H.—3l.

The nurses in Auckland visit the homes of contacts regularly and keep charts of their height and weight and advise parents with regard to the hygiene of their homes, &c. Contacts are weighed and measured by the school nurses in the city schools in Southland, and an arrangement is being made with the Education Board for the redistribution of weighing-machines, enabling the teachers in the remote places to keep a record. In Dunedin Dr. Bippin reports that 237 contacts are kept under supervision. As far as possible parents or guardians of contacts are invited to school medical inspection. Contacts in Christchurch are under the supervision of the clinic attached to the public hospital, where the children attend periodically for examination. Dental Caries. Every opportunity has been taken by School Medical Officers to impress upon parents the importance of a healthy mouth, but dental caries remains one of the problems which cause much concern. The dental clinics are doing good work with the younger children, and where a school is attached to a dental clinic the children's mouths are clean until they reach the higher standards ; from then onwards deterioration is rapid, and in many cases the teeth are left unattended until full extraction is necessary. Diphtheria Immunization. Protection against diphtheria has been offered to parents in most of the North Island districts. Intensive campaigns were carried out by our medical officers, and many thousands of children have been rendered immune from this disease. In one or two districts, however, full advantage has not been taken of this offer, and there would appear to be a need for repeating the advice of the Medical Besearch Council of Great Britain that " Parents would be well advised to demand this prophylactic innoculation not only for their own children, but for all children. There seems no room for doubt that the general adoption of diphtheria prophylaxis would cause the virtual disappearance of the disease from the country. The family tragedies, the high public expense, and the waste of medical effort caused in Great Britain by diphtheria call for a united effort." Physical Education and Posture. School Medical Officers still report that a large percentage of the children suffer from faulty posture, and that although in some schools where the headmaster is keen extra time is devoted to the correction of this condition, in many cases no effort is made to train or instruct the children as to the necessity for good posture. In discussing this question, Dr. Phillipps (Auckland) states that " nearly all the children in the schools are round-shouldered. The carriage of the head is bad, the eyes being directed on the ground some few feet in front of the child instead of being directed straight forward. The whole attitude is one indicating a want of muscular tone. Undoubtedly the school curriculum, with its addiction to desk work, perpetuates, if it does not cause, the stooping attitude." With the appointment of additional physical instructors to the Education Department, however, an improvement can be expected. School Buildings and Sanitation. Much rebuilding and renovating of schools has taken place during recent years, and the following extract from the report of Dr. Gilberd (Whangarei) sums up the position in New Zealand as a whole " The year has been distinguished by great activity in these respects. Many new schools have been built and of a standard more in keeping with modern ideas ; others have been altered, and there is manifested a greater desire to provide in the school a standard of sanitation that will be carried as an object lesson back into the homes." Acknowledgment. The Division of School Hygiene wishes to express appreciation to the Education Department, Mental Hospitals Department, Education Boards, School Committees, and teachers for valuable co-operation. Elizabeth Gunn, Director, Division of School Hygiene.

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