in their homes. 7. WHANGAREI HOSPITAL BOARD DISTRICT. The area under control of this Board comprises Whangarei County, and is bounded on the west by the Ivaipara Board's district, goes north to Hukerenui, and to Huruki on the Bast Coast. The county population is 20,280, of whom 2,121 are Maoris. The chief centres are Whangarei Borough (population 7,152) and Hikurangi (population 1,042). Facilities consist of a seventeen-bed maternity annexe at Whangarei Hospital, serving 300 cases annually, of whom 12 per cent, are Maoris. The fees are £3 3s. per week. The annexe is an open one, and 20 per cent, of patients are attended by their own doctors. The Medical Superintendent attends 30 per cent., the balance being midwife attended. Ante-natal Care. —Only about 40 per cent, of cases attending hospital receive ante-natal supervision, and the Medical Superintendent states that the hospital needs another doctor in order to be able to give adequate ante-natal and post-natal care. Maoris. —The district nurse states that Maoris are being educated up to ante-natal treatment, but the majority of Maori women still have their babies at home and deliver themselves, Native fashion. More and more are coming to the annexe, however, and they are never refused, although difficulties arise through the prevalence among them of scabies, and vaginal discharges. The morbidity rate among Maoris is higher, due to low condition of health, poor housing, and lack of bathing facilities. Pain-relief. —In Whangarei Maternity annexe nembutal is used extensively as an analgesic, and an eflort is made to give as much pain-relief as possible. District Nurses. —District nurses do not book midwifery cases, but advise them to go to hospital, and only attend emergencies. 8. AUCKLAND HOSPITAL BOARD DISTRICT. The area served by the Auckland Hospital Board extends from the boundary of the Waikato Board's district at Mercer out to the West Coast at Waikato Heads and northwards to the Kaipara Heads, a distance pf approximately ninety miles, taking in on the north Helensville, Port Albert, and Wellsford. On the east it includes the coastal area from Mangawai in the north to Miranda on the boundary of the Thames Hospital Board's district. Total area, 1,998 square miles.

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