H.—3la.

The hospital is a training school for maternity nurses. Private hospitals provide only five beds. There is a resident district nurse for the Maoris. There are five doctors resident in Rotorua. Huntly.—This town, together with Pukemiro (755), is the centre of a mining district. There is a hospital owned by the Waikato Hospital Board, and the lessee receives an annual subsidy of £200 to cover the cost of all indigent cases. The use of analgesics and anesthetics is limited largely by the ability of the doctor to attend confinements, as the size of his practice is such as to preclude him from giving sufficient time to confinements to ensure adequate pain-relief. Chloroform is administered as far as possible by the midwife in charge. The ante-natal work for hospital cases is done by the doctors so far as time will allow. Matamata, situated forty-six miles from Hamilton, is served by a cottage hospital established by the Waikato Hospital Board and providing nine maternity beds. This hospital serves Matamata and the surrounding district and admits approximately two hundred patients per annum, the majority of whom are attended by the local practitioners. Kawhia, situated on the West Coast, sixty-two miles from Hamilton over a hilly road, is served by a cottage hospital, established by the Waikato Hospital Board, and a medical man who receives a subsidy from the same source. The population of the surrounding district is mainly Maori. The present facilities are sufficient. Te Kuiti, situated forty-nine miles from Hamilton, has a cottage hospital providing nine maternity beds and sixteen medical and surgical beds, and admits approximately one hundred and twenty maternity patients per annum. This hospital is under the supervision and control of the Medical Superintendent and Matron of the Waikato Hospital, Hamilton. The patients are practically all the private patients of the two medical men practising in Te Kuiti. Ngaruawahia, situated twelve miles from Hamilton, is served by a private maternity hospital of four beds. There are three medical men in practice in this town, and the services are sufficient as the Campbell-Johnstone Ward of the Waikato Hospital is within easy reach by a good road. Arapuni-Putaruru, situated respectively forty-six and forty-eight miles by a good road from Hamilton, and about thirty miles from Matamata, are served by a private maternity hospital of four beds situated at Arapuni. A medical man is in practice at Putaruru. Since the Committee's visit a four-bed maternity hospital has been established at Putaruru. The facilities are sufficient. Morrinsville, which is twenty - one miles from Hamilton, has private hospital accommodation of eight beds, which is considered adequate for the needs of this district, and telephone facilities were also found to be very satisfactory. There are four doctors practising here and one district nurse who attends to the needs of the Maoris. The antenatal supervision is given by the medical men personally. Te Aroha, which is thirty-four miles from Hamilton, has nine maternity beds provided in private hospitals, and these were found to be adequate for the needs of the town and district. The ante-natal care of patients is supervised by the doctors themselves, of whom there are two. There appeared to be no transport difficulty in this district. Cambridge, which is twelve miles from Hamilton, has a combined medical, surgical, and maternity hospital providing four maternity beds admitting seventy-two cases per annum. This hospital, on the surgical side, is restricted to non-septic cases. Te Awamutu, situated on the main railway-line is seventeen miles from Hamilton. There are seven private hospital beds available and, in addition, two resident maternity nurses who do domiciliary work mainly among the Maoris. The ante-natal work is mostly done by the medical men themselves, of whom there are four. Here again telephone and transport facilities appear satisfactory. Otorohangci, situated thirty-seven miles from Hamilton, has four private beds with another private hospital being erected, making ample provision for the needs of this district. There are two doctors, both of whom do their own ante-natal work. Mokai, is a small sawmilling village situated north of Lake Taupo, about forty miles from Rotorua, and is served by a district nurse employed by the sawmilling company. The births are mostly in the Maori population, most of the European mothers going to Rotorua for confinements. Taupo. —There are no hospital facilities, but a doctor is stationed here. Evidence showed that the doctor and the district nurse stationed at Tokaanu, who is also responsible for this district, are much handicapped in their work through having no hospital to which to send cases. Tokaanu.—The district nurse to Natives lives here, and the nearest base hospital is sixty-three miles away at Taumarunui. The Board also pays £3 3s. per week to any of the private hospitals taking in indigent cases to be attended by the midwife in the hospital if normal. To ensure that antenatal care is given and that the patient is able to receive that degree of anaesthesia which a midwife is entitled to give if the patient is certified by the doctor as suitable to receive it, the Board pays £1 Is. for the doctor to supervise the midwife's ante-natal care of the

15